What difference does the distinction between animal rights and animal welfare make in the real world?
It makes all the difference in the world. Our legal system currently reflects a welfarist approach, and it clearly does not work. The law recognizes that animals have interests in being treated “humanely” or in being kept free from “unnecessary”suffering. These laws require that we “balance” human interests against these animal interests; despite such laws, we still have pigeon shoots, facial branding, castration without anesthesia, circuses, rodeos, etc. These uses of animals are completely “unnecessary” and “inhumane” as these terms are used in ordinary language, but they are all protected under the law. The reason for this failure to protect animals is found in the legal status of animals as the property of human beings. Animals may have interests, but these interests may be traded away or sacrificed even when the primary reason for sacrificing the interest is a completely trivial “benefit” in the form of human amusement and entertainment. As animals are regarded as property, it is
