Not satisfied with that enormous share, they hunt, kill, and torture the animal kingdom intentionally and unintentionally. This is not acceptable, since it adds to the destruction of nature. Humans and animal, man and plant life, can co-exist but probably not in the long term if the population expansion continues.

We are a plague species. We have been so for 30,000 years. E.g. on entering the American continent, ancient Indians eradicated 90% of the mammal species, including the Mammoth. When the white man arrived in the 18th century he started to cause the buffalo's extinction. By 1895 there were next to none left. By the 20th they were truly extinct. Only a plague species is capable of such destruction. It is the natural way dominant species behave. We should not be surprised.

However, since the beginning of time there have been 5 major mass extinctions. Many have been caused by climate change. Most of these are the result of several factors, some in combination, some alone causing others, some all at the same time or at different times. A mass extinction is when particular species or genera vanish over a period of geological time. This time span may be as long as one can imagine. Some Paleobiologists speak of 800 million years for example. The causes of these mass extinctions have normally been associated with an extinction level event (ELE). An ELE - causing extreme climate changes (either Ice Ages or Warm Periods) - can include super volcanoes, comets, large meteors, or asteroids, movements or shifts of orbit, radiation from distance supernovas, and pathogens combining to produce either extinctions or partial extinctions. These extinctions allow new species to grow, evolve, take over, dominate and eliminate weaker species either through direct force or indirect forces e.g. habitat change. Many of the earliest mass extinctions were linked to movements in the oceans. The great continents that split up to form 5 continents, and the oceans, now long disappeared, that once existed contributed very slowly to the decline of millions of species that had once dominated the world for millions of years. E.g. trilobites. Luck played an important role in which species survived and which became extinct. Since humans are animals, they may one-day face exactly the same problem. In fact 76,000 years ago only 2000 humans survived the Ice Age caused by a Super volcano. The manner in which they survived has perhaps bestowed us with a cruel streak towards animals. Humans actually survived by exterminating other large animals and eating them.

Clearly then animals have never had any Rights bestowed on them by humans, simply because we have always culturally/religiously seen ourselves as superior. But our extinction, like millions of other creatures is just a matter of time. There are multitudes of ways we can upset our ecology, or fail to protect our planet earth's life support system (we have technology to deflect asteroids but instead use this to threaten each other, e.g. G Bush Star Wars project continues with the UK as a forward RADAR base).

People and animals are the same thing. Both are animals. Both deserve the same Rights, the same protection. Wait on, say the opposition! This doesn't sound right? After all humans are omnivores. They eat other animals.

This is very true, but unlike our Stone Age ancestors we do not go out and individually kill our prey. The prey is not hunted. It is not given any chance to survive. There is no competition in a slaughterhouse between cow and slaughter man. The cow cannot protect itself by running away or allow its bull to defend it from the deadly tools used against it. As a result we now live in a world where we no longer live naturally enough to need large intakes of red meat in our diets. In fact the Ice Ages of 76,000 years ago and 20,000 years ago where red meat became many humans staple diet, as we drove the mammoths to extinction, are a legacy of the past.

Agriculture is a recent phenomenon. About 6000 years ago men started to live in one place and farmland. At first it was not very successful. Later it was very successful, though the effort did not itself prove to be every economical in terms of energy, and some Empires collapsed due to over farming. E.g.5500 BC, the City of Ur of the Chaldees in what is now known as Iraq. Culling pests became a necessity for those who held livestock or horses. It is no longer a necessity as is shown by new legislation in the United Kingdom to do away with hunting of foxes and deer. Cruelty to animals is therefore built into our human make up. But we must rise above our human animal. We must understand our past, our present and our future. A future where animals are tortured, hunted, killed, made extinct, experimented on just for human longevity or to relieve human sickness is unacceptable in a modern age. Christianity preaches love. Thou shalt love your neighbour as yourself. The word neighbour could mean animals as well as humans. It includes all life, for all life is our neighbour in a global economy.