Maybe the antelope was a bad example because they aren’t intelligent enough or conscious in the right way to deserve our protection. So let’s limit the discussion to dolphins. There are people who believe that humans killing dolphins is murder, that dolphins are as intelligent as people, just in a different way. Whether or not you agree with them, my point is that even these people don’t advocate changing how the dolphins live their lives, only that we as humans shouldn’t harm them. I imagine our position with aliens would be similar: for humans to do them harm is morally wrong for humans, but they have their own way of being and we should leave them to find their own way.
Maybe the antelope was a bad example because they aren’t intelligent enough or conscious in the right way to deserve our protection. So let’s limit the discussion to dolphins. There are people who believe that humans killing dolphins is murder, that dolphins are as intelligent as people, just in a different way. Whether or not you agree with them, my point is that even these people don’t advocate changing how the dolphins live their lives, only that we as humans shouldn’t harm them. I imagine our position with aliens would be similar: for humans to do them harm is morally wrong for humans, but they have their own way of being and we should leave them to find their own way.