Animal liberation is the movement to protect (non-human) animals from being exploited by humans. It is a radical movement, insofar as it aims not merely to attain more humane treatment for animals, but to include many animals within the moral community — that is, all those whose basic interests (for example, in not being made to suffer unnecessarily) ought to be given the same consideration as our own similar interests. The claim, in other words, is that these animals must no longer be regarded legally or morally as property, or treated merely as resources for human purposes.
The term "animal liberation" is commonly used synonymously with "animal rights". Strictly speaking, however, animal rights is narrower in its application, and properly refers to the idea that moral rights ought to be ascribed to many animals. Some advocates of animal liberation (in particular, utilitarians and ecofeminists) find the notion of moral rights philosophically problematic. The term "animal liberation" was popularized by Australian philosopher Peter Singer, in his book of that name, first published in 1975. Since then, hundreds of books and articles have debated the topic of the moral status of animals, and activism by advocates of animal liberation (or "animal rights") has become widespread and controversial.
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