Recognizing that the concerns of animal rightists pertain for the most part to animals subjected to human captivity, Birch and Cobb demonstrate that these concerns can be combined with those of
the land ethicist into a single environmental ethic.
Whereas
land ethicists are systems - oriented, animal rightists are individual - oriented; whereas
land ethicists are concerned with the stability, integrity, and beauty of ecosystems, animal rightists are concerned with suffering; whereas
land ethicists are concerned with the fate of flora, rivers, and mountains, animal rightists emphasize fellow fauna.