Why Are Rats, Mice, and Birds Excluded from Animalhood?

I am always incredulous that the Animal Welfare Act does not consider these indisputable animals to be animals. Anthropomorphism makes animals' worlds accessible to us, but it does not mean animals feel exactly what we feel, or even what other individuals of the same or other species feel. Clearly, they are not less than us.4Follow the science: Animal minds are dynamic, rich, and deepStudying animal minds and learning what's in them and how they work can range from being fairly easy to being incredibly difficult. Why aren't myriad scientists who know that rats, mice, birds and other animals are indeed minded animals speaking out against this? Frans de Waal wonders if we're not smart enough to know what's happening in animal minds.