Do humans have a moral and/or ethical responsibility to respect, protect and understand animals? There are two different theories of ethics deontology and utilitarian. Deontology ethical theory is based on the concept that, “An act is good or right if it is done because it is the right thing to do, in accordance with a justified moral rule or rules.” (Mosser, 2014 ch. 6.1). This is the theory I am going to use for this paper. According to the deontology theory of ethics we owe non-humans rights because it is the right thing to do. What does it mean to respect non-human animals in the way we as individuals live our lives? If you put yourself in the place of the animal would you want to be starved, beaten, or kept in filth? There are a lot of people that believe that animals cannot feel, have emotions, or show compassion. Do we as individuals have moral obligations toward non-human animals when our own behavior has very little direct effect on the overall state of things? Suppose you are a neighbor to a dairy farmer that does not tend to his animals. You hear the cows bellowing because they have not been milked and are in pain. Do you show respect to the cow and call someone to inform them of the situation or do you let the cows suffer? The right thing to do would to try and help the animal and end its suffering. You can either asked the farmer to milk his cows or offer to help him milk the cows. If he refuses both of the answers to the problem then you should call the authorities and let them handle it. If the cows are not milked then the milk will sour inside the cow and cause the cow to die a slow and painful death. We need the animals to supply food for us. Some people do not want to hunt wild animals for food because they think it is cruel. It would be crueler to let them die a slow and painful death because we did not regulate the animal population. How do these people think we get beef or pork? There are animals that are fed,