Join the Movement:

End Speciesism

Oppression of any kind is wrong, no matter the species of the victim. We’re all the same in the ways that matter most—so we’re calling for an end to speciesism.

Students Opposing Speciesism (SOS) is taking to the streets with the message that everyone has inherent value and is deserving of consideration—regardless of race, age, class, gender, ability, sexual orientation, or species.

What Is Speciesism?

Animals aren’t test subjects, food ingredients, fabrics, playthings, trophies, or tools. They’re complex individuals with emotional lives. (You should know—you’re an animal, too.)

two piglets at sanctuaryJo-Anne McArthur/We Animals Media

two cows head to headJo-Anne McArthur/We Animals Media

But from the time we’re young, we’re conditioned to view some species, such as humans and the cats and dogs who share our homes, as worthy of respect and compassion and others—like animals used for experimentation, food, clothing, and entertainment—as unworthy of the same consideration.

Animals Suffer Because of Speciesism

More than 110 million animals—including mice, rats, frogs, rabbits, primates, cats, and dogs—suffer and die in the U.S. every year in cruel chemical, drug, food, household product, and personal-care product tests; in medical training exercises and curiosity-driven experiments at universities; and for classroom biology experiments and dissection.

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Animals used for food are crammed by the thousands into filthy, windowless sheds or stuffed into wire cages or other cramped enclosures.

https://headlines.peta.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/turkeys-in-a-shed-1024x684.jpgStefano Belacchi / We Animals Media

Billions of fish—along with “nontarget” animals like sharks and sea turtles—are caught and killed each year by the commercial fishing industry.

https://headlines.peta.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/fish-in-a-net-1024x683.jpgSelene Magnolia / We Animals Media

Skin is torn off animals to make leather, birds are held down while fistfuls of feathers are ripped from their sensitive skin, and small animals are caged for life before being violently killed for their fur. Sheep are stomped on and beaten in the wool industry, alpacas are forcibly restrained and mutilated for their fleece, and goats scream in pain as their hair is torn out with sharp metal combs for cashmere.

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Elephants, bears, apes, and other animals are kept chained or caged in barren and filthy enclosures, regularly separated from their family and friends, and sometimes carted across the country inside cramped trailers. They’re coerced into doing tricks under the threat of physical punishment for the sake of human entertainment. Many are forced to perform until they die.

https://headlines.peta.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/brown-bear-in-zoo-1024x682.jpgJo-Anne McArthur / Born Free Foundation / We Animals Media

Mistreating Others Because of Speciesism Is Wrong

  • It’s speciesist to believe that the differences between humans and other animals justify torturing and killing those we don’t relate to.
  • It’s speciesist to exploit others just because we can and to dismiss their suffering because we don’t understand them.
  • It’s speciesist to decide that our own comfort or unwillingness to change our habits is more important than animals’ lives.

We Are the Generation That Will End Human Supremacism

How can you help #EndSpeciesism? Join the movement—take to the streets to demand a societal shift in the way humans think about other animals.

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Join SOS