In terms of welfare progress, if we consider the sheer number of animals mistreated today, whether in scientific research, or most notably, factory farming, it's arguable that we haven't removed cruelty from our society, just hidden it better.
UNIVERSITY OF YORK: Dr. Helen Cowie from the University of York’s Department of History is investigating human-animal relationships throughout history. Dr. Cowie’s research, published in a book, “Animals in World History,” which is due out next year, shows that instead of steady progress to eliminate animal cruelty, the priorities of animal welfare organizations have instead evolved to tackle new and emerging problems that reflect the changing attitudes of humans towards animals.
Dr. Cowie highlights, for example, that in the 1820s the emphasis was on the elimination of blood sports such as bull and bear baiting, and in the late 19th century, concern extended to the mistreatment of performing animals and the exploitation of wild animals for fashion.
With the arrival of factory farming in the mid-twentieth century, the priorities changed once again, giving rise to campaigns against substandard living conditions, live transport and inhumane slaughter methods…
Dr. Cowie said, “What we find, looking back, is that although our relationships with animals have changed, cruelty and welfare issues are still as much of a concern today as they were 200 years ago. What we tend to find is that cruelty to animals today is less ‘obvious’ than it was in the past and better hidden from public view, particularly in the food industry”…
The modern animal welfare movement began in Britain in the early 19th century, and in 1822, following several earlier failed attempts, the first-ever piece of animal welfare legislation was passed in Parliament, making it illegal to mistreat cattle or draft animals in the streets…
Dr. Cowie said, “In nineteenth-century Britain, cruelty towards animals was much more ‘on show.’ Livestock were violently driven to market, horses were beaten in the streets and animal products were used extensively in everyday life… Much of our ideas on improvements in animal welfare is based on the assumption that such cruelties would not happen today, but whilst we might be horrified by the idea of bear baiting and traveling circuses featuring exotic animals, the reaction is far reduced when confronted with the idea of a factory-farmed pig, for example, and most likely because it is less ‘public'”…
Dr. Cowie continued, “My research shows the scale of animal cruelty, for example, the number of chickens killed annually has risen from 6 billion in 1960 to around 50 billion today. In 2016 China produced 53 million tons of pork from a domestic herd of 671 million pigs. Cruelty Free International estimate[s] that at least 192.1 million animals were used for scientific purposes worldwide in 2015”.
“If we consider the sheer number of animals mistreated today, whether in scientific research, or most notably, factory farming, the picture is much less rosy, and there is less to ‘celebrate’ in terms of progress.
“There is nothing good about the life of an industrially-farmed pig or a battery chicken, and though some of the visible cruelties relating to animal rearing and slaughter have gone, many of them still happen. So it’s arguable that we haven’t removed cruelty from our society, just hidden it better”. SOURCE…
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