It is sometimes assumed that, in order for animals to be adequately protected by the legal system, their status first needs to change from property to person in one fell swoop. Legal personhood is perceived as the necessary requirement for animals to possess legal rights and become visible in law, distinguished from legal things. In this article I propose an alternative approach to animal legal personhood, which construes the road towards it as a gradual transition rather than a revolution. According to this alternative approach, animals become increasingly visible in law when their existing simple rights are shaped to function more like the rights of humans. Instead of a condition for the possession of rights, legal personhood should then be regarded as a (potential) consequence of growing animal rights.

有时人们认为，为了让动物得到法律制度的充分保护，它们的地位首先需要从财产一举转变为人身。法律人格被认为是动物拥有合法权利并在法律上可见的必要条件，区别于法律事物。在这篇文章中，我提出了一种动物法人资格的替代方法，它将通向它的道路解释为渐进过渡而不是革命。根据这种替代方法，当动物现有的简单权利被塑造成更像人类的权利时，它们在法律中的可见度就会越来越高。法人身份不应被视为拥有权利的条件，而应被视为动物权利不断增长的（潜在）结果。