BEASTIALITY

[TheRealJoeFish]

I have an interesting question that has more to do with legality than morality - Since we own animals and animals are our property (Humans own every area in the world where animals live except for Antarctica), how to create a compelling case against bestiality when we use animals for much worse purposes?

This is a very good question.  I believe that, historically, anything that wasn't a human is property in the exact same sense as a stapler or paperweight (that is, you can do whatever the eff you want, basically).  A quick search reveals that Da Vinci might have been one of the first proponents of animal rights, although he didn't publicize his views.  Really, the animal rights movement (that is, any animal rights at all as distinct from inanimate property) didn't start until the 1900s.  Essentially, through laws and court cases (primarily over the last 50 years), we've created a sort of pseudo-"property with rights" class.  The general principles are that animals that are 1) more intelligent, 2) more rare, and 3) less historically used get more rights, but there's no real sorting algorithm.  It's an interesting area of law.