Most humans with the exception of the odd sociopath or psychopath are strong advocates for human rights, after all defending human rights is the same as defending your own rights and therefore to some degree an obvious endeavour.
However, it is when people defend the rights of a whole different species which in my opinion is even more inspiring and progressive. On the surface of it, it may sound capricious or whimsical, coming from an animal lover, to say that animal rights need defending too, as a lot of people may also be of the opinion that animals are dumb creatures put on this earth by a higher power to be exploited by more intelligent beings; which begs the question, since when is abuse in contrast to a harmonious coexistence to be considered as being an «intelligent» act. Surely we should be aspiring to reach a higher level of emotional intelligence, an intelligence which is not as we arrogantly like to think, exclusive to ourselves.
Apart from lone activists and a handful of organisations, there is very little on the global stage to slow down the mammoth greed of the human species, when it comes to both ourselves and our own offspring. So many of us fail to realize that our futures are intertwined and not separate entities as our consumerist society likes to suggest.
Animals are not simply two dimensional creatues on the screen of a Disney movie or light entertainment at the zoo for curious children to poke at.
When it comes to the media, there are few David Attenboroughs in the world who manage to educate and transmit a genuine love and interest for the animal kingdom to which we belong. It is thanks to this idea of us being separate to the animal kingdom which has led to both our lack of respect and abuse on an industrial scale of any living creature which is not labelled as human.
One minor thing we could do is to reduce the amount of meat and fish we eat by 90 %, thus putting less strain on natural resources whilst simultaneously reducing global pollution.
This may all sound rather naive but then so is the idea that as humans, we are neither biological creatures nor have a role in maintaining the natural balance of our planet, deep down we all know that one can not survive without the other.
Only time will tell!
