A Primer on Animal Rights
Many of the issues and emotions associated with animal rights are complex, but the fundamental tenets are simple: nonviolence, compassion, the avoidance of unnecessary harm, and a belief that nonhuman animals are not inferior to humans, but simply different from humans, with their own unique characteristics and abilities and, like humans, with the desire and right to live natural lives.
Background Posts on Animal Rights
-
What are our reasons for accepting and perpetuating horrible exploitation and cruelty toward one set of animals while we would never tolerate such treatment of another set of animals? Is there any significant difference between the animals that people consider family and the animals people consider food—any difference that could justify humans' contradictory behaviors?
-
Watching and reading about all the horrors inflicted on innocent animals day after day can become overwhelming. You can't save every animal, but you can make a difference, one decision and action at a time. And here are the best ways to start.
-
Sometimes you have to see to believe. In this post you'll find some of the most compelling, intelligent, and moving animal rights videos currently available.
-
Listed here are statistics in the following categories: Animals Used as Food, Animal Agriculture and Environment, Animal Testing, Companion Animals, Animals in Human Entertainment, Fur, Wildlife, and Activism.
-
What does "sentience" mean? What is a "hunt sab"? And what is the practice of "debeaking"? See the evolving glossary for definitions and descriptions of terms, ideas, and practices that come up often in animal rights discussions.
-
The arenas and ways in which animals are exploited and killed by humans are many and varied. An overview of some of the greatest areas of concern is featured here.
-
The list of important, thought-provoking animal rights texts is long and ever-growing. Here are some suggested readings from that list, ranging from gentle, wide-ranging introductions to animal rights philosophy to in-depth treatments of specific issues.
-
The role and efficacy of animal welfare reforms in the fight for animal rights and liberation is a contentious issue, and the debate is briefly introduced here.
-
Hundreds of organizations—from small, local grassroots groups to well-known national and international operations—advocate for nonhuman animals. Featured here is an evolving list of organizations that play important roles in animal advocacy.
-
The Green Scare is alive and well and giving rise to such travesties as the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act. It behooves animal rights advocates to be aware of the climate in which we are living and working, and one excellent resource for staying informed (and righteously angry) is GreenIsTheNewRed.com, linked to heavily in this post.
-
There's no shortage of stereotypes about what who vegans are—what they look like, where they live, what they do. And although some vegans may fit the stereotypes, many more do not. Take a look at this list of vegan musicians, actors, athletes, scholars, and other prominent figures, followed by a list of well-known vegetarians as well. Some of them may surprise you.
Welcome to the New Change.org and the Animal Rights Blog
Your Dog versus Your Dinner
Top 10 Ways to Make a Difference for Animals
10 Recommended Animal Rights Videos
Animal Use and Abuse Statistics: The Shocking Numbers
Glossary of Selected Animal Rights-Related Terms
Major Animal Rights Issues and Controversies
10 Recommended Animal Rights Readings
The Debated Role of Welfare Reforms in AR Advocacy
Major Players in Animal Rights: Organizations
The AETA and the Green Scare: Making McCarthy Proud
Happy First Blogiversary to Us and a Thank You to You
Animal Rights Guide
-
Stephanie Ernst
- St. Louis, MO
-
Stephanie is an independent animal rights advocate, a vegan, a tree-hugging environmentalist, and a freelance editor and writer. She lives in St. Louis with an aging corgi-lab and an adolescent rescued pit bull. In her advocacy, she works to challenge prevailing perceptions of animals, to show the connections between animal exploitation and other injustices, to help people see that animals are more like us than different, and to encourage compassionate, nonviolent living and eating.
