BY CURT HARDER
LANCASTER 'There's a fox
in the henhouse. His name is Dr.
Michael Fox, and he doesn't have
the welfare of animals at heart "
That’s how John Fidler,
manager of techncial services tor
Pennfield Corp, summed up the
status of the animal rights
movement on Monday
Michael Fox is the leading
spokesman for the animal rights or
animal welfare movement, a
group of people which says farm
animals are not treated properly
Fox is, by most accounts, a
charming and convincing speaker
And he has a number of ordinary
as well as powerful people who
support his ideas -
The animal rights movement
“...they will not tolerate any type
of animal exploitation...”
basically is a group of humans who
are .working for better conditions
tor animals The humans are
deadly serious They’re well
tunded and determined to push
their cause
Dennis White of the Humane
Association of the United States
describes the animal rights
movement as divided into two
groups, radical and mildly radical
"The radical animal rights
activists will not tolerate any type
of animal exploitation, ex
perimentation, farming, killing or
other areas where animals can
benefit man, White told a recent
meeting sponsored by the
American Farm Bureau
Federation
White says people in that group
generally are pure vegetarians.
The group is small, he admits, but
is highly vocal and has the means
and fortitude to bring its views to
the general public
The mildly radical group also
says animals have certain rights
but recognizes that animals have
been used tor man s benefit tor
years
Most animal weltare advocates
would agree that animal rights
include freedom ot movement to
get up, lie down, groom normally
and stretch their limbs
Animal rights activists take
exception to modern, large scale
tarming practices which confine
animals and don t allow them to
roam on pasture or range
Factory tarming is a key
Todd
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Animal rights: pros and cons
phrase heard in animal rights
discussion. It is applied to large
confinement operations.
Animal rights people say such
farm practices cause livestock
mental anguish and undue hard
ship
Veterinarian Jerry Appelgate
dismisses those charges as an
thropomorp'usm,” or attributing
to an animal human feelings and
ideas
Animal rights people want you
to think, gee, it 1 were a laying
hen, would 1 like this'" he told a
group of school teachers at a
Pennfield-sponsored conference
Monday.
The idea is supported by pseudo
intellectuals who are always a
danger, he said, and by
vegetarians.
Dr. Appelgate traced the
evolution of agriculture from
nomads herding animals to the
coming of fences the first form
of confinement.
Economics of scale played a role
in further specialization and
centralization of agriculture, he
continued.
All of this helped farmers make
better use of land, labor, and
capital, Dr. Appelgate maintains,
...animals in Germany
are sueing their owners...
with the result that America has
the best quality food in the world at
the lowest price
Is the animal rights movement
actually going to throw a monkey
wrench mto this system '
Some members of the ag com
munity believe it is and note steps
in that direction already have been
taken
John Fidler said some animals in
Germany are sueing their owners
with help from animal rights ac
tivists.
In Denmark the use ot con
finement poultry operations was
outlawed until the Danes found
they could not compete with the
rest of the European Economic
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Confinement housing and animal rights were two houses, five birds to a cage, at Penns
topics of discussion when a group of Lancaster Peaceful Meadow Farm, R 3 Mount Joy.
County teachers visited the J. Harold Musser Visitors found the Starcross Leghorns in good
poultry operation. They saw 120,000 layers in shape and laying at profitable rates.
At present, Fidler says,
Europeans are talking about
legislating the rights and welfare
of animals
The movement actually began in
the United States in the early 1970 s
with laws to require better con
ditions for laboratory animals
Then it spread to tarms in Europe
and is coming back to the United
States
Fuller dismisses arguments that
“„.if I were a laying hen ,
animals eat grain that could best
be fed directly to people
He says such products as crab
meal, leather meal, corn gluten,
and even alfalfa hay are not
human foodstuffs
Besides, he says, when com
petition for a particular gram for
tood increases its price, feed mills
will turn to alternative, less
desirable products for animal feed
What about the charges that
animals deserve a degree of
freedom '
John Skinner of the University ot
Wisconsm concedes animals in the
wild need room to escape
predators, find food, and find a
mate, but he adds, domesticated
animals have all those things
provided for them
One of the best indicators ot
animal well-being that we have in
both wild and confined situations is
would I like this ...”
the reproductive rate,’ Skinner
says
•We have to remind people that
you don’t force production It is an
animal’s response to the conditions
we provide for it The animal
rewards us for what we'give it and
responds accordingly, ’ he con
cludes
Fuller would agree with Skinner
Fuller notes that animals in
confinement are better ted, are
less prone to disease, are sheltered
from the weather, and are
protected from preditors
Are they any worse off than
house pets kept in cages'” Fuller
asks
Fuller leans heavily on the
economic argument tor con
finement housing
Forty years ago, he points out, it
took 12 weeks and 12 pounds ot teed
to produce a four pound bird tor
market
Today that same bird can be
produced m seven weeks übing just
eight pounds teed
Fidler questionb whether the
consumer is willing to pay the
extra money requited to finance
animals produced on range
He said a dozen eggs would cost
triple what they do today it egg
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 4,1981—A25
“...ore they any worse off than
house pets kept in cages?... ”
■J
\ 4 J*
\ *
-'•tr
production were taken out of the
modern laying house.
Dr Appelgate, too, agrees that
supply and demand determine
what ag products will be used and
how they will be produced.
Generally, government has
come to the rescue of oppressed or
minority groups A number of
animal rights activists would like
to see government step in to help
animals, too.
Harry Mussman, administrator
of the Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service of USDA says is
not unlikely we will see legislation
which would require farm animals
to be treated kindly
If that takes place, the APHIS
administrator said, it would be an
enormous job for the governemnt
to make sure animals had what he
lists as creature comforts,
freedom from pain, and the right
not to be deprived of natural
conditions
• As administrator of APHIS, I
would have great difficulty sup
porting that kind of thing, if for no
other reason but budgetary,” he
says.
Mussman’s alternative to
government regulation is self
control
He says the industry should
consider establishing proper
guidelines for livestock production
and care, and be in a position to
defend current production prac
tices.
Dr Appelgate, an industry
representative, maintains there
already are strong incentives to do
just that
An animal under stress won’t
reproduce, is prone to sickness,
and doesn’t gam weight as rapidly
as one which is treated properly,
he would point out.
But the battle may have gone
beyond that
Neal Black, president of the
Livestock Conservation Institute,
an organization active in
promotion of livestock production
and disease eradication, sa>s the
battle has been taken to our next
generation, the little children in
school
Like the Pennfield represen-
(Turn to Page A 26)
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