Planet Debate 2011 September/October l-d release Animal Rights


Releasing Apes from Confinement Counterproductive to Their Welfare



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Releasing Apes from Confinement Counterproductive to Their Welfare


RELEASE COUNTPRODUCTIVE

Laura G. Kniaz, J.D., University at Buffalo, 1995 Buffalo Law Review (: Animal Liberation and the Law: Animals Board the Underground Railroad) 1995 (lexis)



Many of the nonhumans stolen from animal enterprises suffer greatly when they are released from confinement. n186 Author Robert Garner rebuts this argument:
The animal research community often claims that this [animal release] is irresponsible either because the rescued (or stolen, depending on your point of view) animals are incapable of survival in the wild or because they would make unsuitable pets.
QUALITY OF LIFE FOR CONFINED ANIMALS OFTEN SUPERIOR TO LIFE IN THE WILD

Cass Sunstein, Law Professor, University of Chicago, 2004, Animal Rights: Current debates and new directions, eds. Sunstein & Nussbaum, p. 10

But what if certain practices, such as confinement in zoos or other facilities, can be undertaken in a way that is consistent with animal welfare? What if some animals would do well, or best, under human control? Nature can be very cruel, after all, and many animals will live longer lives with human beings than in the wild. Of course longer is not necessarily better. But, we could imagine that many lions, elephants, giraffes, and dolphins could, in fact, have better lives with human assistance, even if confined, than in their own habitats. If this is so, it is not simple to see what sort of response might be made by those who believe in animal autonomy. Perhaps autonomy advocates disagree on the facts, not on the theoretical issue, and think it highly unlikely, in most cases, that wild animals can have decent lives under human control.

**Factory Farm Neg**

Humane Treatment of Farm Animals Increasing


GROWING MOVE AMONG STATES AND OTHER COUNTRIES TO IMPROVE FARM ANIMAL WELFARE

Peter Singer, Professor Ethics-Princeton University, 2008, The Future of Animal Farming: renewing the ancient contract, eds. M. Dawkins & R. Bonney, p. viii

This strategy can succeed. While I was writing this foreword Oregon became the third state in the US to ban sow stalls – known in America as gestation crates—which are commonly used to confine pregnant sows in metal crates too small for them even to turn around or walk a few steps. Earlier, Florida and Arizona had passed similar bans as a result of referenda initiated by the signatures of large numbers of voters. Significantly, the law in Oregon was the first in the US to come about through the normal process of representative democracy at the state level. The European Union and Australia have also agreed to prohibit sow stalls for most of the sow’s pregnancy. In addition to these legal changes, the suffering of an even larger number of pigs will in future be reduced by the decisions of Smithfield Foods and Maple Leaf Foods – the largest pork producers in the US and Canada, respectively – to phase out sow stalls.
HUMANE ALTERNATIVES TO ANIMAL PRODUCTION ARE POSSIBLE TO ACHIEVE THROUGH DEMOCRATIC PROCESSES

Peter Singer, Professor Ethics-Princeton University, 2008, The Future of Animal Farming: renewing the ancient contract, eds. M. Dawkins & R. Bonney, p. viii-ix

Of course, getting rid of sow stalls is only the beginning. It doesn’t mean that pigs will be able to go outside, to roam around a pasture, or to have straw rather than bare concrete to lie down on. Even when sow stalls have gone entirely, there will still be a long way to go. But the readiness of voters, legislatures, and big corporate animal producers to make changes shows that animal suffering can be reduced, on a very large scale, by democratic, nonviolent processes. Obviously, as long as most people continue to want to eat animal products, a key role in these decisions is the demonstrated viability of alternative ways of meeting that demand. That is what the Food Animal Initiative is trying to achieve. When I toured their facilities at Wytham a few years ago, I was impressed by the significantly better quality of lives for the animals kept there than in the more conventional commercial operations I have seen over the years. Yet the farm at Wytham is a viable commercial operation, paying its own way without the assistance of sponsorships or research subsidies.
ANIMAL WELFARE PROTECTION IMPROVING ACROSS THE BOARD

Erik Marcus, Editor-Vegan.com, 2005, Meat Market: animals, ethics and money, p. 63-4



Improved attitudes toward animals have led to progress on many fronts. The fur industry has been severely weakened by the work of animal activists. Seventeen cities, out of concerns over cruelty, have banned circuses that feature animals. And between 1990 and 2003, voters passed seventeen of the twenty-three animal welfare initiatives that were put on state ballots. These ballot initiatives have delivered some of the most strategically significant victories yet won by animal protectionists. Meanwhile, penalties for animal cruelty are becoming more widely enforced. The year 1999 marked the first time that factory farm workers received felony-level indictments for animal cruelty. And in 2002, three men pleaded guilty to felony animal abuse charges for torturing a calf to death. This case set another encouraging legal precedent: in addition to the felonies, the men were also convicted of misdemeanor offenses for tormenting the calf in front of his mother, thereby inflicting psychological distress on the cow.

Factory Farms More Humane than Alternatives


BIGGER CAFOs MORE HUMANE THAN SMALLER AFOs AND GRAZING OPERATIONS

Bernard E. Rollin, Professor of Philosophy, Colorado State University, 1995, Farm Animal Welfare: social, bioethical, and research issues, p. 11

It is important to note that not all confinement operations would treat the injured sow in this manner. The large, highly capitalized hog operations I visited assured me that they would euthanize any such injured animal immediately. It is generally the smaller operations, run on a shoestring, that fall prey to the sort of problem described. It is also important to note that highly extensive agriculture can also lead to suffering by virtue of neglect. In New Zealand, many sheep are unattended at lambing, and if climatic conditions are not ideal, animals can be lost. Thus extensive agriculture, in and of itself, does not ensure that good husbandry is practiced.



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