ATTITUDES TOWARDS ANIMALS
Isaac Bashevis Singer (1904-1991) is a well-known name in the animal rights circle. I.B. Singer was born in a small village in Poland. His father was a Hassidic Rabbi.
As a child, I.B. Singer was emotionally struck by what he perceived as the horrible slaughter of animals destined to be eaten by people.
I.B. Singer believed that killing was wrong. He had to endure the deaths of relatives during the Second World War. He later became a staunch vegetarian. As a general rule, he opposed hunting and vivisection.
Henry Spira (June 19, 1927 - September 12, 1998) was born in Antwerp, Belgium. He became an animal protectionist. Spira was influenced by Peter Singer's book Animal Liberation (1973); a commonly read book in the animal protection circle. The book Animal Liberation rejuvenated the animal rights movement.
Spira helped to convince Revlon and Avon to end their testing on animals. He also convinced Procter & Gamble to invest into humane alternatives to animal testing, thereby helping to reduce the numbers of research animals. Spira also helped end experimentation on cats at the American Museum of Natural History.
The draize test was first used in 1944, primarily on rabbits. In this test, irritating substances are placed into the lower eyelid pouches of restrained rabbits; rabbits don't tear.
Whenever possible, alternatives to the draize eye irritancy test should be performed. The FDA supports the draize test.
Spira often worked with, rather than against institutions that used animals.
Henry Bergh (1811-1888) was born in New York. He was probably the best animal welfare activist in the history of the United States.
His father, Christian Bergh, was a successful New York shipyard owner. Christian Bergh learned his trade in Nova Scotia, Canada.
Bergh married the woman of his dreams, Catherine Matilda Taylor. The couple travelled to Europe and the Middle East. In Europe the couple met many prominent individuals. This helped give Bergh a larger outlook on life, and important connections he"d later need.
It was during Bergh's first trip to Europe that he took notice of acts of animal abuse. Bergh considered Spanish bullfights to be extremely cruel.
Abraham Lincoln appointed Bergh to a prominent legal post at the Russian Court of the Czar Alexander. While in Russia, Bergh saw numerous acts of animal abuse. Sometimes he spoke his mind to the offender. Bergh resided in Russia for a year then returned to New York.
In New York, Bergh began to take an active role in the prevention of animal abuse. He convinced the New York State
Legislature to accept his charter to incorporate the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). Hard work and powerful connections helped him to incorporate the ASPCA on April 4, 1866.
Bergh was also responsible for the establishment of a "Declaration of the Rights of Animals". Powerful men signed this important document, including John T. Hoffman (Mayor of New York), Horace Greeley, Harper & Bros., John J. Astor, and of course Henry Bergh.
The signing was an incredible feat considering the newly formed union had other major problems to contend with. During Bergh's day, dogs, cats, pigs, and cows, commonly roamed the streets of New York.
Horses were the most common and speediest form of city transportation. In fact horse powered transport was the taxi and the subway system of New York.
Carriage and coach operators were usually cruel to their working horses. Carriages could be stuffed with dozens of people and pulled by 2 horses. Snow on the cobblestone streets would eat away the horses' hoofs. Sometimes, a hoof would just drop off. Cobblestones are uneven, causing pain to horses. Not to mention the weather extremes. That made no difference to the people making money from horse powered transport. Horses sometimes died of exhaustion, lack of rest, and inadequate diet.
Dogs and cats were routinely brutally killed. For instance, unclaimed dogs could be dunked into the East River while they were inside a cage. Today, this kind of "clean-up" is performed in Taiwan.
Bergh fought diligently against swill dairies, blue meat (rotten meat from cows), horse racing, cockfighting, tail docking (horses), cruel horse reins, dog fighting, rat baiting, bull baiting (to a lesser extent), corruption, and against the outright callous apathetic attitude of the general public towards animal suffering.
Many animal fights were performed at the Sportsmen's Hall, or in the basements of buildings or saloons. The brutality of these fights was incredible. Animal fighting will be described in more detail later in this book.
Bergh's ideas pertaining to animal welfare spread westward. He even tried to halt the bison extermination campaign. Although he couldn't end it, he should be given credit and respect for his serious effort.
Henry Bergh had to endure incredible anxiety and stress while promoting animal welfare and defending animals in the line of duty.
He was commonly threatened and ridiculed by both animal abusers and passersby. One man even sent Bergh a death threat indicating the time and day of Bergh's killing.
Entrails of animals, harmful objects, and feces were thrown at him on numerous occasions. Bergh performed long exhausting foot patrols searching through the city for dog fights, overworking of horses, stray cats and dogs, drowning of dogs in the East River, or cruel animal slaughter.
Rampant animal abuse and corruption in the courts and press made Bergh's job more difficult and stressful.
Bergh founded the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) in 1866, and later helped to form theMassachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children in 1874.
The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) founded in 1824 was the first national animal society in the world. The key players in this society were well ahead of their time.
By 1840, the SPCA had become widely known. Queen Victoria permitted the addition of "Royal" thereby making it the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA).
The title has not changed since then. The society inspectors were like officers on-the-beat. In fact, the official police force came into being later in time.
Today, there are thousands of animal rights and animal welfare organizations throughout the world. Many of these organizations have websites, making it easy to acquire important information pertaining to animal activism.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)"is the largest animal rights organization in the world.
PETA was established in 1980, by Ingrid Newkirk and Alex Pacheco. Active members donate money, do volunteer work for PETA, respond to action alerts, help in specific campaigns and do much field work.
PETA concentrates most of its attention and activism on factory farms, animal laboratories, the clothing industry, and the entertainment industry.
PETA's website has regular updates and addendums for animal news and activism, found in the "action alerts" section.
Visible addendums are usually done on weekdays. PETA campaigns involve long-term issues. Although PETA falls under the category of animal rights, many of their action alerts, campaigns, and literature is also suited for animal welfare activists.
PETA sends individuals to do undercover work, and has received documentation of what they perceive (animal rights perspective) as animal abuse in laboratories, factory farms, and other establishments.
Animals can't read, write or speak. We need someone to speak on their behalf.
The Animal Liberation Front (ALF.) was formed in Great Britain. This "anonymous member organization" consists of cells of one or more persons each. ALF members truly believe in animal liberation.
ALF has done immense property damage to biomedical research facilities, snatched countless animals from some of these labs, and have removed many animals from fur farms.
The massive economic damage inflicted upon biomedical research facilities has forced the industry to upgrade its security systems and in some cases alter the physical arrangement of the premises.
Worse yet, scientists and researchers have been ruthlessly harassed, intimidated, threatened, and demonized.
ALF facts and other information pertinent to this group in brief include the following:
-ALF seeks to liberate animals from laboratories, factory farms, fur farms, and any other place/s they perceive animals as being abused or wrongly used. Afterwards, their intent is to place the animals in good homes where they can live normal/natural lives (easier said than done).
-ALF seeks to inflict economic damage upon institutions that profit from the abuse or exploitation of animals.
-ALF further seeks to expose the actions of animal abusing enterprises through pictures, videos, downloads, paperwork, etc.).
-ALF performs these actions with the intent to avoid harming any animal or human.
-Any group of individuals who are vegetarians or vegans and who carry out action according to ALF guidelines are part of the ALF.
-The ALF is a clandestine group consisting of pockets of individuals scattered without one specific overall leader.
-The ALF are in a micro-minority of the overall animal protectionist movement.
-As a result of improved security systems in animal biomedical facilities, liberations have become more difficult.
-Biomedical organizations and facilities that experiment on animals have spent a fortune in improving security. Some facilities almost resemble military bases.
The Animal Rights Militia (ARM), which was first formed in England, uses more direct and intense methods of action than the ALF.
For instance, in 1984, the ARM notified the media that a designated number of Mars Bars (in England) had been poisoned. In response, the Mars Company conducted a massive recall. Although the ARM Later admitted that the notification was a hoax, huge monetary losses resulted.
Although ARM's tactics were effective, the actions were inherently immoral and unethical.
In 1992, a similar action was conducted by the ARM, this time in Canada. Their target was the Cold Buster (candy bars) Company. Recalls lost the company over 1 million dollars.
The Justice Department (JD, not part of a government body) another animal liberation organization, supports the methods used by ALF, but goes much further in their quest for animal liberation. JD members' basic philosophy is to make the animal abuser feel what their victims (animals) feel. The legality or illegality of an act is somewhat irrelevant in their choice of actions.
For example, the JD has sent letter bombs, and letters coated with rat poison to targeted individuals. Individuals are usually scientists who perform animal experiments.
At the other end of the scale is Rene Descartes (1596- 1650), a philosopher who had strong views pertaining to animals. Descartes perceived animals as automata, machine-like creatures that could neither rationalize nor think. Therefore they"re unable to think about feeling pain as humans do.
Descartes conducted horrible experiments on animals. He believed that the shrieks and screams of subject animals were mechanical in nature.
Descartes explained the human body by using a hydraulic model. Humans are similar to machines, but possess souls.
Descartes was a man of his time. In this respect, the author is under the assumption that Descartes wasn't an inherently cruel or sadistic person. He just didn't know any better; he was ignorant.
Today, we have access to more accurate up-to-date literature regarding the behaviour, kinesiology, physiology, and anatomy of animals.
Primate literature, especially that relating to great apes got a big boost from the hard work and diligence of numerous scientists; one of the most notable is Dr. Jane Goodall.
Dr. Goodall is the most famous expert on chimpanzeebehaviour and culture. She was appointed UN Messenger of Peace.
Dr. Goodall still had the chimpanzee toy her that her mother gave her as a child.
Dr. Goodall (1934- ) has been studying, documenting,lecturing, and writing about chimpanzees since 1960.
At the Gombe National Park, in Tanzania, Dr. Goodall spent many years observing, following, and documenting valuable information about chimpanzees.
Dr. Goodall was brought into this field by the famed Dr. Louis Leakey.
In her work, Dr. Goodall gave each chimpanzee a name. This was done in an era where apes were regarded as wild and ruthless creatures. The scientific community in general did not give personal names to individual subjects.
Prior to the 1960's the bulk of ethologists were men. Ethologists could be assisted by women, sometimes their wives. In the particular case of Dr. Goodall; it was perceived as "un- woman-like" for a young, beautiful woman to travel from England to the forests of Tanzania to work alone for an extended period of time.
Dr. Goodall earned a Ph.D. in Ethology from Cambridge University. She didn't obtain an undergraduate degree.
Dr. Goodall observed chimpanzees kissing, holding hands, eating flesh (chimpanzees were previously thought to have been herbivores), fighting, tool making and use, fishing (fish, termites), cannibalism, climbing, mourning, embracing, loving, calculated killing (murder), disease, and engaging in low-grade warfare.
In 1972, 6 males and 3 females from the Kasakela group broke off to form a new group, named the Kahama group. Maybe in an act of vengeance and control, members of the Kasakela group attacked and massacred every member of the Kahama group.
Dr. Goodall sometimes aided sick chimpanzees by giving them medicine, and food if necessary. The scientific community, in general, does not condone intrusions of this sort into the natural order of a studied animal community.
The stay clear policy was sometimes so ingrained, witnessing animals dying of disease, starvation, or sickness, was not alleviated by observers.
Dr. Goodall observed chimpanzees fishing for termites in termite mounds. Chimpanzees used a grass stem, stuck it into the termite mound, and then pulled out their treats.
Chimpanzees removed the leaves from twigs before using them to scoop up water. Also observed were moods and varying facial expressions. Chimpanzees do have temperaments.
David Greybeard was the first chimpanzee who approached and befriended Dr. Goodall. Patience, diligence, and good observational skills proved very helpful to her.
Today Dr. Goodall does much work and lectures for the betterment of habitat conservation, environmental protection, animal protection, and research.
Dr. Goodall's Roots & Shoots program helps to enable and encourage youngsters to improve their communities by involvement through the promotion and care of animals, the environment, and other humans
Today, the field of Primatology is statistically dominated by women. Up to 80 percent of doctoral students in Primatology are women. Up to two thirds of individuals in field work are women.
Dr. Louis Leakey believed that women were better equipped and more likely to stay for the long haul when studying primates in their natural habitat.
There are over 230 species of primates. The great apes and lesser apes are only a fraction of the total number. There are 4 great apes species and 1 lesser ape species. All of the ape species should be protected.
Leakey's girls (Goodall, Fossey, and Galdikas) were the cream of the crop of 20th century Primatologists. Although Fossey was killed in 1985, much of her literature is still being put to good use today.
Dr. Galdikas is the world's foremost authority on orang- utans. She has spent over 3 decades studying orang-utans in Borneo. She has studied orang-utans through field work observation, documentation, and by enduring a very tough life in a rainforest half way around the world.
Tanjung Puting forest contains poisonous plants, mosquitoes, swampy waters, leaches, general deprivation of modern day amenities, and of course, orang-utans.
Because orang-utans are solitary by nature Dr. Galdikas had to be patient. She observed orang-utans eating, defecating, urinating, fighting, resting, and mating.
Orang-utans have been known to attack and then rape women,
especially while the victim is menstruating.
As with all powerful animals, field workers should never forget that their subjects are potentially dangerous. Adult primates are immeasurably stronger than a human. An adult orang- utan can easily kill a man or a woman.
Dr. Galdikas is of Lithuanian origin. She was born in 1946, in Weisbaden, Germany. At the time, her parents were on route to Canada.
Dr. Galdikas loved animals as a child. However, of the 3 Leakey girls, Dr. Galdikas was the only one academically trained as a scientist.
Dr. Galdikas has held the position of Professor at Simon Frasier University, and Professor at the Universitas Nasional in Jakarta.
Orang-utans, like other primate species face real dangers from humans. Poaching, human encroachment and habitat destruction are serious problems.
Dr. Galdikas is President and founder of the Orang-utan Foundation International (OFI).
OFI is a non-profit organization that educates the world about orang-utans and their plight. OFI returns former captive orang-utans back to the wild.
Dian Fossey was the world's most famed gorilla expert. Although she was savagely killed in her sleep in 1985, her legacy continues.
The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International still stands. In 1967 she founded the Karisoke Research Center located in an isolated mountain camp in Ruhengeri province, Rwanda.
Fossey spent 18 years of her life studying, researching, observing, and recording the behaviours of mountain gorillas.
Fossey learned how to behave near gorillas. Although it some time for them to be habituated to her presence, patience, diligence, hard work (much mountain climbing), and sacrifice in a harsh and deprived atmosphere (Virunga Mountains, Rwanda) paid off.
Fossey was a chain smoker, a known drinker, and suffered from chronic asthma, later emphysema.
People near gorillas shouldn't run around, speak loudly, make sudden or unexpected quick moves, no sustained eye contact, no chest pounding, no creeping up, and should to stay a safe distance away.
Gorillas can contract many human diseases. They have no immunity to many of those diseases. A person with the flu or a common cold can end up wreaking havoc upon a gorilla troop.
Although gorillas are powerfully built, they"re no match to an armed poacher.
Gorillas have a right to be fearful of humans. Countless gorillas have been hunted, trapped, and massacred.
Gorillas have also been eaten. Gorilla hands are used as ashtrays and heads are used for taxidermy purposes. Lowland gorillas are the most common species seen in zoos. They love bamboo shoots.
Gorilla watching tours in Rwanda began in the 1980's. These tours bring in revenues that create jobs, bring to light the importance of gorilla conservation, and help to fund conservation.
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) was established in 1948. The IUCN is the world's longest standing global environmental network.
The IUCN contains over 1000 government and non-government member organizations. Membership is democratic in nature. The IUCN is beneficial to humans, wildlife, and nature.
The IUCN Red List of threatened species is well-known and highly respected throughout the world. Valuable and comprehensive information pertaining to the status of both plant and animal species can be obtained on the IUCN Redlist website.
The Humane Methods Slaughter Act of 1958 (U.S. Federal), was intended to protect livestock during slaughter.
The Cruelty to Animals Act of 1876 (U.K.) was designed to set limits on and to establish a licensing system for animal experimentation. In effect the act was intended to professionalize and better control the field of animal experimentation.