You have NO right to hurt another life, unless doing so is the only action that determines your survival. Hurting or killing for the sake of hurting or killing is a purely destructive action that serves no rational purpose. If we cannot justify an animal’s right to live and not be harmed, then we cannot justify a human’s right to live and not be harmed because a human is also an animal and cannot be rationally proven to be more deserving of life and happiness.
You cannot rationalize a right by saying “because”
HollowApollo, there is only one fundamental right: the right to life. Liberty, property and happiness are corollaries of this right. I think it may help you to understand as to why man has this fundamental right to life, while other animals do not. One way to start learning about man’s right to life is to read these passages: Individual Rights
“A “right” is a moral principle defining and sanctioning a man’s freedom of action in a social context. There is only one fundamental right (all the others are its consequences or corollaries): a man’s right to his own life. Life is a process of self-sustaining and self-generated action; the right to life means the right to engage in self-sustaining and self-generated action—which means: the freedom to take all the actions required by the nature of a rational being for the support, the furtherance, the fulfillment and the enjoyment of his own life. (Such is the meaning of the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.)” -Ayn Rand
It is only after you have this understanding of why man, the rational animal, has the right to life while other animals do not, that one can see trying to uphold animals with a right to life, will as a consequence, lower the life of man. Have you asked yourself what would follow if the government, rather than upholding individual rights, would instead push legislation to prevent the harming,killing and “inhumane acts” used of animals? The only way to do this, be it by environmental groups or a PETA member is through the use of force.