Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Federal Government Assaults Animals On Wildlife Refuges

Close Up Reports

The welfare of America's wildlife and refuges is being sold for economic gain and recreational pleasure to hunters, trappers, and commercial developers. To date, there are 414 refuges composed of over 86 million acres stretching from the Arctic to the Florida Keys and from Maine to American Samoa. Almost all of these refuges have been touched in some way by natural gas exploration, predator control, pesticides, and commercial farming, ranching, and lumber industries. Over one half of all refuges are open to either hunting or trapping...or both.

All laws and regulations concerning activities on wildlife refuges stipulate that there must …

Review Of Literature On Use Of T-61 As An Euthanasic Agent, Laura Dalia Barocio

Veterinary Science and Medicine Collection

The tools of evaluating the degree of distress in animals being killed include electroencephalography (EEG), electrocardiography (ECG), and measurement of blood pressure and respiration. Sound clinical and behavioral observations should also not be abandoned in the evaIuation process.

There are many methods which may be employed to reach the same end results, but the ideal method should satisfy several criteria: 1. It should be painless; 2. It should cause unconsciousness instantaneously and death within minutes; 3. It should not cause undue anxiety, alarm, fear, panic, behavior, struggling, vocalization, muscle spasms or clinical signs of automatic activation (e.g., convulsions) before unconsciousness; …

The State Of The Economy And Animal Welfare, Michael W. Fox

Animal Welfare Collection

An economic depression inevitably means that the under-privileged are compelled to suffer, but the plight of animals during "hard times" is often overlooked. Further, the present administration's budget cuts, and the pro-industry policies expressed by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of the Interior, in conjunction with the attempted financial emasculation of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (responsible for enforcing the Animal Welfare Act), all add insult to injury. Clearly, in such difficult economic times, the needs of people will inevitably take precedence over those of animals. But a society that unconditionally places …

Humane Ethics And Animal Rights, Michael W. Fox

Animal Welfare Collection

While the primary goal of the animal welfare movement is to eliminate suffering in those animal species that are exploited by humans, this goal, although exemplary, is narrow sighted. Notwithstanding the practical difficulties of proving animal suffering, especially psychological, suffering could conceivably be eliminated, as in confined farm animals, through the use of tranquilizers, or even brain surgery. A goose being made to eat compulsively, following selective partial destruction or stimulation of its brain to cause hypertrophy of its liver for the liver pate trade, may not suffer. But it is being harmed. Likewise, to selective breed a farm animal, …

The Question Of Atheism And Communism In The Animal Welfare/Rights Movement, Michael W. Fox

Animal Welfare Collection

Just as economics has increasingly been employed as a political weapon, so religion is now being used to further self-serving goals. Agribusiness spokespersons not only use fallacious economic arguments to justify the "factory" farming of animals; they have also stated that any questioning about man's Godgiven right to exploit animals is atheistic, and perhaps an actual affront to God's will. Furthermore, taking an egalitarian attitude toward animals, and proposing that they have rights or should be given equal and fair consideration, is regarded as the inspiration of some covert communist conspiracy that is constantly working to restructure and thereby destroy …

Vivisection And Misanthropy, George P. Cave

Experimentation Collection

Goodman recognizes that it is reasonable to question whether all experiments performed on animals really contribute to human welfare, and he even concedes that the use of animals in laboratories "could no doubt be reduced further without harm to humankind." On the other hand, it is quite clear that he is completely unaware of the sheer quantity of absolutely worthless experiments currently being conducted, ,and that he subscribes to the popular misconception, deliberately perpetrated by the research establishment, that animal experimentation is coextensive with biomedical research, thereby contributing directly to human welfare through the conquering of disease. Furthermore, Goodman seems …

Attitudes Toward Animals In Greco-Roman Antiquity, Liliane Bodson

Attitudes Towards Animals Collection

Both wild and domesticated animals had a direct and wide-ranging role in the life of the ancient Greeks and Romans. The bond between humans and animals which first originated in the economic needs went far beyond strictly practical matters. It did influence and enrich the Classical culture in its major aspects from literature and arts to philosophy and ethics. It also induced people to analyze the main implications of their relationship with "subhuman" creatures. The present paper aims to survey the range of the attitudes they developed about animals. It also examines to what extent they were concerned with the …