ANIMAL RIGHTS vs. ANIMAL WELFARE

What exactly is the difference between AR and AW?  The public is confused and Lawmakers are dangerously misled. Well-meaning politicians pass laws they think are to protect animals. Well-funded politicians pass ARA sponsored laws for other reasons.

Lawmakers must be re-educated, re-programmed.  Animal Rights.  Animal Welfare.  The terms are not interchangeable.. Mankind is inherently protective and kind to animals.  The Animal Rights Activists (ARA) have an Agenda that capitalizes on our love for animals, twisting the welfare issue to suit their political agenda.

We must guard against shifting the law to favor animal rights over human rights. To do so would change our society forever. Under the guise of protecting animals, we are being incrementally stripped of free choice and freedoms guaranteed under the Constitution.

Europeans lost centuries of tradition when the equestrian sport of fox hunting was outlawed. The fox is rarely killed yet our British friends lost an important cultural and social activity.

Share these definitions with friends and family. Is sparing the life of a slaughter animal worth giving up a child’s right to a best friend?  Is a loving, responsive playmate that teaches kindness and lays the foundation for adult responsibilities to be cast aside in favor of perceived political correctness? Tell that to your 8 year old!

We asked some of our Legislative experts to define the similar but contradictory terms:

• “Animal Rights groups forbid captive animals. They want to ban all breeding. How are they going to accomplish that if all the animals are running free? Animal Welfare advocates responsible breeding to reduce genetic health problems and insure loving homes for quality pets. Animals do not have “rights.” Humans have inalienable rights. One of which is the right to provide for the welfare of all animals, a right the “animal rights activists” would take from us.” - Shirley Lawler

• “Animal Welfare groups want you to treat all animals humanely but Animal Rights groups want you to set your pets free!” - Nel Liquorman

• “Animal Welfare responsibly interacting with animals in entertainment, industry, sport, recreation and life while prioritizing proper care and management whereas Animal Rights groups say humans have no right to keep animals for any purpose and they would ban all animal use and ownership.” - Linda Witouski

Our readers also had great insight into the Animal Rights vs Animal Welfare issue.  To make things a little less confusing, especially in print, we have ceased using the acronym AR and replaced it with the more "pronounceable" and accurate ARA, for Animal Rights Activists or Agenda, take your pick!

“HSUS has no shelter facility and does not re-home dogs and cats, yet claims they are for Animal Welfare. It appears to me that they abuse their own philosophy, in which case they are just Animal Rights hypocrites with big funds.”

"Animal Rights is but a wolf in sheep's clothing.  There are laws in every state that provide for animal welfare.  The whole AR agenda is nothing but a political ruse to steal away human rights."

"PETA and other “Animal Rights” groups say we should have no captive animals. They should all be free. They want to ban all breeding until the shelters are empty. How are they going to accomplish no-breeding if all the animals are running free? Talk about an overpopulation problem! Give the AR activist a big 'stupid sign'."

“Animal Rights” activists want no pet ownership, no captive animals. No research animals to save human lives. So what they really want is unsupervised, indiscriminate, mass breeding? Just think, Service and Therapy Animals are carefully bred for specific reasons. They would all be gone."

"We are not guardians, nor are we stewards. We are responsible pet owners who provide food, shelter, love and companionship to our animals. In return they give us boundless love, protection, and the same companionship that we give them."

"Animal Rights thinks there should be no captive animals, for pets, meat, milk, or any use. Animal Welfare feels all animals should be treated humanely, regardless of their purpose."

"Animals are not humans, therefore they have no human rights despite what the cleverly-named “animal rights” groups espouse. Animals do not have the right to run free as advocated by PETA and other AR activists. Running free would spread unchecked disease to the human population."

“Animal Rights believes no one being should own or control another, all companion and working animals should be freed from our influence. In short no one should have pets. Animal Welfare advocates believe any animals in our care should be treated humanely."