Do Animals Have Rights? Should They Be Protected?

In this chat, as I was disturbed my own furry friend (my pet cat), I start to ponder on the question of whether animals have rights. We ofcourse now of the rising trend of veganism as well as alternative meats, but are there any philosophical or persuasive basis for protecting and respecting animals? Let's chat about it in this discussion. I draw on the different belief systems from science, religion and philosophy; specifically the works of Aristotle, Scala Naturae, Charles Darwin, Rene Descartes, Jeremy Bentham, Peter Singer, Carl Cohen and Immanuel Kant to lead our investigation into this perplexing question.