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THE ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA: AN ANALYSIS OF ANIMAL-BASED ISSUES, CAMPAIGNS AND ORGANISATIONS Executive Summary RESEARCH REPORT BY MICHELE PICKOVER FOR THE CENTRE FOR CIVIL SOCIETY AUGUST 2003 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This Report would not have been possible without the encouragement and support of the insightful Professor Jacklyn Cock. Thank you to my partner, Noel Stott, who was there for me throughout. Special thanks too to all the people who allowed me to interview them as well as the organisations that gave me access to their records. It is hoped that, in some small way, my research will contribute towards giving voice to the voiceless. TABLE OF CONTENTS ABBREVIATIONS .................................................................................................................................................................7 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................................................................9 CHAPTER ONE ................................................................................................................................................................... 13 PURVEYORS, PARTAKERS AND PAWNS: ANIMALS AS FOOD .......................................................................... 13 FEEDING A CRUEL HABIT .................................................................................................................................................. 13 Industrial Production, Secrecy and Systematic Cruelty ................................................................................ 14 Meat as Culture ........................................................................................................................................................ 16 Sanitising Meat Eating ............................................................................................................................................ 17 NOT QUITE REVOLUTIONARY ENOUGH ............................................................................................................................ 18 Commitment to the Struggle?: The Left and Animal Rights ........................................................................ 18 Meat and Social Justice ......................................................................................................................................... 18 Eco-feminism: Making the Links ......................................................................................................................... 20 Animal Rights as Ideology .................................................................................................................................... 20 HUMANE SLAUGHTER?: ANIMAL WELFARE, A CONTRADICTION IN TERMS ...................................................................... 21 A MINOR CRIME?: THE GOVERNMENT POSITION ............................................................................................................ 22 Classifying Animals as Property ......................................................................................................................... 22 Supporting Agribusiness ....................................................................................................................................... 22 Growth and Meat Imports ...................................................................................................................................... 23 Deregulation, Trade Liberalisation and Increased Production .................................................................... 23 Legislation, Codes and Cruelty ............................................................................................................................ 24 ORGANISATIONAL PROFILES ............................................................................................................................................. 26 Animal Voice/Compassion in World Farming, South Africa (CIWF-SA) .................................................... 27 International Fund for Animal Welfare (SA) ...................................................................................................... 29 Diversity, Nature & Animals (DNA) ...................................................................................................................... 30 TELLING US WHAT TO EAT: AGRIBUSINESS = ANIMAL SUFFERING .................................................................................. 31 Cattle ........................................................................................................................................................................... 33 Merciless Milking ................................................................................................................................................................... 33 Fast, Finishing Feedlots ...................................................................................................................................................... 34 Pigs .............................................................................................................................................................................. 36 Cheap, Cheap?: Chickens Have Rights Too ..................................................................................................... 37 Chicken Farming as Poverty Alleviation ......................................................................................................................... 38 Growing Chickens as Food ................................................................................................................................................. 38 Oligopolies .............................................................................................................................................................................. 41 Eggs to Order ......................................................................................................................................................................... 42 Wild Animals ............................................................................................................................................................. 45 Baboons ................................................................................................................................................................................... 46 Ostriches ................................................................................................................................................................................. 46 Live Animal Exports ................................................................................................................................................ 47 WAITING TO DIE: THE DISASSEMBLY LINE ....................................................................................................................... 49 Cruel Transportation ............................................................................................................................................... 49 If Slaughterhouses had Glass Walls, Everyone would be Vegetarian ....................................................... 49 Factory Farms and Concentration Camps ........................................................................................................ 50 Facts and Figures .................................................................................................................................................... 50 Tools of the Trade .................................................................................................................................................... 51 Profits Dictate ........................................................................................................................................................... 52 In the Slaughterhouse ............................................................................................................................................ 52 Horses......................................................................................................................................................................... 53 Factory Farming Ostriches.................................................................................................................................... 54 INFORMAL SLAUGHTER AND RITUAL SLAUGHTER ............................................................................................................ 55 REPACKAGING DEAD BODIES AS FAST FOOD .................................................................................................................. 58 McDonalds ................................................................................................................................................................. 60 'AN INJURY TO ONE IS AN INJURY TO ALL!’ ....................................................................................................................... 60 Slaughterhouses are Dangerous Places ........................................................................................................... 61 Psycho-social Effects on Workers ...................................................................................................................... 62 MEAT AS FOOD?: GLOBAL HUNGER AND THE HUMAN COST ........................................................................................... 63 Linking Global Hunger and