FAQ
What was going to be a 5-line post has grown out of control. Oh well. The “Page Down” button is your friend.
Frequently Asked Questions about a variety of animal issues:
- General
- Hunting
As a clarification of where I stand, my personal attitude is more “animal rights”. My public attitude is more “animal welfare”, because I think society in general has an easier time accepting the word “welfare” over “rights”. I prefer “animal advocacy”, which sounds like a “Via Media” — and which can incorporate the best of both definitions, without the worst connotation of either. (But I’m sure I irritate a few people, no matter how I choose to label myself.)
The Anglican Society for the Welfare of Animals’ official statements on the use of animals for research and on factory farming are posted below. They also have an official position on hunting. But I don’t have access to it at the moment.
“We are greatly concerned at the suffering caused to many animals in the course of research and we believe that the goal should be an urgent end to all experimentation on live animals. We support those organisations which actively and responsibly promote and develop alternative methods. As we work to achieve the end of animal experimentation, we furthermore, given the current situation, urge that governments, industry and the international scientific community provide both the will and the funding to (1) take immediate steps worldwide to eliminate pointless or needlessly duplicated experiments (2) improve techniques so that the number of experiments using animals and the number of animals used are radically reduced and (3) where use of animals at present continues, adopts international guidelines to ensure that animals are protected at all times from pain and distress, not only in actual experiments but in the sources of supply and in their living conditions. Finally, we appeal most strongly for full implementation of EU Directive 86/609 which states that animal experiments should not be performed where non-animal procedures are available, and that the European Commission itself must encourage the development and validation of alternative methods.”
“[T]he Anglican Society for the Welfare of Animals opposes all farming systems which frustrate the strong needs of animals to practice exploratory, social and grooming behaviour and deprive them of sufficient space for movement and comfort. In particular we oppose cages and barren environments in which animals live on metal slats. We also oppose breeding and feeding methods, designed to speed food production, which distort and deform the bodies of animals causing many to suffer. ASWA believes that, if animals are to be slaughtered for food, maximum effort must be made to lessen pre-slaughter stress and suffering and is opposed to long-distance transportation and any slaughter methods likely to result in pain and terror prior to death.”
As posted elsewhere, please choose kindly when giving to disease-related charities. Below is a link to a site that lists charities that fund animal research and charities that don’t. Please bookmark that site, because some of the names are very similar. This is especially important to know when your employer is promoting a cause, like mine does so often. It is also important to keep in mind when a family member dies, and the survivors are thinking about where they’d like memorial gifts to be sent. Funeral homes may have an easy answer for grieving families, with ready-made envelopes for some charitable organization. It is important to know whether that organization funds animal research, so another charity can be chosen.
http://www.caringconsumer.com/searchcharities.html
And on that same site, you can find companies that do or do not test consumer products on animals.
And while we’re on the topic, here is a page that shows which pet food companies don’t test on pets:
http://www.peta.org/feat/iams/food.html
Please note that two of the brands listed are also vegan.
(There are other vegan brands available, and also recipes for homemade vegan pet food. But they haven’t signed on to this list. So it isn’t known whether or not they do animal testing. So if you want to try a 100% cruelty-free option on your cat or dog, try Evolution or Harbinger for a New Age, or Natural Life’s vegan variety.)