(Kant, 2008) Regarding responsibility towards animals, a deontologist would ask himself, do animals really feel emotions, have experiences and is treating them cruelly really okay? According to Tom Regan, as a moral human being it is our duty to protect and respect animals as if they were our friends or family. As for animals, since they cannot understand contracts, they obviously cannot sign them; and since they cannot sign, they have no rights. Like children, however, some animals are the object of others' romantic interest. You, for example, love your dog or cat. So those animals that enough people care about (pets, whales, seal pups, the American bald eagle), although they have no rights, will be protected because of people's sentimental interest. I therefore have, according to contractualism, no duty directly towards your dog or any other animal, not even the duty not to cause it pain or suffering; my duty not to hurt them is a duty I have towards those people who care about what happens to them. As for other animals, where sentimental interest is absent or low – in the case of farm animals, for example, or laboratory mice – what duties we have become increasingly weaker, perhaps