Thanks for sharing this text — I was thinking about this recently.

It’s a very gray area, because they have feelings and thoughts — that’s already well-established. Some more than others, but they do think. So by that logic, they wouldn’t be property, since they can’t consent, and using them as property would be slavery. But if they’re not property, they exist on their own, and we know they can’t seek restitution on their own, nor can they defend themselves against humans with lethal intent. It’s a really tough issue. Just to be clear, none of this justifies mistreating or harming animals.

I tend to believe that natural rights are human rights — we don’t apply them to other animal species, and because of that, we’re free to treat them as property or not. After all, how would we maintain the consumption of meat or animal-based goods without doing so? I’ve never looked into this issue deeply, and I don’t intend to. What I’ve seen from anti-speciesists is more than enough to keep me away from them.