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Animal Rights History Timeline » [1837-1901] Victorian » Animal Rights Quotes » Nathaniel Peabody Rogers

Animal Rights Quotes » Nathaniel Peabody Rogers

References to "Rights" of Animals in Historical Literature

We hear of the "Rights of Man." I wish we hear more of them than we do—and could see them observed as well as talked of. But who ever thought of an animal's rights—the rights of a brute. We hear it spoken of as a man's duty to be kind to the brutes—but never of the brute's right to just treatment. But why has not a brute rights, as well as men? What is the foundation of human rights, that is not foundation, for animal rights also? A man has rights—and they are important to him because their observance is necessary to his happiness, and their violation hurts him. He has a right to personal liberty. It is pleasant to him—permanently pleasant and good. It is therefore his right. And every creature—or I will call it, rather, every existence, (for whether created or not, they certainly exist, they are) every existence, that is capable of enjoying of suffering, has its rights, and just mankind will regard them. And regard them as rights. The horse has rights. The dog. The cat, and the rat even. Real rights. And these rights are sacred. They are not to be invaded.