ANIMAL RIGHTS WATCH

Puppy Justice: Not-guilty verdict for rescuers in landmark legal case

The acquittal is being hailed as a major victory for animal rights, not only because it frees the defendants, but because it sends a powerful signal: juries are increasingly willing to scrutinize the moral and ethical dimensions of laws that criminalize compassion while protecting institutional cruelty. UNCHAINED-TV: In a stunning and historic development for the global animal rights movement, the defendants in the second Animal Rising beagle rescue trial in Cambridgeshire, England, have been found NOT GUILTY. The verdict marks a dramatic reversal from the first trial connected to the same campaign, where a separate group of activists were convicted […]

Strategy vs. Principle: Has the Vegan Society changed the principle of ‘veganism’?

Academic and cultural commentators have long noted that as movements enter the mainstream, their expression often shifts from abstract principle toward clearer articulation of associated practices, even where the underlying ethical foundation remains unchanged. The modern definition of ‘veganism’ reflects this common pattern: principled positions articulated alongside their practical and societal consequences. We can be flexible in how we each communicate it — but never in what ‘veganism’ is at core. The principle endures, expressed through evolving strategies in a changing world. HELEN LOYD: The terms ‘veganism’ and ‘vegan’ are often discussed today more in reference to the downstream impacts […]

Roger Yates: The welfare grip is too tight for animal rights

Tom Regan, author in 1983 of the ground-breaking ‘The Case for Animal Rights’, was the prominent animal rights voice in a debate aired on BBCTV to an estimated audience of 1 million people. Most people in the modern animal movement have little or no idea who Tom Regan was, let alone how to make the case for animal rights. Instead, animal advocates seem to think that ‘animal rights’ involves pointing to graphic images and calling out the ‘cruelty’ and ‘abuse’ they portray. Look at the language of the vast majority of animal organizations or modern ‘vegan influencers.’ They are drenched […]