Human/Non-Human Animals

I’ve always had my own my own views on what distinguished human animals from non-human animals, but after reading several excerpts from The Animal Ethics Reader I was introduced to certain factors I have never thought of before. First off, human animals are easy to distinguish because they consist of just people. However non-human animals can be broken down to several other sub categories such as domesticated animals, wild animals, and work animals (cannot think of correct name, but like farm animals, lab animals and whatnot). Of course one obvious distinction between people and all non-human animals is the fact that people are dependant creatures that live a civilized lifestyle. Tom Regan in his The Case For Animal Rights makes the distinction with using moral agents and moral patients. Moral agents are individuals that are held accountable for their actions, while moral patients lack such skills to be held accountable. Another thing is rights. Humans of course have rights and so forth, but only certain animals receive them. For example, today if someone was to kill a dog, the consequences are almost as if they murdered a baby. Yet the hunting of certain animals is still a common activity and perfectly legal. So domesticated and wild animals fall into two totally separate groups. I feel it is all very complicated because certain people want certain animals to some rights but not others. I feel that there are two groups. Humans and non-humans. If you are not human, than too bad. In this world it is the survival of the fittest and that’s how it has been for hundreds of years.