(providing an appropriate environment and shelter).
Anti-cruelty statutes exist in all 50 US states, for example, but they are notoriously weak. The vast majority of farm animals (over 99% in the US) are exempt from these laws. You can be prosecuted for kicking a dog, but legally, you can confine a chicken in a cage the size of a sheet of paper for its entire life.
The debate between welfare and rights is ultimately a debate about the scope of our moral circle. Will we draw the line at pain, or at property? That question will define not just the future of animals, but the character of humanity itself.
(providing an appropriate environment and shelter).
Anti-cruelty statutes exist in all 50 US states, for example, but they are notoriously weak. The vast majority of farm animals (over 99% in the US) are exempt from these laws. You can be prosecuted for kicking a dog, but legally, you can confine a chicken in a cage the size of a sheet of paper for its entire life.
The debate between welfare and rights is ultimately a debate about the scope of our moral circle. Will we draw the line at pain, or at property? That question will define not just the future of animals, but the character of humanity itself.
