The Rural Voice, 1983-06, Page 7"Society must be willing to re -think
its philosophies regarding
the value we place on animals
and animal welfare. We ought not
to cause unnecessary suffering."
Dr. Garnet Norrish, Program Manager
of OMAF Advisory Services, has been
working with the OPPMB since 1980
to help put together an Ontario Code
of Practice for swine.
Dr. Hugh Lehman, Professor of Philo-
sophy at the University of Guelph, has
been serving on the University's
animal care committee since the late
1970's.
"I think the development of a code
has pulled together all segments
of the industry: livestock and
poultry producer organizations;
the livestock division of Ontario
Truckers' Association; the Meat
Council of Canada and the Canadian
Federation of Humane
Societies."
The Animal Welfare Movement:
A brief history
The best way to assess the issue and
its possible effect on the future is to look
at the history of the animal welfare
system. In 1964 British author Ruth
Harrison published a book called "Ani-
mal Machines: The New Factory Farming
Industry" which was so well received by
the public that within a very short period
of time the British Parliament was forced
to form a technical committee (similar to
a Royal Commission in Canada) to
inquire into the well-being of animals
kept in intensive livestock husbandry
systems. For the first time in history
someone was asking the farmer how he
is treating his animals. Prior to this
farmers had been left alone on the farm
to do as they pleased with their animals.
The report which this committee
published in 1965 established five basic
freedoms for all animals which are the
freedom to (1) get up, (2) lie down, (3)
turn around, (4) groom itself and (5)
stretch the limbs. Whatever technology
or management practices used, each
animal is entitled to these five freedoms.
The findings in this report were widely
used in British and European legislation
to do with animal welfare. And all of this
happened one year after the publication
of Harrison's book.
In 1970 the movement gained the
attention of several authors, the most
famous one being Peter Singer, a vet and
animal behaviorist, who published "Ani-
mal Liberation, a New Ethic for our
Treatment of Animals". Singer talks
about speciesism as an attitude of bias
favouring our own species against the
concept of other species. He compares
this to racism and sexism. According to
Singer we should not use the fact that an
animal has four legs and heavy skin as a
factor to justify how it is treated, but
rather if an animal can experience "pain"
or "joy". "If we stop and think about it,"
Dr. Frank Hurnik said, "this principle is
in line with the evolution of human
ethical thinking." Singer says in his book
that we must bring non -human animals
within our sphere of moral concern and
cease to treat their lives as expendable
for whatever purposes we might have.
THE RURAL VOICE, JUNE 1983 PG. 5