# Should animals have rights?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-animals-have-rights/312891>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [July 17, 2005, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-animals-have-rights/312891 "2005-07-17T18:48:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 9

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**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\
**Post date:** [July 22, 2005, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-animals-have-rights/312891/161 "2005-07-22T17:21:06Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> Agreed. But if this play is necessary for survival, there is an argument to be made that it justifies the violation of others’ rights. Right?

But for animals there is no distinction. Everything they do is dedicated to the survival and perpetuation of their species. Humans are, AFAIK, the only creature to deliberately sacrifice itself without a neccessary gain, genetically speaking, for the species or for its personal gene line.

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**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\
**Post date:** [July 22, 2005, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-animals-have-rights/312891/162 "2005-07-22T18:16:39Z")

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Dogs have done it, too.

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**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\
**Post date:** [July 22, 2005, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-animals-have-rights/312891/163 "2005-07-22T18:35:12Z")

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Right, but the pertinent question is: do animals only violate each others rights when necessary for survival. Clearly this isn’t true of humans, it may or may not be true of animals.

In any case, this is a mostly irrelevant side tangent. There are many better answers to the argument that animals violate each others rights therefore we can too. I just threw this on as sort of a cherry on top.

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