In the world of animal advocacy, it sometime can be difficult to keep an accurate scorecard between Animal Welfare and Animal Rights groups. One of the keys to telling the difference: if someone says there is no difference, they are on the animal rights side of the debate. As a responsible pet owner, it is critical to recognize the difference and support Animal Welfare organizations.
Animal welfare is defined by the American Veterinary Medical Association as "The ethical responsibility of ensuring animal well being". Some of the primary activities this includes are:
- The responsible use of animals for human purposes, such as companionship, food, fiber, recreation,
work ,education , exhibition, and research conducted for the benefit of both humans and animals, is consistent with the Veterinarian's Oath. - Decisions regarding animal care, use, and welfare shall be made by balancing scientific knowledge and professional judgment with consideration of ethical and societal values.
- Animals must be provided water, food, proper handling, health care, and an environment appropriate to their care and use, with thoughtful consideration for their species-typical biology and behavior.
- Animals should be cared for in ways that minimize fear, pain, stress, and suffering.
- Procedures related to animal housing, management, care, and use should be continuously evaluated, and when indicated, refined or replaced.
- Conservation and management of animal populations should be humane, socially responsible, and scientifically prudent.
- Animals shall be treated with respect and dignity throughout their lives and, when necessary, provided a humane death.
- The veterinary profession shall continually strive to improve animal health and welfare through scientific research, education, collaboration, advocacy, and the development of legislation and regulations.
(retreived 7-5-09 from AVMA.com, "Issues in Animal Welfare")
The other half of the equation are animal rights groups. These include well-known names like PETA and HSUS, as well as many of the local shelters that they support in the guise of animal welfare groups. These organizations:
- Advocate pure veganism
- Object to any form of companion animal in principle and any planned breeding of companion animals in practice
- Seek to outlaw all forms of medical research requiring any type of animal other than human
- Seek to outlaw any form of medicine requiring animal inputs, such as natural forms of insulin
- Seek to outlaw the use of any form of animal skin for use in clothing or other manufacturing
- Oppose any form of animal cruelty
The one goal they both share is the ending of animal cruelty. Where the true difference lies is in the definition of cruelty. To the animal rights activist, the 20,000 years we have shared with dogs as companions, cooperative hunters, and fellow herdsmen is a form of slavery and cruelty rather than a beneficial relationship for both species.
Know the facts before you donate to an organization.
For more info: Vist the AVMA.com and the Animal Welfare Committee.
Comments
You fail to mention the major difference between animal welfarists and aninmal rightists. That animals rightists are BETTER people. More moral and honest, whereas a welfarists are lying hypocritical thugs.
Animal Rightists tend to hate people in favor of any other species. But they don't understand either very well.
Steven, you are a very angry person it would seem to put up such a post. Animal welfare is an issue dear to all those who truly care about animals. I view animal rights as a cult. Adherents seem to have to allow the philosophy to take over most aspects of their life from eating, what they wear, opposing life saving research, etc. I especially hate to see the big animal rights groups headed by vegans trying to infiltrate school classrooms to sell their cult to vulnerable children. People are a long way from our agricultural past which is too bad. A lot of city and suburban dwellers are really out of touch with animals.
Thank you for an insightful and informative article that tells the TRUTH about the animal radicals and their hijacking of the animal welfare movement. For more information you can check out these sites - www.naiaonline.org www.exposeanimalrights.com www.animalscam.com
Hope more journalists will come to see through the fraud of the AR groups.
Ms Coughlin forgot to add when you talk to an animal rights extremist they will attack the person, or the message and not deal directly with the issue. Case in point-Steven. AR's state animals should not be used in research to save human lives. To get the best research results they believe humans should be used instead. Some espouse using the severely handicapped in place of animals. Looking at their position, we HAVE TO save the animals, but it's OK to abort unborn children, or do testing on PEOPLE. When they are the first to step up and offer themselves to take the place of these rats, pigs, dogs....they truly believe in their mantra. Otherwise they are just hot air. How is that moral or honest?
PETA vice president Mary Beth Sweetland has diabetes and injects herself daily with insulin that was tested on animals and admits it contains animal products. Yet she campaigns against experiments on animals -- Tell me who's the hypocrite?
I'm with Friends of Animals (both the national group and the Philadelphia-based Penn chapter) and am wondering where the author derived some of these claims. The HSUS opposes high-volume puppy sources yet commends `responsible` breeders. And a PETA rep visited Philadelphia last month, articulating the idea that people shouldn't object to eggs and dairy in foods so much as make a `commitment to mercy` by changing the ways in which animals are handled and slaughtered. (As an example, the group opposes stun baths for chickens supplied to KFC but they applaud the use of controlled atmosphere killing, i.e., gas.)
Best to illustrate animal rights by referring to actual proponents of that view, rather than citing groups which vocally, ardently promote certain kinds of handling - not rights.
'Animal rights' entails freedom, so it's actually going to be found in habitat - a point this article, and the groups it cites, have missed.
Lee Hall, www.friendsofanimals.org
Humans do not need to use animals. Plain and simple. It's not about "better treatment," but about living life freely without exploitation and dying a natural death. Not an inflicted death. The only reason we use animals is because we can forcibly oppress them. That doesn't make it right.
Maybe you should do an article on responsible breeders vs. NAIA radicalism?
One of the noticeable differences in animal welfare folks and animal rights folks is the very hateful attitudes and messages coming from the animal rights people. Never mind that humans have traditionally been involved with animals for hundreds of thousands of years, these animal rights people believe only THEY have the TRUTH about animals. Yet, their great lack of actual animal husbandry knowledge is a fact and their preference for euthanizing dogs and cats is a clue to their real attitude about animal welfare...better dead than bred. The attempt to indoctrinate young school children should put all parents on guard against the animal rights agenda! The animal rights folks have a belief system, not an interest in real animal welfare. And, they do not care that the majority of the public do like animals and want pets in their lives. THANKS for an accurate informative article!
So the American Veterinary Medical Association believes the animals they torture in training should be treated with respect and dignity. Something stinks here! "Kind Cruelty" - How disgusting for this powerful group to insist on their right to bring unspeakable pain, terror and undeserved, elongated suffering death to the creatures they profess to "love".
Shame on AVA and any human being who purposely inflicts such suffering upon innocent, imprisoned animals.
Don't forget to check the facts about the author. She is a BREEDER! Of course she supports "animal welfare" and it's clear that she has no concept of what animal rights really means. None of the groups she mentions to be "animal rights" have strong animal rights agendas.
It's funny to see all the comments saying that AR "people" have an "agenda" that we apparently try to impose on school children. Too funny.
I guess the belief that animals, like us, are sentient and therefore deserve respect, kindness, and compassion is a radical agenda. Sigh....
Thank you for such a well written, logical, and rational article.
Having been a vegetarian for a number of years and a person who cares dearly about the welfare of animals, I am never so offended by any one group as I am by Peta and HSUS. I bet that “Zack” has benefited as well has his friends and family and yes, even his AR idols from medical treatment and remedies that were tested on animals. AR people have so much hate that they twist the idea of “Animal Rights” in such a way that you feel justified being schizophrenic in your words and actions to the point of bombing people and euthanizing innocent animals.
I made a response to an AR posting once and a whole Internet campaign was launched against me, a campaign that didn’t speak out about Animal Welfare but a campaign of pure slander about me as a person. It is really ‘telling’ that a pacifist and vegetarian such as myself could be a target for attack by a vegan “animal rights” group.
Thank you Beth,
You're thoughtful, accurate and factual description here has exposed, as expected the bizarre, fringe thinking of animal rights advocates such as 'Zack', 'Steven', 'Ed Coffin'. Of course to these guys severing the animal/human bond is not radical at all, just an intellectual, social and natural progression of the human/animal presence on our planet. Now, 'Lee Hall's' comments get to the root of how radical AR groups such as HSUS and Friends of Animals suck people in to promoting their true wacko agenda with seemingly benign "feel good" propaganda to help save animals from suffering. These groups have figured out that they need to tone down their approach and their message to pull in the mainstream. Injecting subtle indicators, rather than eyebrow raising radical ideas that fills their coffers without offending.
The AR groups have done amazing damage within a short 20 year span, but with people like Beth willing to explain, and speak out we can repair the dama
Thanks Beth for your well thought out article. It explains a lot to me on this subject. I did check out the background of HSUS and find it is not the organization that is presented on the surface. They are deceiving the public with their smooth demeanor, but under the surface they are as dangerous to those who truly love animals as PETA or the Animal Liberation Front. NAIA I've found to be a very balanced group with no hidden agendas so don't understand the one comment. I agree that most of the people posting here probably have benefited or had someone they care about benefit from animal research, so get real. Life in the real animal world is not all Bambi and bunnies enjoying themselves. Bambi and those bunnies become food for other predators besides man. It's called a food chain.
Beth, anyone who claims to love animals needs to have a better understanding of what animal rights is. AR philosophy says that humans do not have the right to use animals. Whether or not a welfarist agrees w/ that, it's important to know that even ardent welfarists usually end up contributing to animal suffering. When you breed a dog, you are directly responsible for the fact that some lovely, innocent, affectionate dog is killed at a shelter. Would someone who cares about animals do that? When you eat meat, eggs or dairy from a factory farmed animal, you are directly responsible for the horrendous suffering of the animal involved.
Welfarists, whether they agree with AR philosophy or not could learn a lot from AR activists about compassion and ethical living. Please don't be so dismissive of animal rights. And, as a dog breeder, you are really not in a position to talk about either animal welfare or animal rights.
While I would never go as far to say animals shouldn't be pets and we should all be vegans, I think there's a good argument to be made for Animal Rights, especially within the realm of animal farming which is why I am a pescatarian myself.
Your points are well made, but paint a broad brush for the animal rights people. Some people advocate for animal rights in a moderate spectrum that is not as extreme you make it to be.
To the Vegan Examiner, please don't tell us a lovely shelter dog dies if you buy from a good breeder. That is rubbish. That is ubber aninmal rights radical PETA talking. Shelter populations in the U.S. have dropped dramatically in the last 15 years., so much so that animal rights activists who believe you should only own shelter dogs have been gathering up strays in Puerto Rico and other off shore places to fill shelters or they might otherwise not be able to continue fund raising. In the Northeast we have had 10's of thousands of strays trucked and flown here as there is a shortage of nice dogs for pets. One of these strays came with rabies!Getting a nice, well bred, healthy, friendly dog from a good hobby breeder is the way to go. Better than bringing home a sick dog or a bahviorally damaged dog from a shelter. If you want to be a vegan that's your business but the rest of us are happy to be omnivores like your ancestors. I see little real love of animals in AR's.
If you're truly interested in the welfare of animals, why would you breed them? Concern yourself with the welfare of animals by leaving them alone. Animals have interests and inherent rights other than your interest to sustain their genetic manipulation as objects of property for human beings.
Do you really think PETA and HSUS are animal rights organizations? The two organization work for the regulation of animal treatment, not the rights thereof. Clearly you do not have the expertise to write on this subject.
Adam, clearly you haven't been reading what Peta and HSUS print.
And no, Peta and HSUS are not for animal rights or animal welfare. They are for filling their own pockets through deceit and treachery. Bah bah sheep.
Wow, Beth you really have your head up your ass don't you? Especially that last bit with the "To the animal rights activist, the 20,000 years we have shared with dogs as companions, cooperative hunters, and fellow herdsmen is a form of slavery and cruelty rather than a beneficial relationship for both species" crap.
Of course, it wouldn't have achieved what you wanted it to unless you put something of shock value in it, right? You didn't write that because you think it's true. You wrote that to get your readers to go "WHAT??? Oh, the NERVE of them! Those devils!" And meanwhile in their heads, they're remembering that we advocate for strict veganism. So now it's "Yay! I don't have to go vegan! Not if a group of insane dog-haters are vegan!"
The smart people will see through your little trick. The dumb people won't.
Looking at this topic there are many views, but a very good interview to read is an "AgriTalk Interview" with Wayne Pacelle, where he speaks specifically about HSUS and responds to some of the claims that Beth made as well - which when looking at the hard facts you will see are incorrect. bovinevetonline.com/directories.asp?pgID=678&ed_id=5203 Also, the Animal Welfare Council is made up of many different orgs, but it's ironic that Feld Entertainment, one of the four member associations has actually been fined $20,000 for voliolations of the Animal Welfare Act, and is in court currently facing animal cruelty charges. ktnv.com/Global/story.asp?S=10565386
think-out-of-the box. can you set aside your conditioning ... your CULTURAL omnivore conditioning, and listen to your HEART? Before culture got a lock on you as a child. Little children are naturally horrified at the knowledge that an animal was harmed. If there was humane education and children were taught the TRUTH, veganism would be the only sane choice.
Anatomically we are herbivores. It is the ideal diet, supported by solid evidence of lowest disease rate. That we are omnivores is only a cultural advent.
Would you have the courage to face what's behind your food ... witness what goes on at farms, stockyards and slaughterhouses? Would you then say it's all okay? That this is not murder?
Stop evading the HEART of the issue by jumping on peripheral issues such as the right or wrongness of animal companionship of the AR movement and using that to discredit the whole movement. It's really lame.
Anyone up for a slaughterhouse trip?
PETA complaining about President Obama swatting a fly...........now that says it all!!! A little over the top, don't you think.
Are you really an animal advocate when you are merely advancing your *own* agenda? (i.e., the continued right to use other sentient beings as your property$
The notion that humans are not naturally omnivorous is a bit out there - one has only to look at our closest relatives to see that they hunt and kill other animals to eat - so the critters we share 98% of our genes with eat meat - or are they just a slave to their cultural construct?
Because our primate relatives hunt and eat meat that is a sound justification for humans to do so? Racism and sexism dominated human thought and action in the past so we should continue to do so? I'm not buying your dishonest, cold and lame rationalizations. Whatever that 2% genetic difference is, it is a major factor that differentiates human animals from non-human animals. We have the ability to practice moral reasoning. We can recognize that our actions can cause other to suffer or not to suffer. Just because other animals kill to eat, does that mean we should too? Would you base your moral decisions on what other animals are doing in the wild? Lions who kill to eat, have also been know to kill baby lions and rape their mothers, does that mean that we should be morally justified in doing the same? Some animals rape for essential survival and procreation, but that doesn't mean we should accept rape as morally acceptable for humans.
To "new paradigm" and all the other vegan souls out there who believe all this AR junk... culturally we are omnivores and anatomically we are herbivores???? This is flat out false and shows a level of ignorance that defies every piece of scientifically documented literature referring to our evolution here on earth and the human body itself. However, based on all the AR arguments I have seen so far, it doesn't surprise me in the least to hear such nonsense. Animals use other animals to survive. It's a natural part of life on earth and we are part of that web of life. We can not escape this fact. The human experience is complicated, and forcing the masses into conforming in a way that is not natural is simplistic and doomed to failure. What you are promoting is an ideology based on current societies feelings and emotions and has nothing to do with the real world. These are not things you can base changing the natural order of things on.
Beth
Keep up the good work! It is evident that the AR groups have targeted you by the number of comments that come from the AR radicals. They must believe you to be a threat, which means that you are making them look what they are - fools.
I join Beth - I am a breeder; I eat meat; I hunt; I farm. More ever, I am proud to be a human that God entrusted with the care of animals while also giving me the animals to comfort and feed me.
While the AR movement was winning and being able to pull the wool over JQPublic's eyes, they were quiet, now the other side, AW, has stepped forward and is fighting for our rights to have and own animals. The AR movement is now showing itself to be what it truly is: a radical movement of people that actually hate the human race.
Which one are you?
we are a movement that wants humans to evolve to non-violence. we don't hate the human race ... we hate the might is right assumption that most humans make. We want a peaceful world for ourselves, our children and you and your children. What is radical about that? No, you are the radical, the insane one, and always have been. YOU stand in the way of the things you say you want for your children, hypocrites that you are. If you think animal murder and butchery is such a noble profession I guess you encourage your kids to become one? I think not.
Do you have the strength of character to watch Earthlings? It is available for free on google.
Talk to me after you have had the courage to watch all 90 minutes of it. If you can't or don't want to, that should tell you something.
Also I recommend reading "Eternal Treblinka: Our Treatment of Animals and The Holocaust" by Charles Patterson. I'm sure you'll see yourselves in there.
Ahh yes... the holocaust analogy - I was waiting for that one to show up. I don't think the Jewish population as whole appreciates the comparison. We are human and yes we need to treat all living things with respect, but get real... we as a society will not become vegans plain and simple, and Animal Welfare is realistic, not the Animal Rights' unobtainable, pie-in-the-sky Utopian concept.
re: the invocation of 'God'. If animals believed in God, the devil would look like a human being.
What kind of merciful God would create animals for us to eat and use that have many of the same capacities that humans have, i.e., intelligence and complexity, ability to feel pleasure and pain, to feel the misery of confinement and enslavement, terror and pain upon slaughter, and love, affection and nurturance for their young. The ability to bond even with humans?
The notion that animals were put here for us [by God or otherwise] is ludicrous. You can rationalize it self-servingly as much as you want but many of us see right through it, as more and more people are coming to our movement ... when they OPEN UP THEIR HEARTS.
that they don't appreciate the analogy doesn't mean it is invalid. they are still unconscious w/ the same arrogant & anthropocentric thinking that you are. Please explain to me what is so hard to relate to or find truth in with "In their behavior toward creatures, all men are Nazis. Human beings see oppression vividly when they're the victims. Otherwise they victimize blindly and without a thought" Isaac Bashevis Singer, author, Nobel Prize 1978.
Yes there are families with holocaust trauma who don't give care about animals, and this saddens me immensely, but on the other hand, there is a strong jewish influence in the vegetarian and vegan movement, precisely because they DO see the parallels.
People are waking up ... isn't that what higher consciousness is about? Do you not value that? Do you not value human beings evolving to something higher ... to non-violence? Why do you stand in the way?
Thank you so much for making this distinction. Having grown up around agriculture I couldn't care more about the wellbeing of animals. However, I still believe animals can/should be owned and consumed by humans. I think so many people who feel the same way end up donating to groups promoting a vegan agenda due to lack of information.
Chelsea you make no sense and articulate nothing. How is an animal that is commodified, confined and enslaved, "well", and "being" if a human has taken its "being" away from it?
Explain to me with some original thinking please ... other than what you've been socialized and conditioned to believe, why animals can/should be owned and consumed by humans.
Zipit -- re: "unobtainable". the eradication of or social disapproval of many injustices were once looked upon as unobtainable. It is negativity like yours, or the selfishness to continue to corpse-munch or steal an animal's natural life that holds us back.
People like you are on your way out. I won't see it my lifetime but I have no doubt that if we have the luxury of time, society will be transformed ... either by choice, or necessity.
A couple of years ago, I and a few other animal welfare people "infiltrated" a group of animal rights (AR) people wishing to change animal control laws in our county. These AR's exhibited a strange thought process that didn't allow them to come to the same conclusions as normal people. It was almost as though something was wrong with their powers of reasoning. We found them to be the most unreasonable group of people we've ever encountered. I honestly feel there needs to be studies done of the minds of the typical AR by the psychiatric community.
re:newparadigm Anyone who thinks thinks that the natural order of things is old school and "on its way out" and a new era of the "lion lays with the lamb" is on the horizon, and we will all live in peace and harmony is delusional at best OR in a constant drug induced state of mind. For as long as we inhabit the earth and take up space, we will use animals for food and clothing. This may sound harsh, but yes - we will kill animals, some animals will kill us and they will also kill each other. This is a reality of living. Their is no other way...
Re:Jim Anderson
Well said, and well documented here....
I urge everyone who is commenting and reading this article to go online, everyone should have their own opinions, but look at all the sides. Mr Pacelle specifically addresses
"We at the Humane Society of the United States don’t talk about animal rights, but human responsibility. That places us more with the comments that you represent from the agriculture community. In almost al of our campaigns and activities, whether it’s Prop 2 in California or prior ballot measures in Florida or Arizona, or in our Hallmark/Westland investigation, where we exposed the terrible mistreatment at a cull cow slaughter plant of the spent dairy cows, or in some other campaigns, those fit squarely in the realm of animal welfare. They relate not whether animals should be used for food, but how they are treated during production, transport and slaughter." bovinevetonline.com/directories.asp?pgID=678&ed_id=5203
RE: Roxeytherottie
The Massachusetts agriculture community would definitely take issue with stating that HSUS and MSPCA are "aligned" with them - nothing could be farther from the truth. I'd just love to hear you say that in a room full of dairy or chicken farmers! HSUS was an Animal Welfare organization for over 50 years until it was taken over by small radical sect of AR's in the late 1980's. MSPCA... well we all know where they stand; proudly next to HSUS. You're only kidding yourself if you think Wayne Pacelle is for Animal Welfare. Next time you see him, ask him how he can survive off his meager 400K salary.... Boy, times are really tough.
Jim Anderson, I second that study of vegans. A true vegan diet has far less calcium and also lacks some essential amino acids. During my 8 years as a vegetarian, I suffered from some psychiatric problems. I don't think it was a coincidence that those problems dissolved once I started eating meat again. Us humans are true omnivores. A balanced diet including some meat is essential for our physical and psychological health.
Thank you Beth for doing such a nice job as far as outlining the truth.
Thank you SO MUCH for the clarification. The AR's are threatening everyone's individual rights to own the animmals that they love.
PLEASE evryone be aware of PETA and HSUS threat to your animals existence.
janet -- why love some animals/not harm-eat them, and not others? There is no fundamental difference between your pets and other animals. Moral consistency is at the core of this issue.
Re: SamHill
Commenting on the money side of things, The HSUS recently recieved a 4-star rating from Charity Navigator. Only 7% of the charities rated by Charity Navigator have received at least 4 consecutive 4-star evaluations, indicating that The Humane Society of the United States consistently executes its mission in a fiscally responsible way, and outperforms most other charities in America.
You can see the letter at hsus.typepad.com/files/charity_navigator_letter.pdf
Heaven help us if not for the visionaries that made our relative freedoms and comforts possible. Why do you think it is that some of the greatest minds recognized that it is wrong what we do to animals? To say that it has always been a certain way and therefore should remain that way, is writing a prescription for continued suffering ... your children's suffering. What we do to the animals we do to ourselves. It is as clear as day happening now, right in front of us.
Wake up people.
zipit -- what say you I abduct your dog or cat, enslave it, breed it to make more, fatten it up and make a barbecue out of it? how about I do that to your child, or YOU?
People who are involved in a cult are true believers whether it is followers of Jim Jones, Scientology or the ultravegans of the animal rights cult.Newparadigm is an example of a true believer.Perhaps a short trip to Iraq or Afghanistan might give a chance to see how far this philosophy translates in the cause of peace. AR vegans wage war on all who own and work with animals. No peace there at all. In the meantime, AR's hope to dismantle and outsource American food production, scientific research, pet ownership you name it. And worst of all, they try to capture the minds of children to join their cult. America has learned to feed its people good food in a cost effective manner while caring for the animals. HSUS and the vegans don't care. They fund raise suggesting they are helpign puppies and kittens while employing an army of lobbyists working against all animal use. Wake up and get the picture American. google animal rights quotes google naia
Re: Janet
The HSUS doesn't condemn pet ownership, they are in support of responsible pet ownership - in fact they started a three year ad campaign to PROMOTE adopting animals from shelters, they also have links on their website where you can go to read helpful tips for adopting a dog, or if buying one from a breeder how to make sure it is a responsible breeder. You can visit humanesociety.org/pets/pet_adoption_information/how_to_find_a_good_dog_breeder/index.html
If we r a cult then we r the cult of kindness, sanity, peace, & the best of wt it means to be human, & you r the cult of cruelty, darkness & insanity. I am nt ashamed to say that I wnt kindness & peace to prevail & tht I am stl in touch w the ability to feel & empathize with another creature’s suffering. As far as a trip to Iraq goes, they do the sm things to thr animals so of crse it wdn’t translate. As long as people r the living graves of murdered beasts there wl be no peace. Violence is rt on yr plates … yr ingesting yr own atrocities - desecrating yr bodies & tht of yr innocent children’s. If waging war means defending animals u bet we do. Those of u who own and work w animals 4 profit use animals as commodities & let’s face it u have no objectivity abt what u r doing because u are blinded by yr worship of $. We don’t nd to capture the minds of children - children in their own innocence see it right. … that is until adults pervert their minds and hearts otherwise.
"The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for whites or women for men” Alice Walker, writer
"We are all beings of light and awareness and love, born into a culture of violence, ignorance, and exclusion, taking on darkness and fear, and the core ritual used by our culture to blind and enslave us is our daily meals, where we are forced to participate in killing, and in eating the flesh and secretions of imprisoned, terrified animals. Our path to freedom lies in freeing these animals; veganism is the spiritual and practical key to happiness and peace for all" Will Tuttle
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