Animals don't have rights. The property-owning rights of humans are restricted when the property in question is an animal.
For the most part, these additional restrictions are to prevent animal owners from practicing monstrous acts on the animal. Failure to abide by those restrictions is a social signal that the human may not be able to behave in a civilized fashion with other humans. The restrictions have the outward appearance of protecting animals from cruelty, but the actual intent is for civilization to identify and protect itself against cruel humans.
Animal rights advocates have lost the plot. Certain interactions, like the exchange of rights, can only appear between equals. With the possible exception of animals like the great apes, corvids, pachyderms, and cetaceans, the vast majority of species are strictly inferior to Homo sapiens with its awesome powers of language, social coordination, and tool use.
For the most part, these additional restrictions are to prevent animal owners from practicing monstrous acts on the animal. Failure to abide by those restrictions is a social signal that the human may not be able to behave in a civilized fashion with other humans. The restrictions have the outward appearance of protecting animals from cruelty, but the actual intent is for civilization to identify and protect itself against cruel humans.
Animal rights advocates have lost the plot. Certain interactions, like the exchange of rights, can only appear between equals. With the possible exception of animals like the great apes, corvids, pachyderms, and cetaceans, the vast majority of species are strictly inferior to Homo sapiens with its awesome powers of language, social coordination, and tool use.