While I agree that it is necessary to use some animals for research, I do not think that they should be tortured unnecessarily. For example, people should not be allowed to starve or neglect a pet because they don't feel like taking care of it. I think that equality of animals should be extended to those animals that show some kind of emotions. For example, dogs. If you come home a dog, just like kids, a dog will jump on you and lick you because they are happy to see you.
Dogs have emotions that can be seen and recognized by humans.
I think that animals like Roaches, spiders, fish, and ladybugs do not show emotion, therefore you wouldn't know that you were hurting them. Most animals like the ones above breed in hundreds so killing one wouldn't hurt their population. I believe that we should stop eating animals. I feel that they have rights to live. Humans will not die if they stopped eating animals.