What is the difference between animal welfare and animal rights?

Answer 1

Animal welfare" is about general health conditions based upon experience and expectations.
"Animal rights" is a politically energized concept based upon an aggenda for acquiring power.

Answer 2

First of all, animals do not have rights. Rights are a human cultural artifact which apply only to our own species.

Humans, however, have responsibilities to the animals we own and use. We are responsible to ensure their care by providing them with appropriate food, water, shelter, veterinary care--in other words, we are responsible for their welfare.

Sadly, animal rights have become terribly confused with animal welfare, and in all too many cases, animal rights is supported at the cost of the animals' actual welfare. (Many animal rights organizations own few or no shelters and simply use the money they are given to forward their own aims. Always check where your money really goes!)

Animal rights philosophy is to slowly erode the human-animal contact and all use or keeping of animals. It is anti-breeder, anti-meat, and in the long run, anti-human.

True animal welfare means having respect for the animals we own and use; fulfilling our responsibilities to them right up until they die, either naturally or by our hand. When death is required, for whatever reason (meat, fur, old age, injury etc), it must be fast, humane, and still done with respect for the needs of the animals up to the very end.

It isn't easy to do the right thing, but this is one area where sometimes, the right thing is not necessarily the comfortable or pretty thing.

Animals don't have rights. Humans have responsiblities.

Answer 3

The animal rights group fought for the rights of stray dogs on the streets of Mumbai. Now you can see stray dogs everywhere in the city, even the airports. You can't do anything to the stray dogs. Even the muncipal authorities who used to take away the unlicensed dogs, can't do so anymore, due to the court's ruling in favour of the animal rights group. Now the poor dogs stay in the concrete jungle, where they are exposed to elements, they have become a general menace to the populace and are looked down as a menace, and it is generally a dog's life for these dogs. No one is doing anything about the welfare of these poor dogs. There is no animal welfare group to ensure that the dogs stay happy in natural and green surroundings and are fed properly.
So we have a strong animal rights group who fight for the rights of the dogs and there is no animal welfare group to provide minimum welfare to the poor dogs.

Answer 4

same thing as human welfare as in to be in good health and shape and being taken care of. Rights, To protect them when someone is hurting or not taking care of them.