Key Concepts for Animal Rights Law: A critical guide for animal advocates (Vol. 1, 2026)
Key Concepts for Animal Rights Law: A critical guide for animal advocates (Vol. 1, 2026) is ICARE’s first e-book publication and the first collected volume of our Key Concepts series. It brings together the first ten instalments, originally released in 2025, and consolidates, edits, and updates them into a single reference that can be read from start to finish or consulted as needed.
It marks an important step in ICARE’s mission to strengthen the animal rights movement through rigorous, accessible legal and conceptual resources: tools that can be used to learn, to teach, and to support advocacy and law reform work over time.
Animal rights advocacy often requires navigating dense legal language and contested definitions. This e-book is designed for animal advocates and NGO teams who want to build a stronger conceptual foundation for legal and policy work and will also be useful to students, educators, legal practitioners, researchers, and policymakers who are looking for a clear entry point into key debates in animal rights law.
The objective is not simply to define terms, but to support movement capacity-building through shared vocabulary and sharper analysis. Volume 1 is designed to help readers (1) consolidate core concepts in one place; (2) understand how these concepts shape legal reasoning and policy choices; (3) translate theory into advocacy, policy-making, and law reform across different contexts; and (4) continue learning through further reading and collective discussion.
What’s inside
This first volume covers ten foundational concepts: domesticated animals, liminal animals, wild animals, animal rights, moral agents and moral patients, legal personhood for animals, duties to wild animals, animal welfare science, sentience, and how we assess evidence of sentience.
Each concept can be read independently, ends with an open question to prompt reflection or discussion, and is supported by a references sectionto support deeper research and practical application.
Authorship and licence. The 2025 concepts were researched, drafted, and illustrated by Dr Silvina Pezzetta, and the volume was reviewed and edited by Marine Lercier (ICARE Executive Director). The e-book is published under a Creative Commons CC BY-NC 4.0 licence. It is an educational resource and does not constitute legal advice.
Download the e-book below and share it with your team, students, or community—whether you are preparing a training session, refining an advocacy strategy, or building a stronger foundation for legal and policy work for animals.
Download the e-book
Suggested citation: International Centre for Animal Rights & Ethics (ICARE), Key Concepts for Animal Rights Law: A Guide to Critical Terms for Animal Rights Advocates, vol. 1 (2026).
