Animal Suffering Is Avoidable
The argument thus comes down to this. Animals can suffer, therefore we
should not cause them to suffer unnecessarily. One may think this is just a common
sense concern for animal welfare without any need to invoke the presence
of rights. The distinction between animal welfare and animal rights comes
down to the meaning of “unnecessary.” Currently, our society takes it for
granted that animals will be used for clothing, food, entertainment, and scientific
research. Animal welfarists consider “unnecessary suffering” as any suffering
beyond that which is required to use the animal for any given purpose.