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An Overview of Animal Welfare
& Animal Rights
Topic #3013
Tracey Hoffman
http://www.agednet.com
Overview
• Definitions
• Activists charges
• How producers can respond to activists
views
• Setting the standards
• Animals in research
Why is this an issue?
• America’s idea of what a farm should be
– Grazing pastures
– Ideas come from children books, TV, etc.
• What America’s farms are becoming
– Confinement rearing
– Large scale production
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Animal Welfare
• Proper care of animals
• Humane treatment is supported by
producers
• Proper treatment keeps animals more
productive
• Humans have more rights than animals,
BUT are responsible for humane treatment
Animal Rights
• Animals have legal and ethical rights, just as
humans
• Feel animals suffer unnecessary pain & stress
• Want animal agriculture abolished
• Extreme views are to eliminate animal use
– food, clothing, leisure, or research
Activists charges producers:
• Pumping drugs into animals
• Undue stress on the animals
• Confinement jeopardizes animal and human
health
• Raising animals in pens and crates is cruel
treatment
Activists charges, continued…
• Eating meat and eggs is unhealthy
• Drinking milk is unhealthy
• Grain fed to livestock should be used to feed
starving people around the world
• Using a growth-promoting hormone is cruel to
animals
• Produces meat that is not safe for humans to eat
Producers response to
overcrowding...
• Most producers won't overcrowd because it is
very unprofitable
• Animals must be kept reasonably comfortable
• Animals are kept well fed to assure a
productive growth or a profitable level of milk
production
• Overcrowding reduces rate of gain
http://www.agednet.com
Producers response to drugs and
antibiotics...
• All drugs that are used for livestock are regulated
by the federal government
• Regulations keep food safe for U.S. consumers
• All animal health products are thoroughly tested
and must be approved by FDA
• On average, it takes 11 years to bring an animal
pharmaceutical to the market
• Only one in about 7,500 chemicals tested are ever
approved
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Producers response to growth
hormones...
• Increase feed efficiency which reduces food costs
• Improve the ratio of meat to fat
• Products are generally estrogen-like substances
• Estrogen is a natural substance
• There is more estrogen in a cup of green beans
than in a comparable amount of beef from an
implanted steer.
http://www.agednet.com
What producers are doing...
• Support and promote human treatment of
animals
• Do all they can to make sure animals are not
mistreated
• Keep public and media well informed on
what they are doing to protect the welfare of
their animals
What does it mean to be treated
humanely?
• That means animals are
– well fed
– have adequate
• water
• space
• shelter
– kept healthy and comfortable
Setting the standards...
• In early times, each farmer decided
• In current times
– Pork Producers Code of Practice
– Swine Care Handbook
– Cattlemen's Philosophy
– Three P's
• prevention
• preparation
• prompt action
http://www.nppc.org
Economic benefits of good
animal welfare...
• Bruises cost the U.S. beef industry $1.00 per animal on
feedlot beef and $3.91 per animal on cows and bulls
(Colorado State University, 1992; 1995)
• The U.S. pork industry loses $0.34 per pig due to PSE and
$0.08 per pig due to bruises (National Pork Producers'
Association, 1994)
Animals in research...
• Important for agriculture and human medicine
• Limits on animal research would threaten
advances in medicine
• Public opinion nor scientist opinion is
consistent
• More concern over use of dogs & cats than rats
& mice
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Discussion...
http://www.grandid.com