Lecture 5 Part II

Question 1

What are some animal welfare implications?

Answer 1

1. obligations to end most commercial animal farming
2. sporting/entertainment that exploit animals
3. experimentation on animals should end
4. a species hasn’t moral standing, although its individuals do

Question 2

What are some critiques for animal welfare implications?

Answer 2

not all suffering is equal (measurement deficiencies)

where do we draw the line, in terms of suffering of animals?

• mentally normal mammals of a year or more?
• somewhere between shrimp/oysters?

differences must be reconciled:

• fencing off land to grow plants to eat, then what about wild animals rights to unobstructed habitats?
• spotted owl habitat vs human lumber needs
• interest of pets vs wild animals (dogs/coyotes)

all embedded in complex communities, could expand infinitely

Question 3

What are the stats for animal-use for food (by Americans)?

Answer 3

1. eat 72 billion lbs of animal flesh per year
2. kills 200 food animals for every animal used in scientific experiments
3. kill 2000 food animals every dog euthanized at a shelter
4. kill 40,000 for every baby seal bludgeoned on the Canadian ice

Question 4

What are the stats for animal use since the 1960s?

Answer 4

6-fold increase in flesh consumption in Japan;
15-fold increase in flesh consumption in China

In grow out houses: they cannot move, have respiratory problems - but are given antibiotics to prevent from getting sick; animals are growing so fast, tendons cannot support the size of the animal

Question 5

What are the stats for experimental mice?

Answer 5

estimates 100 million per year;
more genetically modified mice are gassed each year than are actually used in experiments (10, 000/month at a major facility) - because no one needs them, they have no purpose