No, Steve, I do not believe animals have the same rights as people. I'm not certain that people even understand their own rights. I've seen a lot of cruelty done to animals by people and consider them to be lacking in respect for an important part of nature. I also belonged to the "Save the Oak" society in the San Fernando Valley. Watching a 400 year old tree being cut down to build a parking lot upset me. Living in the Santa Monica Mountains saw much destruction in our natural rivers and when these water run off creeks were removed or even moved, we saw a lot of damage to people's properties. We tried to pass zoning laws to keep people from destroying the run off areas because these floods were blamed on God and no suits could be brought against anyone simply removing the top of a mountain causing major floods below them. To me a balance in nature is as necessary as a balance in political actions.
We have a sheriff in Maricopa County who has moved his prisoners into tents even during the summer months when he saw the dog kennels without air conditioning killing the animals. He brought the dogs and cats into the prisons and moved the prisoners into the tents. That seemed a bit extreme to me but I was not elected Sheriff.
I'm not in the business of mandating any treatments of animals and I realize that certain critters are bred for food, fur, and medical science. I have always supported the L.A. Zoo when we lived in the area and love the circus for the animals. When I saw the belly bands that were put on the bucking broncos and bulls, I quit going to the rodeos. We raised dogs, chickens, cats, and horses and we took the responsibility for their well being and their health. When people drop their unwanted pets out in the ranch areas and beaches I feel for their well being and being in a tourist village it was a good thing to place these animals with people who wanted them.
I have a very old black cat sitting here on my desk that 14 years ago was dropped out of a pick up truck taped in a box at a YMCA camp grounds where I worked. She has been on my lap and desk ever since.
The difference in my work and PETA is that they want laws written by the government to mandate that furs should not be worn or animals not used for medical reasons and that kind of government control is out of line in my world. You forget, my end game is a limited government not a Big Daddy directing my actions.
In the Santa Monica mountains we have forest fire storms and not all the animals make it. We had a large animal kennel run by the county that was a drop off place for burned pets and wild life. Many of us worked to help put these animals down to relieve their misery and many of us could not ignore this need and we pitched in to help the county vets. Funny, I never saw a single PETA member show up. They will never get their hands dirty to help the animals, they simply want the notoriety of the media.
I have no idea if we have a no kill kennel in this area. If Americans want to help the animal world it has to come from their hearts not from their laws.
