Animal Abuse should be stopped

Do Animals have equal rights as Humans ? That is the underlying problem in this debate because if Animals have Equal Rights as Humans then Animals do not deserve to be Abused as my opponent claims. I will argue that Animals do not have Equal Rights as Humans and therefore are considered to be Private Property.........so therefore no one can say who can do what with their property. Humans are guaranteed certain unalienable Rights. The Right to Express Themselves, The Right to Choose, The Right to Vote, The Right to Love, The Right to Free Health Care, The Right to Distinguish Good from Wrong,........... Let's focus on one of them, The Right to Distiguinsh Good From Wrong. Animals have no free will. They can not choose Right or Wrong. Take for example the Tiger. You can't convince a tiger not to hunt when it's hungry, not even if the potential prey would be someone's baby. This is because the tiger can't see it's *doing bad* by hunting your baby, so it cannot make a choice, between feeding its stomach or sparing the life of a baby. This means the tiger has no free will. On the other hand, obviously, if the tiger kills a baby, it is not guilty: the tiger simply cannot choose. This is the most obvious difference between an animal and a human: the ability of choosing on a moral basis (what is better and for whom) implies the birth of the term "right", the inability to do so implies the inapplicability of any rights. This is the main reason why animals cannot have rights. So therefore since because Animals do not have Equal Rights as Humans, Animals are therefore Property of the Human and therefore can or can not be respected. We Humans then have the right to control lesser species. Of couse, Animals have feelings...... in pain as all Animals do including Humans. But Humans have evovled in such a way that allowed them to think logically............ ........................................................................ " Animals should be respected just like how you respect other people. " The reason why we have a respect for People is because we are Humans ! We have all of those rights I mentioned up above....... so having respect for other people is reaffirming respect for ourselves as a Human Being. However Humans have a right to respect other animals or to abuse them because it is their right to do what they want with their Private Property. " Do you just go and abuse other people? " No, because we have something called Free Will that helps us determine good from wrong. Animals do not make Moral Choices. They act on instinct as I mentioned above. If we stop Animal Abuse, where do we draw the line ? Chickens have their heads cut off during Meat Processing, Dogs being totured even though that is the Owner's Choice.........because Dogs are Private Property,......... I If we say this is bad, then this is bad, then our entire Human Expierince is based on Toturing Animals. I will end with a Quote from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. " 1704 The human person participates in the light and power of the divine Spirit. By his reason, he is capable of understanding the order of things established by the Creator. By free will, he is capable of directing himself toward his true good. He finds his perfection "in seeking and loving what is true and good." Can Animals decide for themselves that Abuse is bad ?