Refusing to eat the body parts of dead animals or anything resulting from their enslavement, like eggs or milk, is a fundamental choice that animal advocates make. It just makes sense, really. We work so that animals will live, not be slaughtered for our meals. But living vegan is about not only condemning animal agriculture but also working toward a world in which animals are not exploited in any way for human ends.

We live in a world that is vastly different from the way it was just a decade or two ago. Animal circuses are nearly history. Only the most self-absorbed still wear fur. Products that don’t involve the torture of rabbits and guinea pigs now number in the thousands.  Together, we’ve made the world a far less cruel place for animals.

So consider this: None of those victories would have been possible if we had heeded the call of people who say that the only thing we should focus on is opposing factory farming—to the exclusion of all else. Where would that leave bears who languish in concrete pits, frogs who are cut up in school dissection labs, and dogs who are forced to rip each other apart in fighting rings?

The animal rights movement is against any ugly things done to any animals, whether they are furry or scaled, four-legged or eight-legged. Our goal must be to help others understand that animals are not hamburgers or handbags. They’re not test tubes with whiskers. They’re not cheap burglar alarms. They aren’t photo props, and they are not pests. It’s about including sheep, geese, mice, and fish in our circle of compassion.

We can and should celebrate how far we have come. Animal rights are in the courts, in our universities, in the boardroom, and, perhaps most importantly, in the public’s consciousness. It’s the concerned neighbor who goes to PETA’s website to report a chained dog and then lingers to download vegan recipes. Or the video of an elephant recoiling from a bullhook that goes viral internationally.

But we can never sit back—the animal rights message must be shouted from the hilltops. Write a letter, make a call, text, tweet, post, and hold a rally. Every single word and every single deed is a step toward a future in which animals are afforded the simple right to live on their own terms.