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We are, after all, also animals. Should we be asking other animal species to set their own boundaries?

All's fair in love, war, and nature.

So following this logic, then wouldn't it be supposedly okay for humans to go out and kill other humans? I mean, if we're animals too...

Why should we need to set boundaries? We are, after all, also animals. Should we be asking other animal species to set their own boundaries?

All's fair in love, war, and nature.

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They are quite capable of fending for themselves without our help.

As is all of nature, but we don't need to make it harder for them.. Which is where the idea of animal rights comes into play. There need to be boundaries set for ourselves.

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They are quite capable of fending for themselves without our help.

Tell that to the lab rats...

Any animal that can tilt its head up during a rainstorm and drown is not smart.

On a more related note, I agree with this part of hunter's argument:

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rights are a privilege only to those who have the moral and intellectual abilities to respect another's rights

However, I do not take it to mean that I'm free to kill any animal I please. Instead, I take it to mean that other animals do not get rights because the majority of them do not respect the lives of other animals. Try punishing a lion for murder or a gorilla for infanticide. Certain species of animals don't even respect the lives of their kin, so how can we give them rights and expect them to understand what they have?

Animals need rights like America needs excuses to go to war. They are quite capable of fending for themselves without our help.

first off - u are the first person i've ever met who believes that chickens are smart.

secondly, having a social hierarchy does not make a group of animals smart - i assume you would believe that because humans have social hierarchies, that animals would have to be smart to have them too; but the truth is that a social hierarchy is instinct to some species, such as wolves, lions, deer, and of course humans. It is not intelligence that allows a hierarchy, but rather many generations of natural selection.

third, my ability to understand other species "languages" has nothing to do with an animal having a right to life.

as you say "so what if animals cant understand our rights" - so what? thats the answer to this whole debate, for one to have rights himself, he must first have the intellect to understand that rights exist and secondly, have the ability to respect the rights of others.

Humans are 'animals', so yes, animals do have rights.

And so what if animals cant understand our rights. Can you understand their language? Can you understand all species body movements? Do you understand that they are smart and are smart enough to create social hierarchies eg. meercats, monkeys, kangaroos and even chickens.

And hunter - there are many people who love animals more then they love humans. Because you think that "Any sane minded person will put a humans life above that of an animal" it does not make you more important then a deer, me or anybody else.
You are not more important because you are human and you are able to 'understand' your rights.

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if you had a choice between saving the life of a deer or saving the life of a human - which would you choose.

I wouldn't be able to make that dicision. I believe all life is equal. Everything deserves life. It doesn't depend on an ability to reason.

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1. God says so - Genesis 26:1

The bible holds no credibility in a debate...unless you have some undenialble proof that it's truth.

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2. Any sane minded person will put a humans life above that of an animal, and since humans are the only creates with rights, they are the only creates with a right to life.

Not true. I have a feeling you don't even know anything about sanity. I still don't understand you logic behind your belief that humans are the only creatures with the right to life.

heres an example - if you had a choice between saving the life of a deer or saving the life of a human - which would you choose.

my life is more important than a deers because

1. God says so - Genesis 26:1
2. Any sane minded person will put a humans life above that of an animal, and since humans are the only creates with rights, they are the only creates with a right to life.

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first off, my life is more important than a deer's

Why? What makes you better than a deer? Your grammar?

first off, my life is more important than a deer's

second - in my first post i asked animal rights activists to stop wasting our time with animals when half the people in the world dont have the freedom to express their god-given rights.

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i didnt say babies arent human - dont know what your talking about

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well since a baby will someday be a human with the ability to comprehend rights

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but as of right now humans are the only creatures on earth with the ability to comprehend rights so we are the only ones with them.

We only have "rights" because we say we do. In countries that still have slavery, slaves don't have rights, yet they are human and can comprehend rights. Your argument only proves that for some reason you believe your life to be more special/important then that of a deer.

i didnt say babies arent human - dont know what your talking about

but if an animal other than a human one day has the ability to comprehend rights, then it will have rights too.

but as of right now humans are the only creatures on earth with the ability to comprehend rights so we are the only ones with them.

Who ever said I live in a city?

How do you know that one day an animal won't be able to understand rights?

And just to clarify, babies are humans.

well since a baby will someday be a human with the ability to comprehend rights. an animal on the other hand, will never have the ability to comprehend rights. but i dont expect all of you people who live in the city and think you know nature because you watch squirrels in the city parks or think that the world is like Bambi, to understand what im talking about.

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i, as a human have the right to life as long as i respect other's rights to life, but if i choose, i can kill, say a deer, because it has no rights because it does not have the intellect to comprehend the concept of rights.

Can I kill an infant because it can't comprehend the concept of rights?

You can't respect life if you can justify destroying it.

the belief that animals have rights is absurd because it contradicts the definition of rights in general. rights are a privilege only to those who have the moral and intellectual abilities to respect another's rights - for instance: i, as a human have the right to life as long as i respect other's rights to life, but if i choose, i can kill, say a deer, because it has no rights because it does not have the intellect to comprehend the concept of rights.

but on a different note, i believe that though animals do not have rights, people should still be kind to animals and not abuse them or kill them without cause. i hunt deer and i always try to place my shots so that the animal will die quick and painlessly.

a note to all you animal rights activist:
it would be better for everyone if you would stop wasting people time with your nonsense. in the long run you will probably never accomplish anything - you are wasting effort on animals when most of the people on earth still do not have rights, so do everyone a favor and stop believing in lies.

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Do somethign human!!

I do, 1. I eat them (the animals) and 2. I have the intelligence of something above cheese whiz so I know that animals don't need rights as humans do.

As long as we treat them nice there really isn't a problem there

there are still no substantiated law to protect these poor animals. animal testing is still a million dollars events globally. Do somethign human!!

I believe i once read on here that animals deserve a bill of Rights. I found that amusing as if we should make a little continental congress with puppies and kittens and ostriches and zebras and elephants and all of our animal cracker friends, and dress them in powdered wigs and get them to put a paw/hoof/claw print on a bill of rights that we write up.

I agree with clpo. I read in the newspaper the other day that they found a ship off the coast of china with thousands of endangered animals on it (half of them dead) abandoned. Like that... that's got to stop. Cock fights and sport killing and torturing of animals is stupid and truly unentertaining. If people want to do tricks let them get out there in the circus ring and spit fire out their ass or whatever, but leave the poor animals out of it. They may not have rights persay, but they have a natural right to live and carry out their role in the environment.