If you ask me, animal liberation is nothing more than a belief system that is struggling to gain wider acceptance, recruit more believers and gain greater control of our lives through misrepresentation of many issues and, in the process, it is threatening to cause a great deal of damage. Yet, many people support animal liberation without understanding what it is really about and what the hardcore liberationists are trying to achieve. Nor do many people realise the scope, and inherent dangers, of the animal liberation movement and its’ goals.
Animal liberation protesters in London in the early days of the movement.
In today’s world, the animal liberation view has been steadily making inroads into our lives and seems to be slowly growing and expanding its influence. We see laws and policies being introduced which have been motivated by the beliefs of the animal liberation movement. The food we eat, what we can buy, what we wear and how these things are advertised and portrayed, are slowly changing to suit the animal liberation view. How we treat our domestic and wild animals has also changed substantially and while some of these changes have been for the better, it is time to reign in any further change before the balance is tipped too far to one side to the detriment of logic, rational reasoning and the common good.
So what is animal liberation? Is it really a valid and sustainable model of how the world should be? Is animal liberation the just and correct philosophy that the activists would have us believe? Can humanity afford to adopt such an extremist view? Is it simply delusional, of the animal liberationists, to think that all of their goals can be achieved while still allowing the human and animal worlds to survive, side by side? What will really happen to the animals, both wild and domestic, if they were to be given equal rights with humans and do the majority of people really want to live in the resultant world that would come from such a move?
Further still, is animal liberation growing because it is a just and right cause, or is it growing because it preys on the consciences of well meaning but misinformed people? Is animal rights influence spreading because too many good people are afraid to speak out against the extremist views of a small, but very noisy and threatening, minority? This is the first article in a series of articles looking at what is animal liberation, the effects of animal liberation on wildlife and domestic animals, the effects on the lives of humans and on the future of mankind and on the planet, itself.
So, to start off, let us look at what animal liberation really means, what are their goals and how do they achieve them.
First of all, what is animal liberation?
One short and succinct definition of animal liberation, which is readily found on the internet, would read as “the freeing of animals from exploitation and cruel treatment by humans: animal liberation is the goal for which the concept of animal rights is the philosophy.” Many people, at a quick glance, might see this as a reasonable and just cause but when you start to dig deeper into how the animal liberationists actually interpret their goal and what would be the long term effects of their goal, the picture starts to get rather scary. No reasonable and thinking person would argue that cruelty against animals is wrong, but the definition of cruelty and the scope of liberation, both need to be kept in check.
For a more detailed examination of what animal liberation means, let’s look at twelve of the goals that most animal liberation groups pursue. These goals, as written below, were published many years ago and each animal liberation group may express them in different words and with different emphasis, but these goals give a good view of what the animal liberationists are trying to achieve. These goals come from “Politics of Animal Liberation” written by Kim Bartlett and published in Animal Agenda, in November 1987.
- Abolish by law all animal research,
- Outlaw the use of animals for cosmetic and product testing, classroom demonstration and in weapons development,
- Vegetarian meals should be made available at all public institutions, including schools,
- Eliminate all animal agriculture,
- No herbicides, pesticides or other agricultural chemicals. Outlaw predator control,
- Transfer enforcement of animal welfare legislation away from the Department of Agriculture,
- Eliminate fur ranching and the use of furs,
- Prohibit hunting, trapping and fishing,
- End the international trade in wildlife goods,
- Stop any further breeding of companion animals, including purebred dogs and cats. Spaying and neutering should be subsidized by state and municipal governments. Abolish commerce in animals for the pet trade,
- End the use of animals in entertainment and sports, and
- Prohibit the Genetic Manipulation of Species.
Having just read these goals, I would urge any reader to just take a while to think about the effects that such goals, if ever passed into law, would have on your life, the life of your children and the world in general. Try and imagine the cumulative effect that these goals would have and then, having thought about it, please read the follow-on articles where I will examine each of the above goals and looking at many consequences that you may not have thought about. Indeed, I believe that MOST animal liberationists have not really thought the whole issue through to see what would transpire if they were successful in instilling their beliefs on the rest of the world.
The next article will be a look at one of the most important issues, in my view, in regards to animal liberation and that is the effect on true conservation programs that animal liberation will have (see Animal Liberation is NOT Conservation). A first draft of that article will be online shortly and I ask that, if you are genuinely concerned about conservation, that you read that article with an open mind because the issue of conservation is way too important to allow a belief system to threaten the outcome.
(To read Part 2, click here – Animal Liberation is NOT Conservation.
(To read Part 4, click here – Eliminate All Animal Agriculture.