WildRights™ is Defend Them All’s initiative to confront a persistent imbalance in law and policy: decisions that profoundly affect animals and their habitats are routinely made without independent representation of the animals themselves. We work toward legal systems that require animals to be adequately represented when decisions affecting them are at stake. Just as a child’s interests cannot be presumed to align with their parents, an animal’s interests cannot be presumed to align with human, economic, or political priorities. This imbalance becomes especially visible where emerging Rights of Nature frameworks and traditional animal protection laws intersect.

Where Existing Protections Fall Short in Practice

Rights of Nature (RoN) frameworks emerging globally through constitutional reforms, legislation, court decisions, and local ordinances offer powerful tools for rethinking human relationships with the natural world. Ecuador and Bolivia were among the first countries to constitutionally recognize nature as a rights-bearing entity, creating new legal pathways to defend ecosystems.

Yet in practice, many Rights of Nature applications protect land and water at a systemic level without explicitly defending the animals who depend on them. Meanwhile, animal protection laws focus on sentient beings but rarely confront structural drivers of harm such as habitat destruction, extractive development, agriculture, or large-scale infrastructure. 

The Problem with “Balancing” Without Representation

Even within ambitious Rights of Nature systems, governments continue to rely on balancing tests that weigh ecological protection against economic and social interests. These processes are often presented as neutral or science-based, yet they frequently proceed without independent information about the animals who will bear the consequences.

Environmental impact assessments may reference “wildlife” in general terms, but they rarely examine species-specific behavior, ecological roles, migration patterns, or cumulative suffering in a way that meaningfully informs the outcome. Without dedicated advocates to present this knowledge, the balancing process itself remains incomplete. Decisions framed as protecting future generations risk overlooking the very beings whose lives and ecological functions shape those futures.

Why Representation Matters 

We are grounded in the understanding that the health of ecosystems and the rights of animals are inseparable; ecosystems cannot endure when the animals who sustain them disappear. Recognizing this interdependence requires moving beyond treating wildlife as background indicators of ecosystem health and toward ensuring their interests are specifically examined and defended.

When a mining project threatens a watershed, Rights of Nature frameworks may focus on ecosystem-level impacts such as water flow or forest regeneration. Wildlife becomes one factor among many rather than a party whose interests are directly represented. Similarly, consider the approval of a rodenticide. Rights of Nature laws might protect a river from chemical contamination, yet they often fail to account for the Barn Owls, Hawks, and Foxes who will be poisoned after consuming contaminated rodents.

Under current regulatory systems, companies are typically required to submit environmental data, including potential effects on non-target wildlife. However, there is no requirement for a designated advocate to represent affected animals during review and decision-making processes. Public comment periods exist, but they are voluntary, uneven, and lack the procedural weight of formal representation.

A Structural Shift, Not Just Litigation

WildRights integrates independent consideration of animal interests into environmental impact assessments, resource management planning, permit approvals, and administrative proceedings so that wildlife interests inform decisions from the outset. Under this model, independent wildlife representation is embedded within decision-making processes, requiring decision-makers to substantively engage with animal interests rather than treating them as optional public input.

Our Approach

The promise of animal protection, and the power of the Rights of Nature, ultimately depend on how these principles are applied when they collide with extraction, development, and competing human interests. WildRights works to ensure that animal interests are present, visible, and substantively considered within the legal and administrative systems already shaping environmental governance.

We strengthen the capacity of local advocates while facilitating knowledge exchange across jurisdictions. Legal innovations emerging from Latin America offer important insights into how ecological protection can evolve to more fully account for the animals who sustain ecosystems. By translating, testing, and refining these ideas across diverse legal contexts, we aim to demonstrate how independent representation can deepen existing environmental protections and help Rights of Nature realize its potential for wildlife.

Our relationship with nature must evolve beyond abstraction and into practice. WildRights reflects this evolution by ensuring that animal interests are considered earlier, more directly, and more meaningfully within the decisions that shape the future of ecosystems and the well-being of their inhabitants.