Animal welfare, a challenge

ANIMAL WELFARE

A CHALLENGE

It is submitted for your consideration

1. That there can be no difference in PRINCIPLE between the right treatment of Human Beings and the right treatment of Animals.

2. That the exploitation of Animals differs only in KIND and DEGREE from the exploitation of Human Beings.

3. That acceptance in principle of the exploitation of animals involves acceptance in principle of exploitation generally.

4. That candour demands the recognition of exploitation where 1' it occurs, and acknowledgment of responsibility therefor i

~ 5. That study of theneed for and means of improving 'the"condition

and treatment of animals must rationauy proceed from the departure- point of the ills inflicted Upon them by mankind, and not from that of the excuses proffered for the infliction of SuCh ills

6. . That examination proves that in the civilisation of to- day the A general ill— —usage of animals is increasing instead of decreasing.

7. ' That this increase occurs in spite of the contemporary increase Of , humane feeling in the average human being, and is due in part to general ignorance of its existence, and in part to the increasing commercialisation of all means of supply, transport and destruCtion. ' 1

8. That the exploitation of animals is incidental to most and basic to some of the aspects of modern daily life (See notes below). »

9.; That means of reducing, and in some cases of elimlnatmg Such exploitation are diSCOVerable, and 1 . .

10. That they must be adopted if the ethical progress of mankind is 1 to continue. . 1 ..

AN INCOMPLETE CATALOGUE

of forms of ill-usage of animals, occuring in connection with

Food. Slaughter of millions. Breeding for slaughter. Breeding for meat-bearing, involving degradation in intelligence and distortion in bodily form.

Clothing. Furs ; involving torture by trapping of vast majority, and breeding for killing of remainder. Feathers ; often obtained by suffering. Hand and foot wear ; the greater part supplied by bye-products of food, but some, e.g., reptile-skin shoes and garments, by killing, and sometimes breeding, creatures which would otherwise go unmolested.

Industry. Employment under unsuitable conditions, e.g., horses and ponies in mines, sale of cast horses for work or butchery overseas, overworking and over-loading, close and constant chaining of watch-dogs, use of cats as scarecrows.

Companionship. Destruction or abandonment of unwanted dogs and cats: Caging of wild birds. Cage-breeding.

Amusement. Hunting and shooting. Breeding for shooting. Extermination of "big game." Mis-use or wild animals for spectacular films. Menagerie, circus and performing animals generally.

Instruction. Public and private collections of caged animals.

Physiology. Animals used for experiments (vivisection).

Medicine. (As Physiology). Animals used in preparation of serums and vaccines. Test animals for drugs and poisons.

War. Animals used in campaigns. Animals used in "poison gas" experiments.

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NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR ANIMALS' WELFARE

36, Gordon Square, London, W.C.1. [sentence crossed out]

32. QUEEN'S AVENUE, LONDON, N.10.