Do animals have rights?

For more than 50 years, science has been continually challenging our perception of the animal kingdom. Today, animals are known to be infinitely more intelligent, communicative and sensitive than we ever imagined. Can we change the status of animals to improve the well-being of livestock on farms, in abattoirs or research laboratories? Or should we go even further and abolish all forms of animal exploitation, considering other species as genuine rights-bearing beings? 

Do Animals Have Rights? hears the points of view of animal behaviorists, philosophers, jurists and politicians, who debate the issues and explain the huge consequences – economic, legal, social and ethical – which lie behind the question of animals’ status. Blending on-the-ground investigation and footage shot all around the world, this film reframes the terms of a very topical subject.