Yale ‘Animal Rights’ Professors: We Need More Laws to Protect Animals

Faculty members in Yale Law School’s “Animal Rights” program claim that society needs to rethink “human exceptionalism” and create more laws that protect animals.

According to a press release from Yale University, professors at Yale Law School think that humans have inappropriately prioritized the rights of humans over the rights of animals.

Law professor Doug Kysar argues that animal species are disappearing around the globe because humans do not appropriately value the rights of animals.

“Each day brings news about issues like global wildlife disappearing in what has been called the planet’s sixth great extinction, new discoveries about animal intelligence that overturn past beliefs about human exceptionalism, and the harmful consequences of industrial animal farming,” the press release reads. “But, Kysar argues, the legal system has failed to keep up.”

Although Kysar believes that society has progressed with regards to its attitudes on animals, he still believes that there is much left to be done. Ksyar argues that society needs to develop laws that specifically protect the rights of animals.

“Our laws regarding animals are often outdated, insufficient, or nonexistent,” Kysar said in the press release. “The past two centuries, and particularly the last two decades, have witnessed a massive transformation in human attitudes towards animals, underscored by fundamental shifts in scientific understanding of animals and ethical thought regarding our obligations to nonhuman creatures. At the same time, our power over animals has been amplified exponentially by industry and technology.”

Breitbart News reported in August that Harvard Law School was launching a clinic dedicated to protecting the legal rights of animals. As part of the clinic, students will be permitted to act as “student attorneys” on behalf of animals.