The Moral Importance of Persons

I think the idea of a being who can envisage his or her own future is morally significant. I don't think it's about the wrongness of killing them. All kinds of animals are capable of suffering even if they don't have a conception of their life continuing. You're doing something wrong to that person which is something that you're not doing if you kill a being who is clearly not a person and who can have no wishes or hopes for the future.