Animal Rights …Legally, with Confidence
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How to Do Animal Rights …legally, with confidence Second edition Contents About This Guide 5 Author & Email 5 Animal Rights Motto 6 1 Introduction 1.1 The Broad Setting 7 - the big problem. 1.2 Mass Extinction 9 - we live in the Sixth Extinction. 1.3 Animal Holocaust 11 - we live in an enduring and worsening Animal Holocaust. 1.4 World Scientists' Warning to Humanity 12 - scientists attempt to alert the world to the impending catastrophe. 2 Philosophy: Key Topics 2.1 Animal Rights 16 - know what animal rights are. 2.2 Equal Consideration 21 - are animal and human moral interests equally important? 2.3 Animal Ethics 23 - defend your animal rights activism rationally. 2.4 Consequentialism 29 - the morality of your action depends only on its consequences. 2.5 Deontology 30 - the morality of your action depends only on doing your duty. 2.6 Virtue Ethics 31 - the morality of your action depends only on your character. 2.7 Comparing Philosophies 33 - comparing animal rights with ethics, welfare & conservation. 2.8 Deep Ecology 37 - contrasts with animal rights and gives it perspective. How to Do Animal Rights 3 Campaigning: Methods for Animal Rights 3.1 How to Start Being Active for Animal Rights 40 - change society for the better. 3.2 Civil Disobedience 46 - campaign to right injustice. 3.3 Direct Action 49 - a stronger form of civil disobedience. 3.4 Action Planning 55 - take care that your activities are successful. 3.5 Lobbying 60 - sway the prominent and influential. 3.6 Picketing 65 - protest your target visibly and publicly. 3.7 Starting a Group 68 - find and organise your troops. 3.8 Leafleting 75 - reach out to influence people. 3.9 News Media 77 - use and handle the news media. 3.10 Internet 80 - communicate globally with the widest reach. 4 Activities for Animal Rights 4.1 Teacher 83 - an effective way of opening minds to ideas. 4.2 Animal Lawyer 86 - practice law to advance animals and their allies. 4.3 Undercover Investigator 89 - amass the evidence that animal advocates fire at abusers. 4.4 Video Activist 92 - seize people's attention with vivid reality. 4.5 Animal Preacher 97 - expound The Word for animals. 4.6 Animal Rescuer 100 - liberate abused animals. 4.7 Investigative Reporter 102 - probe questionable activities hidden from the public. 4.8 Media Watcher 105 - sway the shapers of public opinion. 4.9 Street Theatre Actor 107 - perform and entertain for animal rights on the streets. 4.10 Blogger 109 - use your creative writing skills for animals. 4.11 Philosopher 112 - philosophers do it by reasoning. 4.12 Paramotor Flyer 116 - look down on your opponents to see what they are up to. 4.13 Personal Activist 119 - includes the single most effective thing you can do for animals. 4.14 Author – Playwright 122 - write short stories, novels and plays of the animal rights genre. 4.15 Animal Friendly Traveller 126 - prepare yourself for travel abroad. 4.16 Politician 129 - start your own animal political party. 4.17 Prisoner Supporter 131 - succour animal rights prisoners. 2 How to Do Animal Rights 4.18 Public & School Speaker 133 - orate on behalf of animals. 4.19 Drone (UAV) Flyer for Animal Protection 136 - fly drones for aerial animal protection data gathering. 4.20 Scientific Investigator 139 - plan, scrutinise, analyse and report. 4.21 Solo Information Worker 141 - display info and eye-catching knowledge. 4.22 Voluntary Worker Abroad 142 - jump for animal rights into far-off cultures . 5 The Law & Animal Rights 5.1 Terrorism 144 - a few people wielding disproportionate pressure. 5.2 Violence or Nonviolence? 147 - can we licence violence? 5.3 The Law - US & Britain 152 - what might you be up against? 5.4 Police Arrest 155 - prepare by knowing what to expect. 6 Animal Statistics 6.1 Summary 158 - some of the billions people kill annually. 6.2 Meat Statistics 160 - how much meat do people eat? 6.3 Chicken Statistics 163 - how many chickens do people kill? 6.4 Pig/Hog Statistics 167 - people kill 23 million pigs a week. 6.5 Sheep & Goat Statistics 169 - how many sheep & goats do people kill? 6.6 Beef Cattle Statistics 172 - how many cattle do people kill? 6.7 Fish Statistics 175 - how much fish do people farm and catch from the sea? 6.8 Fur Animal Statistics 177 - the fur trade kills endless millions and threatens species. 6.9 Numbers of Animals in Biomedical Research 182 - how many animals do people experiment on in laboratories? 7 Personalities 7.1 Aristotle 186 - animals cannot reason so we can use them without consideration. 7.2 Thomas Aquinas 186 - God made animals for man and it is not a sin to kill them. 7.3 Jeremy Bentham 187 - the question is not can animals reason but can they suffer? 7.4 Nicolaus Copernicus, 187 - humanity does not occupy a privileged position in the cosmos. 7.5 Charles Darwin 188 - explained how humans are animals that evolved from animals. 3 How to Do Animal Rights 7.6 Rene Descartes 189 - propounded that animals are automata, a view adopted by science. 7.7 John Lawrence 190 - one of the earliest modern writers on animal rights. 7.8 Richard Martin 190 - he fought for laws and duelled for animals. 7.9 Henry Salt 191 - the first animal rights book. 7.10 Steven Best 192 - we are in a battlefield not at a bargaining table. 7.11 Andrew Linzey 194 - the face of Christianity embracing animals. 7.12 The McLibel Two 194 - laid bare the nasty deeds of quick food business. 7.13 Ingrid Newkirk 196 - a wheel needs all its spokes to make it go round. 7.14 Jill Phipps 198 - a hero whose actions will inspire. 7.15 Henry Spira 198 - the most effective activist of the modern animal rights movement. 7.16 Philosophers Three: Regan, Ryder, Singer 200 - activism comes in words as well as deeds. 8 Five Extras 8.1 Universal Declaration on Animals 203 - the hope is to recognise animals as sentient beings. 8.2 The Five Freedoms 205 - ideals of welfare more honoured in the breach. 8.3 Human Overpopulation 206 - the more people the more animal abuse. 8.4 Zoos 209 - what are zoos for? 8.5 Climate Change 214 - the greatest burden on our moral behaviour. 9 Epilogue 9.1 On Hopelessness 216 - or feelings of pointless inadequacy and ineptitude doing animal rights. 4 How to Do Animal Rights About This Guide This document shows you quickly and concisely how to work for animal rights as a practical and legal activity. It also informs you about animal-human problems and ethics so that you can defend your actions rationally and confidently. The document was first published online in August 2013 as text only. This present second edition, the one that you are now reading, was published online in August 2015, is slightly revised and has a number of my illustrations. It is based on the web site of the same name that was first published online in 2008 at www.animalethics.org.uk. You have permission to copy, rewrite, translate and distribute all or part of this document globally by whatever means. Spread the word to other people about how they can do animal rights effectively and legally. Being active for animal rights is much the same as fighting for any other just cause. You do not have to scream emotional abuse at people in the street, commit arson, or do anything illegal or criminal. In any case, working legally secures better results in the long term. However, do not expect to find in this document quick and unequivocal answers to problematic questions, for as Marc Bekoff says: "For many questions about how animals should be treated by humans there are no 'right' or 'wrong' answers. However, there are better and worse answers." Animal Passions and Beastly Virtues. 2006:227 Read this document to: Understand activist methods that will further your activism. Discover practical animal rights activities you can do. Know what animal rights means and how it differs from other outlooks. Be aware of potential conflict with the law and how you can handle it. Find inspiration from biographies of a selection of animal rights activists. Recognise how humanity is devastating animal life globally. Gasp at the numbers of animals humans kill every year. Add topics to your armoury the well rounded animal activist should know. We live in a human-made Animal Holocaust and mass extinction about which most people give no thought. So let's defend life and promote a humane society. Author & Email I started writing How to Do Animal Rights in 2007 because there were no published books on how to do animal rights and one needed writing. I'm an animal rights activist, conservationist and biologist, with a degree in biology and psychology and a doctorate in animal behavioural ecology. Ben Isacat is my nom de plume (please use it in any reference, rather than my „official‟ name of Roger Panaman) and I live near Oxford, Britain. Email to Ben at [email protected], and please type ANIMALS in the subject field - don't want to lose your email in the spam! Ben Isacat August 2015 5 How to Do Animal Rights Animal Rights Motto Use a forceful slogan. An original one for animal rights is the motto I composed especially for How to Do Animal Rights. You are welcome to use it for all your animal rights work. Copy it freely. The greatest threat to people is ignorance; the greatest threat to animals is ignorant people.