Wikipedia:WikiProject Animal rights

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A WikiProject is a group of pages devoted to the management of a topic or family of topics within Wikipedia.

The aim of WikiProject Animal rights is to educate readers and editors about the concept of animal rights and the animal rights movement. Animal rights has been described as one of the central philosophical issues of our time. The idea of extending personhood to non-human animals is supported by a number of philosophers and legal scholars, and there is increasing support among academics for the award of basic rights to other members of the great ape family. Several political parties representing the interests of animals have been founded in Europe and North America, and in Austria each province must appoint an animal solicitor who can initiate court proceedings on behalf of animals.

This is therefore an interesting time to be exploring the issue. It's an exciting period for supporters of the movement, because the status of human beings at the moral pinnacle of the natural world faces serious challenge for the first time. It's challenging for those who rely on the use of animals in research or in industry. It's therefore a topic that can provoke strong feelings. The aim of this project is to ensure that Wikipedia's coverage is not informed by those strong feelings, but by disinterested, neutral, and reliable research.

The project encompasses:

1. Academics, writers, and activists who work on animal rights/liberation
2. The philosophy of animal rights, including issues such as speciesism, animal law, animal cognition
3. Areas of concern such as factory farming and animal testing
4. Vegetarianism, veganism, and other animal-conscious lifestyles
5. Animal rights/liberation groups, such as British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
6. Leaderless resistance movements, such as the Animal Liberation Front, and ad hoc campaigns, such as SPEAK