In my mind, rights have to do with inherent qualities stemming from the very nature of the possessor of those rights. We have, in other words, a right to life, and therefore, to live, unless we are unborn, in which case the organization established to protect those rights turns its back upon us. And, logically, we have the right to the fruits of our labors, since we expend our lives to achieve them. Thus, the right to private property, also assaulted by the organization set up to protect it.
Animals are alive, of course.
No more leather shoes. I suppose we can just wait until animals die a natural death and then, like vultures, fall upon the carcass. I have often wondered why there are no plant-rights activists. That appreciation of a difference between species, human and animal, runs deep. It is surely found among the most primitive people, who recognize the difference between slaughtering a cow, and slaughtering a neighbor.