allows us to view animals as our resources, here for us – to be eaten, or surgically manipulated, or put in our cross hair for sport or money (Regan, 1995:72). Speciesism represents prejudice towards protecting the welfare of one species and as a result, neglecting the rights and well being of any species that falls outside the existing biological barriers. Thus for humankind to discriminate against non-humans in order to gain personal gratification or economic advancement is an offence against equality; parallel to racism, sexism, ageism and the like. To avoid speciesism we must allow that beings, which are similar in all relevant respects, have a similar right to life – and mere membership in our own biological species cannot be a morally relevant criterion for this right (Singer, 1975:21). Thus in order for humans to recognise that the inherent value of all animals is independent of biological and physiological factors that define the human species, human
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