Who are you calling a beast? Step forward ‘non-human persons’
‘The more we understand animals – their sentience, capabilities, emotions – the more the idea is worth taking seriously’
EUROPE’S first animal rights centre has been opened in Cambridge as academics examine the push for animals to be treated as “non-human persons”.
The Cambridge Centre for Animal Rights Law (CCARL) aims to become the go-to place for politicians grappling to keep up with the understanding of animal rights in modern society – and its distinction from animal welfare.
The centre, which states itself as apolitical, brings together leading academics and experts from across the world for research and development, and aims to provide the resources “for civil society and governments” looking to draft new laws. The educational charity is providing a course on animal rights law to students at the University of Cambridge, attracting an array of undergraduates, including veterinary and law students, with a programme covering everything from the ethics surrounding zoos to the moral quandaries of keeping pets, farming, animal testing and slaughtering for meat.
Dr Sean Butler, Fellow of St Edmund’s College, Cambridge, and director of CCARL, said: “As people I think we have a higher regard for humans than for animals, so correspondingly a higher regard for human rights.
“However, the more we understand animals – their sentience, capabilities, emotions – the more that the idea of granting rights to animals is worth taking seriously. Whether rights are actually granted will be a matter for governments and civil society.
“As an academic institute the centre’s role is to research, reflect, and publish, so that if – or when – there is a demand for animals to be granted rights, the legal groundwork will have been done.”
“There is enough awareness that perhaps the existing paradigm of animal welfare isn’t sufficient. And there is an interest in thinking about alternate ways. And that’s where the centre comes in,” Dr Butler added.
The first animal welfare laws go back 200 years. However, there are no laws supporting animal rights. Animal rights would mean that they are granted legal protections of their basic interests, such as their interest in being alive, in not being harmed, and in being free where