argumentative essay topics on animal rights

Animal Rights Essay: Topics, Outline, & Writing Tips

🐇 Animal Rights Essay: the Basics
💡 Animal Rights Essay Topics
📑 Outlining Your Essay
✍️ Sample Essay (200 Words)

🔗 References

🐇 animal rights essay: what is it about.

Animal rights supporters advocate for the idea that animals should have the same freedom to live as they wish, just as humans do. They should not be exploited or used in meat , fur, and other production. At long last, we should distinguish animals from inanimate objects and resources like coal, timber, or oil.

The picture contains an animal rights essay definition.

Interdisciplinary research has shown that animals are emotional and sensitive, just like we are.

Their array of emotions includes joy, happiness, embarrassment, resentment, jealousy, anger, love, compassion, respect, disgust, despair, and even grief.

However, animal rights legislation does not extend human rights to animals. It establishes their right to have their fundamental needs and interests respected while people decide how to treat them. This right changes the status of animals from being property to being legal entities.

The statement may sound strange until we recall that churches , banks, and universities are also legal entities. Their interests are legally protected by law. Then why do we disregard the feelings of animals , which are not inanimate institutions? Several federal laws protect them from human interference.

But the following statements are only some of the rules that could one day protect animal rights in full:

Animals should not be killed by hunting.
Animals’ habitats should allow them to live in freedom.
Animals should not be bred for sale or any other purpose.
Animals should not be used for food by industries or households.

Most arguments against the adoption of similar laws are linked to money concerns. Animal exploitation has grown into a multi-billion-dollar industry. The lives of many private farmers depend on meat production, and most people prefer not to change the comfortable status quo.

Animal Rights Argumentative Essay

An animal rights argumentative essay should tackle a problematic issue that people have widely discussed. While choosing ideas for the assignment, opt for the most debatable topics.

Here is a brief list of argumentative essay prompts on animal rights:

The pros and cons of animal rights.
Can humanity exist without meat production?
Do animals have souls?
Should society become vegan to protect animal rights?

As you see, these questions could raise controversy between interlocutors. Your purpose is to take a side and give several arguments in its support. Then you’ll have to state a counterargument to your opinion and explain why it is incorrect.

Animal Rights Persuasive Essay

An animal rights persuasive essay should clearly state your opinion on the topic without analyzing different points of view. Still, the purpose of your article is to persuade the reader that your position is not only reasonable but the only correct one. For this purpose, select topics relating to your opinion or formulated in questionary form.

For example:

What is your idea about wearing fur?
Do you think people would ever ban animal exploitation?
Is having pets a harmful practice?
Animal factories hinder the development of civilization .

💡 53 Animal Rights Essay Topics

Animal rights have been suppressed for ages because people disregard their mental abilities .
Cosmetic and medical animal testing .
Laws preventing unnecessary suffering of animals mean that there is some necessary suffering.
Red fluorescent protein transgenic dogs experiment.
Do you believe animals should have legal rights?
Genetically modified animals and implications.
Why is animal welfare important?
Neutering animals to prevent overpopulation: Pros and cons.
Animal testing: Arguments for and against.
What is our impact on marine life?
Some animals cannot stay wild.
Animal testing for medical purposes.
We are not the ones to choose which species to preserve.
Pavlov’s dog experiment .
Keeping dogs chained outdoors is animal neglect.
The use of animals for research.
Animal dissection as a learning tool: Alternatives?
More people beat their pets than we think.
Duties to non-human animals.
If we do not control the population of some animals, they will control ours.
Animals in entertainment: Not entertaining at all.
Animals in research, education, and teaching.
Which non-animal production endangers the species?
Is animal testing really needed?
Why do some people think that buying a new pet is cheaper than paying for medical treatment of the old one?
Animal experiments: benefits, ethics, and defenders.
Can people still be carnivorous if they stop eating animals?
Animal testing role.
Marine aquariums and zoos are animal prisons.
Animal experimentation: justification arguments .
What would happen if we replace animals in circuses with people, keeping the same living conditions?
The ethics of animal use in scientific research .
Animal sports: Relics of the past.
Animal testing ban: counterargument and rebuttal .
Denial to purchase animal-tested cosmetics will not change anything.
Animal research, its ineffectiveness and amorality.
Animal rights protection based on their intellect level: It tells a lot about humanity.
Debates of using animals in scientific analysis .
How can we ban tests on rats and kill them in our homes at the same time?
Animal testing in experiments .
What is the level of tissue engineering development in leather and meat production?
Equal consideration of interests to non-human animals .
Animals should not have to be our servants.
Zoos as an example of humans’ immorality.
We should feed wild animals to help them survive.
Animal testing in biomedical research.
Abolitionism: The right not to be owned.
Do you support the Prima facie rights theory?
Psychologist perspective on research involving animal and human subjects.
Ecofeminism: What is the link between animals’ and women’s rights?
No philosophy could rationalize cruelty against animals.
Qualities that humans and animals share.
Ancient Buddhist societies and vegetarianism: A research paper.

Need more ideas? You are welcome to use our free research topic generator !

📑 Animal Rights Essay Outline

An animal rights essay should be constructed as a standard 5-paragraph essay (if not required otherwise in the assignment). The three following sections provide a comprehensive outline.

The picture lists the structural parts of an animal rights essay.

Animal Rights Essay: Introduction

An introduction consists of:

Background information,
A thesis statement .

In other words, here you need to explain why you decided to write about the given topic and which position you will take. The background part should comprise a couple of sentences highlighting the topicality of the issue. The thesis statement expresses your plans in the essay.

For example: In this essay, I will explain why animal-based production harms the ecology.

Animal Rights Essay: Main Body

The main body is a place for you to argue your position . One paragraph equals one argument. In informative essays, replace argumentation with facts.

Start each section with a topical sentence consisting of a general truth. Then give some explanation and more specific points. By the way, at the end of this article, you’ll find a bonus! It is a priceless selection of statistics and facts about animal rights.

Animal Rights Essay: Conclusion

A conclusion restates your central ideas and thesis statement. Approach it as a summary of your essay, avoid providing new facts or arguments.

✍️ Animal Rights Essay Example (200 Words)

Why is animal welfare important? The term “animal welfare” evokes the pictures of happy cows from a milk advertisement. But the reality has nothing to do with these bright videos. Humane treatment of animals is a relative concept. This essay explains why animal welfare is important, despite that it does not prevent farms from killing or confining animals.

The best way to approach animal welfare is by thinking of it as a temporary measure. We all agree that the current state of the economy does not allow humanity to abandon animal-based production. Moreover, such quick decisions could make farm animals suffer even more. But ensuring the minimum possible pain is the best solution as of the moment.

The current legislation on animal welfare is far from perfect. The Animal Welfare Act of 1966 prevents cruelty against animals in labs and zoos. Meanwhile, the majority of suffering animals do not fall under its purview. For example, it says nothing about the vivisection of rats and mice for educational and research purposes, although the procedure is extremely painful for the creature. Neither does it protect farm animals.

Unfortunately, the principles of animal welfare leave too much room for interpretation. Animals should be free from fear and stress, but how can we measure that? They should be allowed to engage in natural behaviors, but no confined space would let them do so. Thus, the legislation is imprecise.

The problem of animal welfare is almost unresolvable because it is a temporary measure to prevent any suffering of domesticated animals. It has its drawbacks but allows us to ensure at least some comfort for those we unjustifiably use for food. They have the same right to live on this planet as we do, and animal farming will be stopped one day.

📊 Bonus: Statistics & Facts for Your Animal Rights Essay Introduction

Improve the quality of your essay on animal rights by working in the following statistics and facts about animals.

According to USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service , about 4.6 billion animals — including hogs, sheep, cattle, chickens, ducks, lambs, and turkey — were killed and used for food in the United States last year (2015).
People in the U.S. kill over 100 million animals for laboratory experiments every year, according to PETA .
More than 40 million animals are killed for fur worldwide every year. About 30 million animals are raised and killed on fur farms, and nearly 10 million wild animals are hunted and killed for the same reasons — for their valuable fur.
According to a report by In Defense of Animals , hunters kill more than 200 million animals in the United States yearly.
The Humane Society of the United States notes that a huge number of cats and dogs — between 3 and 4 million each year — are killed in the country’s animal shelters. Sadly, this number does not include dogs or cats killed in animal cruelty cases.
According to the ASPCA , about 7.6 million companion animals enter animal shelters in the United States yearly. Of this number, 3.9 Mil of dogs, and 3.4 Mil of cats.
About 2.7 million animals are euthanized in shelters every year (1.4 million cats and 1.2 million dogs).
About 2.7 million shelter animals are adopted every year (1.3 million cats and 1.4 million dogs).
In total, there are approximately 70-80 million dogs and 74-96 million cats living as pets in the United States.
It’s impossible to determine the exact number of stray cats and dogs living in the United States, but the number of cats is estimated to be up to 70 million.
Many stray cats and dogs were once family pets — but they were not kept securely indoors or provided with proper identification.

Each essay on animals rights makes humanity closer to a better and more civilized world. Please share any thoughts and experience in creating such texts in the comments below. And if you would like to hear how your essay would sound in someone’s mind, use our Text-To-Speech tool .