What makes us think that we own animals? How do we claim to be most intellectual and intelligent animal? Don't we have any kind of duties to the fellow beings? If you wouldn't eat cow or a dog then why eat a goat? Why shouldn't animals have right? If they didn't harm us then why should we act selfish? These are the most common question that would be asked by an animal activist. Most of us grew up eating meat or raising pets as a hobby. We wear woolen or silk clothes and even leather. We even go to zoos or circuses for entertainment. We consider that animals are the things to be owned or used directly or indirectly. Infact the grammer advices us to use, "it," pronoun to indicate animals. We feed upon them and use their heads or any parts as a decorating asset to our sweet home. Don't we realize the affect or pain that the individuals have gone through our actions? Our short moment pleasure destroys the life of an animal or even more.
Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832), the founder of the reforming utilitarian school of moral philosophy, stated that when deciding on a being's rights, "The question is not, 'Can they reason?' nor, 'Can they talk?' but, 'Can they suffer?'" In that passage, Bentham points to the capacity for suffering as the vital characteristic that gives a being the right to equal consideration. The capacity for suffering is not just another characteristic like the capacity for language or higher mathematics. All animals have the ability to suffer in the same way and to the same degree that humans do. They feel pain, pleasure, fear, frustration, loneliness, and motherly love. Whenever we consider doing something that would interfere with their needs, we are morally obligated to take them into account. Do animals have rights? The answer is obviously, yes.
Henry Stephens Salt (1851–1939) was an English writer and social reformer whose work brought praise from the likes of Mahatma Gandhi.
