ANIMAL WELFARE AND RIGHTS Concept Paper Animal Welfare vs Animal Rights: An Important Distinction The public debate about fur (and other animal products) is often distorted by confusion between two important concepts: animal welfare and animal rights. These terms sound similar and are often used interchangeably, but they describe two profoundly different ideas. Caring about the welfare of the animals we use – for food and other purposes – is very different from assigning them the rights that activist groups are now proposing. Do you believe that farm animals should be treated humanely and spared unnecessary suffering? Then you are a proponent of animal welfare . Animal- rights advocates, by contrast, argue that humans have no right to use animals at all – not for food, clothing, or anything else. They believe that all livestock production should be shut down completely. “Not better cages, no cages at all!” is...