Animal Rights and the Humane Treatment Principle

[Brandon Becker]

Ida Hammer critiques Gary Francione's theory of animal rights:
http://www.veganideal.org/content/animal-rights-and-humane-treatmen...

The author states in a call for a more radical vision of liberation:
"As just one piece of the structure of human supremacy, abolishing property status of other animals and insisting on equal consideration in applying the humane-treatment principle won't eliminate the structure of oppression."

[Brandon Becker]

Hammer also makes points about how the issue of transporation and other structures of human supremacy aren't challenged by the abolition of the property status of other animals.

 

In a similar critique from a rights persepctive, Joan Dunayer argues in Speciesism that other animals, once freed from property status, need rights to life (to prevent murder), liberty (to prevent bodily harm and captivity), and property (to prevent destruction of habitats) to be fully protected against human harms. What do you think?

 

Also, what do you think about the Humane Treatment Principle and Francione deriving his own theory from this principle?

[Brandon Becker]

Can't humans in Europe (like in the United States) capture free-living other animals to exploit in circuses (such as tigers), in vivisection labs (such as monkeys), and as "pets" (such as tropical birds). The property status of nonhuman animals allows the state to grant human individuals and corporations the right to buy and sell them as chattel property, including killing them for economic purposes.

 

Dunayer does include what other animals build as their property, but more importantly she argues for any "undeveloped" land currently unoccupied by humans to be regarded as owned collectively by the nonhuman individuals living there.

 

I understand there is a practical purpose for Francione to frame his argument conservatively since this is easier to accept socially and politically, however, if we are talking about what other animals need, shouldn't we lay out a complete framework to protect them from human harm?