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“Historically, man has expanded the reach of his ethical calculations, as ignorance and want have receded, first beyond family and tribe, later beyond religion, race, and nation.
“To bring other species more fully into the range of these decisions may seem unthinkable to moderate opinion now. One day, decades or centuries hence, it may seem no more than ‘civilized’ behavior requires.”
“What
Humans Owe to Animals,” The Economist, 8/19/95
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If the anticruelty laws that protect pets were applied to farmed animals, many of the most routine U.S. farming practices would be illegal in all 50 states. Are dogs and cats really so different from chickens, turkeys, pigs, and cows that one group deserves legal protection from cruelty, while the other deserves virtually no protection at all?
Disregard for farmed animals persists because few people realize the ways in which these individuals are mistreated, and even fewer actually witness the abuse. Once aware, most people are appalled—not because they believe in animal rights, but because they believe that animals feel pain and that morally decent human beings should try to prevent pain whenever possible.
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| Male chicks, of no economic value
to the egg industry, are found dead and dying in
a dumpster behind a hatchery (click images for full views; courtesy of Farm Sanctuary). Typically they are
gassed2
or ground up alive.9
Other standard agricultural practices—often
performed without anesthesia—include castration,
tail docking, debeaking, dehorning, toe trimming,
and branding.9 |
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“True human goodness, in all its purity and freedom, can come to the fore only when its recipient has no power.
“Humanity’s true moral test, its fundamental test (which lies deeply buried from view), consists of its attitude towards those who are at its mercy: animals.
“And in this respect humankind has suffered a fundamental debacle, a debacle so fundamental that all others stem from it.”
Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being,
1984
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“Humans—who
enslave, castrate, experiment on, and fillet other
animals—have had an understandable penchant
for pretending animals do not feel pain. A sharp distinction
between humans and ‘animals’ is essential
if we are to bend them to our will, make them work
for us, wear them, eat them—without any disquieting
tinges of guilt or regret.
“It is unseemly of us, who often behave so unfeelingly
toward other animals, to contend that only humans
can suffer. The behavior of other animals renders
such pretensions specious. They are just too much
like us.”
Dr. Carl
Sagan & Dr. Ann Druyan, Shadows of Forgotten
Ancestors, 1992 |
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| There are no laws protecting hens
while on the farm. This photo was taken by COK during their February 2005 investigation of a Maryland egg farm. For more information, see EggIndustry.com |
A Healthy Way to Live 
