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that shape what is deemed to be criminal and harmful and what is
not. In terms of animal rights and welfare, this means that the 'tree' is
indeed more important than the 'forest'.
Individual instances of animal abuse mostly refer to animals
considered as individuals (companion animals, pets) with a
visible and acknowledged personality and biography. On the
other hand, the subjectivity of the millions of animals being
exploited in animal husbandry, laboratories and other large
scale processes of animal abuse, is invisible and is concealed
behind the anonymous production quotas and mortality
rates. (Cazaux, 1999: 120-1)
However, the emphasis on the individual within institutionalised
animal welfare regimes is turned on its head when considering animal
protection as this pertains to species as a whole. For the latter it is the
population that matters, not the individual.
Welfarists take the view that using animals to satisfy human desires
is acceptable, and they emphasise the need to treat animals well in the
process of using them. Abolitionists, on the other hand, see any such uses
of animals as a fundamental violation of their right not to be 'property',
and they argue that all uses of animals to satisfy human desires must cease
altogether. Francione (2008) argues that the primary focus of animal
welfare is the regulation of animal treatment whereas the animal rights
position seeks to abolish all animal use: 'The abolitionist position rejects
regulation on theoretical grounds (even “humane” animal use cannot
be justified morally) as well as practical grounds (regulation does not
sufficiently protect animal interests and even facilitates the continued
social acceptance of animal use)' (Francione, 2008: 2). Francione's
solution is veganism, which means not eating meat, dairy, eggs, honey
and other animal products, or wearing or using animal products or
products tested on animals.
As explained by Regan (2010), the recurring challenges raised against
the animal rights view commonly include questions about where
to draw the line that separates animals, including humans and other
animals, from each other. To put it differently, which class of animals
'deserve' the rights and respect accorded to humans? One response
is that:
basic rights are possessed by those animals who bring a
unified psychological presence to the world - those animals,
in other words, who share with humans a family of cognitive,
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