animal rights

plural noun

1. the rights of animals, claimed on ethical grounds, to the same humane treatment and protection from exploitation and abuse that are accorded to humans.

animal rights

plural noun

1. 1. the rights of animals to be protected from exploitation and abuse by humans

   2. ( as modifier )

      the animal-rights lobby

Word History and Origins

Origin of animal rights¹

First recorded in 1975–80

Example Sentences

A few years ago "we had some animal rights activists who came through the barriers," said Rupf.

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Animal rights advocates are urging the EU to both tighten border checks and strengthen its internal rules.

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Camille Labchuk, executive director of Canadian animal rights group Animal Justice, said Marineland had "a moral obligation to fund the future care of these animal", adding that threats to euthanise the animals were "reprehensible".

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She empathized with them, and without anthropomorphizing her subjects, she also saw just how closely chimps resemble you and I. It was that empathy, and her impulse to advocate for the wellbeing of the animals she studied rather than simply observing them, that so profoundly shaped my worldview, first as a young animal rights activist, and later as a feminist.

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Goodall was not solely a chimpanzee expert and animal rights activist, even if those are the issues for which she will be most widely remembered.

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