Digital Commons Network^™

The New Ethic For Animals And The Dairy Industry, Bernard Rollin

Morality and Ethics of Industrial Farming Collection

There is an unfortunate tendency on the part of those who use animals to dismiss the new social concern with animal treatment as the irrational ravings of tofu-eating, ginseng-guzzling, urban wimps and bunny-hugging extremists.“Animal welfare is what we already do; animal rights if what they want us to do,” one animal scientist said, neatly summarizing the situation. However, what is of paramount importance is that “they” are not just a band of radicals; the new ethic for animals has taken root among society in general. As one cowboy in Kingsville, Texas put it to me:“Hell, Doc, if it were just …

Hsus News Volume 40, Number 02

HSUS News 1989-92

• Expanding our mission: we extend the arm of our protection to wildlife (Paul G. Irwin)
• Spotlight
• Gray wolves start new life in Yellowstone
• In Memorium: Max Schnapp 1904-1995
• Saving the Endangered Species Act: a powerful lifeline for animals is at risk (Aaron Medlock, J.D.)
• ADC's lethal actions: agency undercuts its claims of change (Susan Hagood)
• From garden to wilderness: a place to know and work with nature (Vance G. Martin)
• More than a meow: communication with the felines in your life should be a two-way street (Kenneth D. White)
• HSI China & Taiwan: prescription for misery (Teresa M. Telecky, Ph.D.) …

Indicating Acts During Counting By A Chimpanzee (Pan Troglodytes), Sarah T. Boysen, Gary G. Berntson, Traci A. Shreyer, Michelle B. Hannan

Sentience Collection

A chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) experienced in counting arrays of 0-7 items and trained for comprehension of number symbols, spontaneously displayed a variety of indicating acts (e.g., pointing, touching, and rearranging items) during counting. Twenty-five sessions were videotaped, and all trials were evaluated for the relations among number of items presented, number of indicating acts displayed, and the Arabic number selected to represent the array. Significant correlations included the relations between number of items and the cardinal number selected by the animal, between the number of items and indicating acts displayed by the chimpanzee, and between the number of indicating acts …

Wildlife Wins At The Polls

Close Up Reports

No abstract provided.

The Animal Research Controversy: Protest, Process & Public Policy, Andrew N. Rowan, Franklin M. Loew, Joan C. Weer

Experimentation Collection

The controversy today regarding the use of animals in research appears on the surface to be a strongly polarized struggle between the scientific community and the animal protection movement. However, there is a wide range of opinions and philosophies on both sides. Mistrust between the factions has blossomed while communication has withered. Through the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s, the animal movement grew in numbers and financial resources, and developed much greater public recognition and political clout. The research community paid relatively little attention to the animal movement for much of this period but, alarmed by several public relations coups …

The Three Rs: The Way Forward, Michael Balls, Alan M. Goldberg, Julia H. Fentem, Caren L. Broadhead, Rex L. Burch, Michael F.W. Festing, John M. Frazier, Coenraad F.M. Hendriksen, Margaret Jennings, Margot D.O. Van Der Kamp, David B. Morton, Andrew N. Rowan, Claire Russell, William M.S. Russell, Horst Spielmann, Martin Stephens, William S. Stokes, Donald W. Straughan, James D. Yager, Joanne Zurlo, Bert F.M. Van Zutphen

Experimentation Collection

This is the report of the eleventh of a series of workshops organised by the European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods (ECVAM), which was established in 1991 by the European Commission. ECVAM's main goal, as defined in 1993 by its Scientific Advisory Committee, is to promote the scientific and regulatory acceptance of alternative methods which are of importance to the biosciences and which reduce, refine or replace the use of laboratory animals. One of the first priorities set by ECVAM was the implementation of procedures which would enable it to become well-informed about the state-of-the-art of non-animal test …

How The Rat Turned White, Kenneth J. Shapiro

Experimentation Collection

This is the first in a three-part series on the use of animals in psychological research. In it, I describe how animals got into laboratories in the first place, and their purpose and life there. In the second, I will describe animal model research, the strategy whereby psychologists' develop nonhuman animal models to study human psychopathology. In the concluding piece, I will present a critique of this enterprise, using original data I gathered. The three articles are based on a forthcoming book, Animal Models of Human Psychology: Science, Ethics, and Policy.

Science, Values And Animal Welfare: Exploring The ‘Inextricable Connection’, D. Fraser

Animal Welfare Collection

In conceptualizing animal welfare, it is useful to distinguish among three types of concepts. 'Type l' are single, measurable attributes. 'Type 2' are single attributes that cannot be measured directly but can be estimated by correctly combining various contributing attributes. 'Type 3' are concepts involving multiple attributes which are grouped together because they serve some common function, and whose relative importance cannot be established in an entirely objective way. Individuals who treat animal welfare as a type 1 concept may propose single, objective measures of welfare, such as longevity or levels of stress-related hormones; however, this approach rests on judgements, …

Comprehension Of Cause-Effect Relations In A Tool-Using Task By Chimpanzees (Pan Troglodytes), Luca Limongelli, Sarah T. Boysen, Elisabetta Visalberghi

Sentience Collection

Five chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) were tested to assess their understanding of causality in a tool task. The task consisted of a transparent tube with a trap-hole drilled in its middle. A reward was randomly placed on either side of the hole. Depending on which side the chimpanzee inserted the stick into, the candy was either pushed out of the tube or into the trap. In Experiment 1, the success rate of 2 chimpanzees rose highly above chance, but that of the other subjects did not. Results show that the 2 successful chimpanzees selected the correct side for insertion beforehand. Experiment …

Responses To Quantity: Perceptual Versus Cognitive Mechanisms In Chimpanzees (Pan Troglodytes), Sarah T. Boysen, Gary G. Berntson

Sentience Collection

Two chimpanzees were trained to select among 2 different amounts of candy (1-6 items). The task was designed so that selection of either array by the active (selector) chimpanzee resulted in that array being given to the passive (observer) animal, with the remaining (nonselected) array going to the selector. Neither animal was able to select consistently the smaller array, which would reap the larger reward. Rather, both animals preferentially selected the larger array, thereby receiving the smaller number of reinforcers. When Arabic numerals were substituted for the food arrays, however, the selector animal evidenced more optimal performance, immediately selecting the …

Play Signals As Punctuation: The Structure Of Social Play In Canids, Marc Bekoff

Ethology Collection

Actions called play signals have evolved in many species in which social play has been observed. Despite there being only few empirical demonstrations, it generally is accepted that play signals are important in the initiation ("I want to play") and maintenance ("I still want to play") of ongoing social play. In this study I consider whether a specific and highly stereotyped signal, the bow, is used to maintain social play in adult and infant domestic dogs, infant wolves, and infant coyotes.

To answer this question the temporal placement of bows relative to actions that are also used in other contexts …

Vigilance, Flock Size, And Flock Geometry: Information Gathering By Western Evening Grosbeaks (Aves, Fringillidae), Marc Bekoff

Ethology Collection

Vigilance (scanning) and other behavior patterns were studied in free-ranging Evening Grosbeaks (Coccothraustes vespertinus) at feeders to assess how flock size and flock geometry influenced the behavior of individual birds. The present results indicate that the way in which individual grosbeaks are positioned with respect to one another effects many aspects of their behavior, especially when a flock contains four or more birds. Birds in a linear array who have difficulty seeing one another, when compared to individuals organized in a circle who can easily see one another, are (1) more vigilant, (2) change their head and body positions more …

Calling By Domestic Piglets: Reliable Signals Of Need?, Daniel M. Weary, David Fraser

Communication Skills Collection

Two manipulations were performed on domestic piglets to determine whether differences in calling during periods of separation from the mother can indicate differences in need. In both cases, the aim was to manipulate the piglet's need for the sow's attention. In the first manipulation a 'thriving' piglet (i.e. the piglet with the heaviest weight and most rapid weight gain) and a 'non-thriving' one (lightest and slowest weight gain) were selected from each of 15 litters. The two piglets were removed from the sow and litter and recorded for 13 min in separate isolated enclosures. For the second manipulation, two piglets …

Take An Activist To Breakfast?, Henry Spira

Commentaries and Editorials

No abstract provided.

Making A Difference: Part One: An Interview With Henry Spira, Joan Zacharias

Interviews

Henry Spira is Coordinator of Animal Rights International. An activist for more than 50 years, he has fought for union democracy in the maritime industry, marched for civil rights and won major battles to reduce animal suffering. He was instrumental in persuading Revlon to stop testing cosmetics on animals and has convinced major companies like Procter & Gamble to invest millions in research for alternatives to animal testing. In recent years he has focused on the plight of seven billion farm animals, including a successful campaign to get the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to end its policy of face-branding …

Henry Spira: A Fighter Who Makes Things Happen For Animals, Robert Davey

Interviews

No abstract provided.

Making A Difference: Part Two: An Interview With Henry Spira, Joan Zacharias

Interviews

Henry Spira, Coordinator of Animal Rights International, is considered by many to be one of the most effective animal activists around. “Through his work,” remarked Peter Singer, author of Animal Liberation, “millions of animals have escaped acute pain and suffering ...” In Part One (Satya 2:1), Spira discussed his evolution to animal advocacy and his ongoing campaign on behalf of farm animals. In Part Two, the focus is on Spira's strategy; developed over a half century of struggle in the trade union, civil rights and animal rights movements.

Do Animal Protection Laws Dupe The Public?, Henry Spira

Farm Animal Campaign

As outlined by Wolfson, laws give the perception of protecting farm animals but, in reality, provide little or no protection. Federal law fails to provide any protection to farm animals on the farm. Moreover, while many state cruelty laws still cover farm animals in theory, they are rarely if ever applied. And most disconcerting is the trend of farm animals being increasingly excluded from the reach of state cruelty laws.

Is The Public Ready To Roast The Meat Industry?, Henry Spira

Farm Animal Campaign

No abstract provided.

Results Of A Nationwide Telephone Survey On Farm Animals, Animal Rights International

Farm Animal Campaign

No abstract provided.

Sexual Harassment, Humiliation And Exploitation Should Enrage You. But, Are You Supporting It?, Animal Rights International

Perdue Campaign

Imagine a work environment so tough you can't get permission to go to the rest rooms. Imagine the humiliation of having to urinate on yourself because you are not allowed to leave the workline. Imagine male supervisors who try to trade sex for less demeaning work or for job protection. Imagine work so grueling it can cripple you in a matter of months. Imagine being incapacitated and then thrown out on the street with no compensation. Imagine a boss who goes to the Mafia for help when he hears you talking about unionizing to protect yourself from his abuses.

You'd …

Animal Well-Being In Zoos, Conservation Centers And In-Situ Conservation Programs, John Lukas

Zoo and Aquarium Animal Populations Collection

Well-being, as defined in reference to one's welfare, is the condition of happiness, prosperity and good health. In dealing with an animal's well-being, there are two frames of reference to consider. First, biological well-being which encompasses the spacial, social, nutritional, behavioral and reproductive needs of a species. Secondly, cultural well-being of animals concentrating on their perception of happiness, cleanliness, safety and the way the animals are treated by the people who care for them.

In this paper, we are not addressing freedom as a condition of well-being, only happiness, prosperity and good health. Free-ranging wild animals are not free but …

Preserving Individuals Versus Conserving Populations: Is There A Conflict?, Donald G. Lindburg

Zoo and Aquarium Animal Populations Collection

Summarized briefly, animal liberation/animal rights' valuation of the individual about its zoological taxon or associates in a community is an extension of ethical theory to animals, using the criterion of sentience rather than rationality for ascribing to the individual the right to an existence free of human-imposed pain and suffering. Humans are not entitled to inflict pain of any purpose, according to this view, including the utilization of animals for food or clothing, for scientific and medical experimentation, for recreation, or even for the animals' own survival as a zoological entity. Insofar as the have written on the subject, the …

Wild / Captive And Other Suspect Dualisms, Dale Jamieson

Zoo and Aquarium Animal Populations Collection

Dualisms have had a hard time in recent years. Philosophers used to think that facts and values were distinct, and that philosophy and science were radically different enterprises. While scientists employed empirical methods to discover the way the world happens to be, the job of philosophers was to use conceptual analysis to reveal how the world necessarily is. In the wake of the revolution unleashed by Quine in the early 1950s, philosophers either had to learn some science, find another job, or fight an irredentist action on behalf of conceptual analysis that is mainly of interest only to a few …

The Wild And The Tame, Juliet Clutton-Brock

Zoo and Aquarium Animal Populations Collection

The Western belief that the world is divided into the "human" and the "natural" stems from the philosophy, first propounded by the ancient Greeks, notably Aristotle, that all living organisms could be placed in a Scale of Nature or Great Chain of Being with "primeval slime" at its base and "Man" at its summit. This belief, which is imbued in Christianity and in all aspects of western civilization, has led to a great divide with "the wild" on one side and "the tame", that is all the animals and plants that are exploited by human, on the other.

Animal Well-Being In The Wild And In Captivity, Stephen Bostock

Zoo and Aquarium Animal Populations Collection

I want to compare wild and captivity. This isn't a straight comparison of good with bad. Animals do suffer in the wild, and they are protected in good captivity. I will fill out the details of this in the following sections, before discussing how captivity can be more benign, whether or not it can ever strictly be regarded as better than life in the wild.

What Do "Wild" And "Captive" Mean For Large Ungulates And Carnivores Now And Into The Twenty-First Century, Michael Hutchins

Zoo and Aquarium Animal Populations Collection

The terms "wild" and "captive" have stimulated considerable debate among academicians, animal protectionists and conservationists. Some argue that animals have a right to freedom and that there is a "moral predis-position" against holding them in zoos (Jamieson, 1985; 1995; Varner and Monroe, 1991). Others argue that modern zoos and their living collections are becoming increasing important to wildlife conservation and science, and that the collective benefits so derived may override this predisposition (Hutchins and Wemmer, 1991; Conway, 1995; Hutchins et al, 1995; Norton, 1995). The purpose of this paper is to explore the concepts of "wild" and "captive" and their …

Wildlife Conservation, Zoos And Animal Protection: A Strategic Analysis, Andrew N. Rowan

The publication consists of the proceedings of a workshop, sponsored by the Gilman Foundation, and held in April of 1994 at the White Oak Conservation Center in Florida. About thirty participants were invited from zoos, animal protection groups and academic institutions to discuss concepts such as wild, captive and tame; animal well-being in the wild and in zoos; and protecting individuals versus conserving populations. In order to maximize the time engaged in discussion, several individuals were identified to prepare target articles which were distributed to all participants before the meeting. These articles form the main chapters in this book. Other …

Guns Cause Blindness. They Don't Cure It., Animal Rights International

Bird Shoot Campaign

Is killing animals for pleasure the way to raise funds · · for the blind? Because that's exactly how Helen Keller International (HKI) proposes to raise several thousand dollars on October 27th. On that day, HKI supporters will gather in Dutchess County, NY, to blow away one thousand completely helpless ducks and pheasants.

Who's Listening?, Animal Rights International

Face Branding Campaign

No abstract provided.