This house believe that animals have rights

According to your definition of animal. A human comes under that title and therefore your argument is almost completely incorrect however I will give my opponent another opportunity to correct this definition so that it makes sense in terms of this debate. I just finished contradicting your whole argument before I realized which round it is so I've been forced to save that in a word document and start again. So now I will make some arguments to why animals should have rights. "Animal rights teach us that certain things are wrong as a matter of principle, that there are some things that it is morally wrong to do to animals. Human beings must not do those things, no matter what the cost to humanity of not doing them. Human beings must not do those things, even if they do them in a humane way." The message of this quote is telling us that animal rights is important because it teaches us a lesson of how to behave morally and it allows people to clearly establish the difference between rights and wrong (ethics). The basic principle of equality does not require equal or identical treatment; it requires equal consideration. This is an important distinction when talking about animal rights. People often ask if animals should have rights, and quite simply, the answer is "Yes!" Animals surely deserve to live their lives free from suffering. The question is not - Can they reason?"It is not - Can they talk? The real questions is: "Can they suffer?" The capacity for suffering is not just another characteristic like the capacity for language or mathematics. All animals have the ability to suffer in the same way and to the same degree that humans do. They feel pain, pleasure, fear, frustration, loneliness, and motherly love. Whenever we consider doing something that would interfere with their needs, we are morally obligated to take them into account. Animals have an inherent worth"a value completely separate from their usefulness to humans. We believe that every creature with a will to live has a right to live free from pain and suffering. Animal rights is not just a philosophy"it is a social movement that challenges society"s traditional view that all nonhuman animals exist solely for human use. Only prejudice allows us to deny others the rights that we expect to have for ourselves. Whether it"s based on race, gender, sexual orientation, or species, prejudice is morally unacceptable. If you wouldn"t eat a dog, why eat a pig? Dogs and pigs have the same capacity to feel pain, but it is prejudice based on species that allows us to think of one animal as a companion or a pet and the other as dinner. Animal and human rights come down to one fundamental right and that is "Animals with rights must be treated as ends in themselves; they should not be treated by others as means to achieve their ends." I will end this round with a few quotes regarding animal rights: "If you want to test cosmetics, why do it on some poor animal who hasn't done anything? They should use prisoners who have been convicted of murder or rape instead. So, rather than seeing if perfume irritates a bunny rabbit's eyes, they should throw it in a murderer's eyes and ask him if it hurts." "The assumption that animals are without rights and the illusion that our treatment of them has no moral significance is a positively outrageous example of Western crudity and barbarity. Universal compassion is the only guarantee of morality." "He who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealings with men. We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals." "I am in favor of animal rights as well as human rights. That is the way of a whole human being." These quotes aren't by random people - these are by philosophers, scientists and politics. Including Abraham Lincoln! Souces http://www.goodreads.com... http://www.bbc.co.uk... http://www.animalfreedom.org...