The Animal Manifesto (15 page)

In July 2008 I was sitting in a hotel restaurant in Budapest, Hungary, when four women on holiday from the United Kingdom sat down next to me. One asked another what she was going to eat, and her friend responded, “Oh, some bacon.” Then they started a lively conversation about their previous late night out on the town. A few minutes later, a friend joined me at my table, and we began to talk with the British women. We told them we were attending an international meeting on the behavior of dogs, and they laughed that a meeting about dogs would be important enough to attract people from all over the world. They asked what sort of research my friend and I did, and when I mentioned that I was interested in animal emotions, they seemed to get more interested. Eventually, the conversation shifted to how we use animals, how factory farming works, and how factory-farmed animals are treated in the process of becoming a meal. Led by their questions, and without being preachy or prescriptive, I talked about sentience and suffering and pointed out that the pig who became the bacon on their plates had suffered greatly along the way. One woman, Diana, was openly moved and agreed to cut back on her consumption of meat, even though she wasn’t ready to “go veggie.”

Her friends agreed, and while I don’t know what they did after we parted, I do believe that our brief conversation made a difference. They’d never really put it together, they said. But we all agreed that each of us is responsible for the decisions we make and that we could all do more to expand our compassion footprint.

It’s really easy to make a positive and noble difference in the lives of animals, and we can all begin right now. We don’t have to go out and protest or found a movement. We just have to eat compassionately. We can make an immediate difference with every meal. We don’t necessarily need to go “cold turkey” and stop eating meat entirely this second, but it’s extremely easy to cut back, and to do it slowly and steadily so it’s a progressive and lasting change. Many people with whom I speak tell me that they know that the animals they eat suffer immensely, but then they dismissively say, “Oh, but I love my steak.” I acknowledge their tastes, but then explain to them how easy it would be for them to expand their compassion footprint by making more humane choices; many say they’ll try.

It’s getting easier to avoid meat from factory farms, and to avoid wearing fur and leather. Eliminating meat entirely from our diet is one of the healthiest and most compassionate choices we can make — for animals, for the environment, and for ourselves — but even dedicated carnivores can make a huge positive difference simply by cutting back. We increase our compassion footprint and decrease our carbon footprint whenever we choose not to eat or wear animals. In a talk I attended by Thich Nhat Hanh in August 2007, this awe-inspiring man suggested that, as a start, humans should cut back on meat consumption by 50 percent. This obviously would add more compassion to the world.

A new term that links these issues is “environmental vegetarianism.” Environmental vegetarians seek to reduce firstworld consumption of meat, especially in the United States. According to the United Nations Population Fund, “Each U.S. citizen consumes an average of 260 lbs. of meat per year, the world’s highest rate. That is about 1.5 times the industrial world average, three times the East Asian average, and 40 times the average in Bangladesh.” Furthermore, “the ecological footprint of an average person in a high-income country is about six times bigger than that of someone in a low-income country, and many more times bigger than in the least-developed countries.” A 2008 essay in
New Scientist
magazine noted, “Switching from the average American diet to a vegetarian one could cut emissions by 1.5 tonnes of CO
₂
per person.”

Thus, when it comes to agricultural animals, we accrue compassion credits as we accrue carbon credits, and vice versa. Increased compassion for animals can readily lead to less carbon because there’s an inverse relationship between these markers, especially in our consumption of factory-farmed meat from highly abused animals. Every individual can make positive changes for all living beings and our planet by weaving more compassion, empathy, respect, dignity, peace, and love into their lives. Simply take compassion into account when deciding what to eat and wear, and what animal “entertainment” to patronize.

What does this look like in everyday terms? When in a restaurant, ask about the source of the animals on the menu, and if the restaurant doesn’t know or the only choices are from factory farms, choose a vegetarian alternative. Even asking has an effect, as it shows the restaurant there is a public desire for more humane food products; every individual decision ripples
out into larger community effects. When shopping, avoid buying factory-farmed meat and wean away from organically farmed animals as well. We can also teach children that our hamburger was a cow and our bacon and sausage were a pig; that these animals had families and friends and that factory farms create for them a horrific life. We can let them know
who,
not
what,
they’re eating — that they’re eating
a
chicken, not just chicken.

As a society, we might also consider difficult questions that most people avoid, such as, “Might it be more sustainable to eat what are called ‘surplus’ dogs rather than raise cows, pigs, and sheep for food?” We need to question our assumptions: why, for instance, does eating dogs make us uncomfortable, but eating pigs does not? What are some alternatives to the unsustainable, compassionless food industry that now exists? Suffice it to say, we can all make more ethical and humane choices right now that will make the world a more compassionate place without sacrificing our quality of life.

Our alienation from other beings ends when we approach every being with respect and dignity. Entire nations of animals are treated as second-class citizens, or worse, as beings whose sole purpose is to serve human ends. While we may not all agree on what constitutes dignity, we all know when we lose it, and so do our fellow animals. We must embrace animals with our senses and our heart. We must allow animals to bring joy into our lives. We increase dignity for all and for ourselves whenever we look out for one another.

“The zoo is not a window on nature but rather a prism that bends the light according to the culture it is set in. Both the design of zoo exhibits and the ways in which zoos use their money reveal much about our culture’s view of animals — what we value them for and whether we regard them as objects to be used by us or as living beings who are valuable in their own right.”

— Vicki Croke,
The Modern Zoo

ANIMALS ASK US FOR COMPASSION
. They ask to be treated with dignity as fellow living beings. It doesn’t matter where we encounter them, whether by accident or choice: animals want humans to respect their well-being for their own sake as sentient, emotional, sometimes moral fellow animals. This requires a much-needed and long-overdue paradigm shift on our part that incorporates compassion and empathy for all other beings, a change in our ways that will benefit other animals and ourselves.

As we’ve seen, all species are interdependent on each other for their own survival and to maintain the health of our world’s ecosystems. When humans abuse animals, we suffer along with them. This is true not only when abuse occurs “in the name of food.” When humans justify animal cruelty “in
the name of science” or “in the name of entertainment,” we suffer as well. Humans have incorporated animals into our lives in a multitude of ways, and in each arena, if humans treated animals with respect and care, it wouldn’t be a selfless act. If we did this, we would improve our own lives, our own health, our own compassion and dignity.

This chapter looks at the myriad ways in which humans use animals in our modern world. Throughout, I ask two central questions: Are we caring for the animal’s well-being? And is using animals in this way or in this setting necessary? With few exceptions the answers are no and no. In nearly every area — whether it be science, education, industrial farming, clothing, zoos, circuses, rodeos, the wildlife trade, and so on — we are abusing animals, sometimes horrifically, and we are doing so by choice. Though we may justify the abuse as “necessary,” upon closer inspection, this is almost never the case.

Animal advocate and author Nick Taussig points out in
Gorilla Guerrilla
that the brutality with which we treat other animals belies our intelligence. How can we big-brained, intelligent mammals routinely do what we do to other animals with little or no regard for how we are making them suffer? How did people come up with the idea of factory-farmed animals to begin with, and how can we continue supporting them, considering how little we do about the incredible suffering they create? How can scientists in research laboratories deprive animals of water and food, confine them to cages, bolt their heads, isolate them, force them to endure painful electric shocks, and expose them to diseases and harmful drugs until the animals die? How can zoos and circuses abuse animals the way they often do, and audiences enjoy these sad displays?

Self-justifying “necessity” is one reason. Another is that animal abuse, particularly the worst instances, is kept hidden from the public as much as possible. Circus audiences don’t see and aren’t told how lions were trained to perform. Drug companies don’t explain how many unsafe products were tested on animals before a safe product was developed. Scientists don’t detail the cruelty they design into their animal research. In all areas, we need constant inspection of what is happening behind closed doors by those who have no vested interest in the particular company or research project. These reports then must be made publicly available, so that people can see what is happening. Only then will the full ethics and morality of our choices be clear. It’s no longer acceptable for scientists to dismiss the ethics of their animal research simply because it’s “science.” As with the food industry, all of human society is complicit in the choices we collectively make and in the abuse that’s allowed, whether in the name of medicine, science, business, or entertainment.

Furthermore, animal abuse makes for bad science, and bad science doesn’t work. Exposing animal abuse is important to expose faulty research, which does nothing to benefit human health. Indeed, the U.S. National Research Council recently concluded that the testing of toxic substances on animals is of little value, yet very few people know of this important report. A similar report by medical experts in England concluded that using animals to research chronic pain has “limited value” and should be ended. Plus, scientific studies on animals produce different results depending on who’s doing the research. Scientists claim to be objective, but they have a subjectivity that can influence their methods and outcomes. Sometimes, results just seem to reflect funding. Noted science writer Sharon Begley discovered that “153 out of 167 government-funded studies of
bisphenol-A, a chemical used to make plastic, find toxic effects in animals, such as low sperm counts.” On the other hand, “No industry-funded studies find any problem.”

I fully realize that there are difficult situations where there isn’t a clear right or wrong solution. Certain situations may work well for some species but not others. Some animals love to perform and can be taught with kindness. When animals find themselves held in zoos, their interactions with caring people can be enriching. The same is true for animals who are kept in laboratories. But there are innumerable instances in which we simply ignore the interests of animals and do the wrong thing because it’s easier. And in general, as Matthew Scully says in his book
Dominion,
“our society has turned its gaze away from animals, and countenanced a shameful climate of exploitation and cruelty toward them.”

If you think I’m being overdramatic about the extent to which we violate the lives of animals, rent the 2005 documentary film
Earthlings,
which graphically demonstrates everything this and chapter 4 describes. Of course, humans do a lot of good things on behalf of animals, but the larger point is that it’s not enough. This book is a critique of who we are and what we have done to animals for millennia. The reason animals ask for compassion is because it does not yet define their relationship with humans.

Just as it makes headlines whenever animals display their sentience and emotions, we notice when animal cruelty and tragedy is made public. Here is just a handful of recent incidents:

“The Army says it’s critical to saving the lives of wounded soldiers. Animal-rights activists call the training cruel and outdated.

“Despite opposition by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the Army proceeded to shoot live pigs and treat their gunshot wounds in a medical trauma exercise Friday at Schofield Barracks for soldiers headed to Iraq. . . .

“‘It’s to teach Army personnel how to manage critically injured patients within the first few hours of their injury,’[an Army spokesperson] said. The soldiers are learning emergency lifesaving skills needed on the battlefield when there are no medics, doctors or facility nearby, he said.

“PETA, however, said there are more advanced and humane options available, including high-tech human simulators. In a letter, PETA urged the Army to end all use of animals, ‘as the overwhelming majority of North American medical schools have already done. . . . Shooting and maiming pigs is as outdated as Civil War rifles.’”

“Newly released videos are raising questions about the military’s continued use of live animals in simulated battlefield medical training. . .[and] are evidence that the military is violating its own animal-welfare regulations. Military officials counter that the training is legal and vital to saving the lives of service members in the field.