Animal personhood reading answers

arivarasi

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16-09-2025

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The Animal Personhood reading answers are given below for your reference. We have also provided explanations for the same.

28. A 32. C 36. HABEAS CORPUS 40. PERCEPTIONS
29. D 33. B 37. PROTECTION  
30. A 34. AUTONOMOUS 38. ALL  
31. B 35. NON-HUMAN PERSONS 39. SUCCEEDED  

This article provides Animal Personhood reading answers with explanations, so that it can be helpful for you to identify the answers.

 To score well in the IELTS reading test, you must practice well as the reading section is not easy. You should have good time-management skills to solve the test in a time span of 60 minutes. To understand the section, refer to Animal Personhood reading answers with locations provided in this article.

Animal Personhood reading passage contain information about people who raised their voices against the brutality of humans on animals. This reading passage contains three main IELTS Reading question types which are as follows.

  • IELTS Reading Multiple choice questions.
  • IELTS Reading True/False/Not Given
  • IELTS Reading Summary Completion

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Strategies for solving “Animal Personhood reading passage”

  • ‘Animal Personhood reading answers’ is taken from the passage which explains about the people who worked to change the status of animals in the society so you should read it carefully and understand the contribution done by each and every person as it will be helpful to you in answering the reading test.
  • For locating answers easily, highlight the keywords. This will help you in the summary completion question type.
  • Read the passage thoroughly to answer the questions that require you to locate information.
  • To solve the True/False/Not Given question type you need to be good in your skimming and scanning skills.
  • It’s important to improve your time-management skills, because you have only 60 minutes to solve the reading test.
  • Make use of our Animal Personhood reading pdf to practise the reading section wisely.

Refer to the IELTS reading tips before checking the Animal Personhood reading answers.

IELTS reading passage - Animal personhood

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 28-40 which are based on Reading Passage below. After attempting all the questions, check your answers using Animal Personhood reading answers with location.

Animal Personhood

A. 4th-century-BC Greek philosopher, Aristotle, was the creator of the Great Chain of Being, in which animals ranked below humans without any reason. In the 17th Century AD, the Frenchman, Rene Descartes, considered animals as more complex creatures; however; they were autonomous without souls. After a century, Immanuel Kant, a german, came up with a proposal that animals should be treated in a less cruel manner, which might seem like an improvement. Still, Kant believed this very strongly as he thought that the acts of cruelty had a significant impact on their human perpetrators detrimentally.

B. In the mid-19th century an Englishman, Jeremy Bentham, questioning not their rationality or spirituality, but whether animals could suffer irrespective of the damage done to their victimisers; he concluded they could; in 1824, the first large organisation for animal welfare, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, was founded in England. In the year 1977, Peter Singer, an Australian, debated the ethics of meat-eating and factory farming in his highly influential book Animal liberation, he also raised awareness about inhumane captivity and experimentation. Singer’s title also gave rise to other liberation movements, like those for women, which had developed in the post-war period.

C. An interest in the cognitive abilities of animals has resurfaced, more recently. Since the 1960s, it has been known that chimpanzees have sophisticated tool use and social interactions, but it is revealed in the research from the last two decades that they are also capable of empathy and grief, and they possess both self-awareness and self-determination. Other primates, whales, African grey, dolphins, and elephants are hugely intelligent too. Questions are being posed as to whether creatures so similar to humans should endure the physical pain or psychological trauma associated with habitat loss, dimensions or experimentation after new proof of animals is introduced. Although there may be more laws protecting animals than 30 years ago but in the eyes of law, no matter how smart or sensible an animal may be, it still has a lower status than a human being.

D. An American legal academic, Steven Wise, has been working to change this. He has a point of view that animals like the ones listed above are autonomous which means that they can control their own actions, or else, their actions are not caused by their reflex purely. He wants these animals considered legally as nonhuman persons because he believes existing animal-protection laws are weak and poorly enforced. He popularly joked that an aquarium can be fined for the cruel treatment of its dolphins but, currently the dolphins cannot sue the aquarium.

E. In the 1990s, during the time he was teaching at Vermont Law School, Wise had put his students in a dilemma: should we treat an anencephalic baby as a legal person? (A condition in which a person is born with a partial brain, he can breathe and digest, due to reflex, but otherwise, he is barely alert and not autonomous is called Anencephaly.) Overwhelmingly, his students would reply by saying “Yes”. He asked another question: can the same baby be killed and eaten by Humans? Overwhelmingly, his students replied ‘No’. His third question, always difficult to answer, was: why is an anencephalic baby a person, legally, yet not so fully functioning bonobo chimp?

F. Wise represents another analogy: between captive animals and slaves. During slavery in England, a human was chattel, and if the slave was stolen or injured, the thief or violator could be accused of a crime, and compensation was paid to the slave’s owner but not the slave. It was in the year 1772 that the chief justice, of King’s bench, Lord Mansfield, implemented that a slave could apply for habeas corpus, Latin for ‘You must have the body’, as the fee men and women have done since the ancient times. Habeas corpus does not consider innocence or guilt; rather, it means a detainee can be represented by a proxy in court. Once the slaves are granted habeas corpus, they existed as more than chattels with a legal system, though it was another 61 years before the slavery was abolished in England. Apart, from slaves, Wise has also studied numerous cases in which a writ of habeas corpus in place of those who were unable to appear in court, like children, patients, prisoners, or the severely intellectually impaired. In addition, Wise also writes that there are entities that are not living people that have legally become non-human persons, including ships, corporations, partnerships, states, a Sikh holy book, some of the Hindu idols and the Wanganui River in New Zealand.

G. In concurrence with an organisation called the Non-human Rights Project (NhRP), Wise has been a representative for captive animals in the US courts in an effort for having their legal status reassigned. Subsequently, the NhRP plans to apply, under habeas corpus, to represent the animals in other cases. Wise and the NhRP had a belief that a new status will discourage animal owners or nation-states from abuse or neglect, which current laws fail to do.

H. A law professor at New York University, Richard Epstein, is a critic of Wise’s. He is concerned that if animals are treated as the independent holders of rights, there would be only a little left of human Society, precisely, in the food and agricultural industries. Epstein accepts some current legislation concerning animal protection may need overhauling, but he sees no underlying problem.

I. According to other detractors, the push for personhood misses the point: it focuses on animals that are similar to humans without considering the main issue that all species have the right to existence, habitat, and role (be that plant, predator or decomposer). Human behavior changing dramatically towards other species is important for the survival- and this does not mean considering animals as non-human persons.

J. Currently, the NhRP has not succeeded in its applications for changing the legal status of chimpanzees in New York State but the NhRP considers it some kind of victory that the cases have been heard. Now, the NhRP can proceed to the Court of Appeals, where many emotive cases are decided and much common law is formulated.

K. Despite difficulties, Wise adamantly continues to expose brutality towards animals. Thousands of Years of perceptions might have to be changed in this process. He may have lost the battle, but he doesn’t accept he’s lost the war.

Animal Personhood Reading Questions

Questions 1-4

Choose the correct letter A, B, C or D.
Write the correct option letter in boxes 28-31 on your answer sheet.

1. Why were animals placed below Human beings by Aristotle?

  1. He had doubts that they behaved rationally
  2. He considered them less intelligent
  3. He thought them physically weaker
  4. He had a belief that they didn't have souls

2.  Why did Kant think that humans should not treat animals cruelly?

  1. Animals had importance in agriculture
  2. Animals were useful in the military
  3. Animals are sensitive as humans
  4. Humans’ cruelly was destroying to themselves.

3.  What concept of animals was developed by Bentham?

  1. The presence of their suffering
  2. The degree of their suffering
  3. Their shocking brutality
  4. Their shocking spirituality

4.  When and where was the RSPCA funded?

  1. In 1977 in Australia
  2. In 1824 in England
  3. In 1977 in Germany
  4. In 1824 in the US

Click to know more about IELTS reading multiple choice questions.

Questions 5-6

Do the following statements agree with the information given in the Reading Passage?

In boxes 5 and 6 on your answer sheet, write

TRUE if the statement is true
FALSE if the statement is false
NOT GIVEN if the information is not given in passage

5. NhRP has gained success in its motive.
6. Wise still believes that he can win the battle against the brutality on animals.

Click to know more about IELTS reading True/False/Not given

Questions 7-13

Complete the summary below.

Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 7-13 on your answer sheet.

A New legal status for animals?

Arguments for:
  • Steven Wise has a belief that some highly intelligent animals that are 7________ should have a new legal status. While animals are not humans, the law has a status for 8 _________ legally, already applied to ships, companies, and a river in New Zealand. If the Legal status of animals was changed, Wise and the NhRP can file for 9_________, in which a detainee is represented by someone else. Then, more effective action against animal abusers can be taken by them.
Arguments against:
  • Richard Epstein has a belief that the 10__________ of animals is important, but if animals had rights, the cost to human society would be too great. Others, like Thomas Berry, argue that rights are given by the universe and not by humans. Moreover, 11________ species have an equal right to exist.
Current situation in the US
  • Though the NhRP has not 12___________ in having the legal status of any of the animals altered, it continues its struggle. Changing two millennia’s worth of 13________ could prove hard.

Click to know more about IELTS reading summary completion.

Animal Personhood Reading answers with explanation

Animal personhood reading answers with explanations will help you in correcting your errors and getting all the sufficient information for your answer.

(Note: The text in italics is from the reading passage and gives the location from where the answer is taken or inferred. The text in regular font gives an explanation of the answer in brief.)

1. A

Keyword Location: First Paragraph 2nd Line
Explanation: As mentioned in the first paragraph Aristotle was the creator of the great chain of Being and he ranked animals below humans without giving any explanations.

2. D

Keyword Location: First Paragraph 6th line
Explanation: According to the passage, Kant believed that acts of cruelty had a significant harmful impact on humans. 

3. A

Keyword Location: Second Paragraph 1st line.
Explanation: It is stated in the passage that Bentham, raised a question about animal suffering without questioning their rationality or spirituality.

4. B

Keyword Location: Second Paragraph 3rd line
Explanation: It is mentioned in the passage ‘in 1824, the first large organisation for animal welfare, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, was founded in England.’

5. FALSE

Keyword Location: Tenth paragraph 1st line
Explanation: Currently, the NhRP has not gained success in its applications for changing the legal status of chimpanzees in New York State.

6. NOT GIVEN

Keyword Location: Last Paragraph
Explanation: It is not stated clearly stated whether Wise has hopes of winning the battle

7. AUTONOMOUS

Keyword Location: Fourth Paragraph 2nd line
Explanation: According to Steven Wise some animals can control their own actions so their legal status should be changed.

8. NON-HUMAN PERSONS

Keyword Location: Sixth Paragraph 4th line
Explanation: It is stated in the passage that “Wise also writes that there are entities that are not living people that have legally become non-human persons, including ships, corporations, partnerships, states, a Sikh holy book, some of the Hindu idols and the Wanganui River in New Zealand.”

9. HABEAS CORPUS

Keyword Location: Seventh Paragraph 3rd line.
Explanation: It is mentioned in the passage “Subsequently, the NhRP plans to apply, under habeas corpus, to represent the animals in other cases. Wise and the NhRP had a belief that a new status will discourage animal owners or nation-states from abuse or neglect, which current laws fail to do.”

10. PROTECTION

Keyword Location:  Eighth Paragraph 4th line.
Explanation: According to the passage, Richard Epstein said that it would be very expensive if animals had rights.

11. ALL

Keyword Location: Ninth Paragraph 2nd line
Explanation: It is given in the passage that animal personhood focuses on animals that are similar to humans without considering that all species have the right to existence.

12. SUCCEEDED

Keyword Location: Tenth Paragraph 1st line.
Explanation: According to the passage “NhRP has not succeeded in its applications for changing the legal status of chimpanzees”

13. PERCEPTIONS

Keyword Location: Last paragraph 2nd line
Explanation: It is mentioned in the passage “Despite difficulties, Wise adamantly continues to expose brutality towards animals. Thousands of Years of perceptions might have to be changed in this process”.

Other Resources

Conclusion

The “Animal Personhood reading answers” article provides you with reading answers with explanations and locations, which will help you in locating the correct answers. Also, we’ve given the strategies for solving different question type. These will help you to improve your time management skills and improve your band score in the IELTS reading test.

arivarasi

About Author Arivarasi

Arivarasi is an experienced author with expertise in the study abroad industry and preparing test materials for exams like IELTS, TOEFL, GRE, SAT, PTE, etc. She stays up-to-date with university and college requirements for international students which allows her to provide guidance on course selection, documents like SOP, LOR, and scholarship opportunities. She has written numerous articles on study abroad exams, destinations, universities & colleges requirements, admission procedures, and the entire process of studying abroad. Collaborating with industry experts and counselors, she crafts informative articles that make students take the right decisions.

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