A comparative study of animal issues in India and US

[Guest guest]

Thanks to Brian O. for this.

Patricia

 

Gandhi said you can judge a country by the way it treats its animals. Some

of you may have received the message below by another route.

Brian

 

The Indian Constitution states that humans have a 'Duty of Compassion to

Animals'. Based on this the following animal protection legislation has

been enacted in India:

 

•Dissection of animals is banned in every state for ALL school pupils.

•It is illegal to kill a dog for any reason other than extreme trauma or

illness.

•In the state of Gujarat, owing to a large Jain population the use of

animals as laboratory subjects has greatly decreased.

•India has banned the export of its indigenous monkey population, which

roams freely, since the monkeys would meet with harm in research

laboratories.

•During the Jain religious holidays slaughterhouses throughout the entire

state of Gujarat are shut down.

•All elephants have been freed from zoos and circuses and allowed to live

out their lives with dignity in sanctuaries.

•New Delhi has banned the use of carriage horses.

•A retirement home has been established for elderly police horses.

•All 'dancing' bears have been liberated and sent to a bear sanctuary in

Agra.

•There are an estimated 400 million vegetarians in India.

 

In the United States animals are viewed as property before the law: harm

done to them is adjudicated according to property law. They are not viewed

as living beings with intrinsic rights:

 

•It is virtually impossible for pupils to opt out of dissection in every

state.

•Six to eight million healthy dogs are put to death simply because they are

homeless and ironically this is considered an act of compassion.

•In the USA, Europe and Israel the number of animals used as experimental

subjects has remained constant, with numerous reports of excessively cruel

experiments.

•During the religious holidays of Christmas, Easter, Passover and the

semi-religious holiday of Thanksgiving the slaughter of every manner of

animal increases sharply.

•A judge has ruled in favour of The Ringling Brothers Circus, that striking

elephants with bullhooks was an appropriate form of discipline.

•No major city in the USA has banned the use of carriage horses, where they

are exposed to harsh and dangerous working conditions.

•In the USA horses and their free-roaming brethren often end up in

slaughterhouses.

•56 billion animals a year are killed in the USA and the number of

vegetarians/vegans is 3-4 million.

[Guest guest]

•It is virtually impossible for pupils to opt out

of dissection in every state.

 

This is incorrect. Nine states have

legislation that allows students to opt out of

dissection without academic consequences.

Several other states have court decisions that

allow students to opt out of dissection. In the

states that have no specific legislation or

jurisprudence, local school board policies often

allow students to opt out of dissection.

 

Opting out of dissection is not a new

issue in the U.S.; I refused to dissect in 1966,

albeit with academic consequences, and after I

did, a girl at my school did.

 

 

•Six to eight million healthy dogs are put to

death simply because they are homeless and

ironically this is considered an act of

compassion.

 

This is completely incorrect. The total

number of dogs and cats combined who are killed

in U.S. animal shelters has not been as high as

eight million in 18 years, and has not been as

high as five million in 13 years.

 

These are the trends over time:

 

 

 

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2009:

 

 

U.S. shelter killing

 

Year Millions of Killed

dogs & cats per

killed 1,000

humans

 

1950 2.6 13.5

1970 23.4 115.0

1985 17.8 74.8

1994 5.5 21.1

1997 4.9 18.3

1998 4.9 18.1

1999 4.5 16.6

2000 4.5 16.8

2001 4.4 15.7

2002 4.2 15.3

2003 4.5 14.8

2004 4.9 17.4

2005 4.4 14.8

2006 4.0 13.6

2007 4.2 13.8

2008 4.2 13.5

 

 

•In the USA, Europe and Israel the number of

animals used as experimental subjects has

remained constant, with numerous reports of

excessively cruel experiments.

 

However, the total number of experiments

performed has increased approximately tenfold in

the past 20 years; the average number of animals

used per experiment has correspondingly declined.

 

 

•In the USA horses and their free-roaming brethren often end up in

slaughterhouses.

 

The last U.S. horse slaughterhouses

closed in 2007. Horses are still exported to

slaughter in Canada and Mexico.

 

 

 

 

--

Merritt Clifton

Editor, ANIMAL PEOPLE

P.O. Box 960

Clinton, WA 98236

 

Telephone: 360-579-2505

Fax: 360-579-2575

E-mail: anmlpepl

Web: www.animalpeoplenews.org

 

[Your donations help to support ANIMAL PEOPLE,

the leading independent nonprofit newspaper

providing original investigative coverage of

animal protection worldwide, founded in 1992.

Our global readership includes the

decision-makers at more than 10,000 animal

protection organizations. We have no alignment

or affiliation with any other entity. Free

online; $24/year by post; for free sample,

please send postal address.]

[Guest guest]

I must thank Merritt Clifton for correcting the facts, much appreciated. I

also have to admit that although I disagree with him on some issues, I

thoroughly admire the fact that he speaks out of information rather than

emotion. This message was sent to me by Patricia Tricker and I am forwarding

Merritt's response to her. The Gandhi quote is also an unsourced one.

Actually most of these populist stuff are wide scale generalisations. For

example, it is popularly said that the wildlife trade is next to drugs and

arms but the CITES Secretariat has recently disavowed this. There are

several others that are economical with the truth so they

suit the need of activists. It is good to have people like Merritt who will

take you to task for making false claims. Apparently, someone sent this note

to Bill Gates trying to urge him to embrace animal issues on behalf of his

foundation. Would be appropriate to send Mr Gates a clarification too since

Microsoft does big business in India. The only time I see Merritt getting a

bit emotionally carried away is on WWF's policy of sustainable use:-)

 

 

 

On Wed, Mar 3, 2010 at 6:18 PM, Merritt Clifton <anmlpeplwrote:

 

>

>

> •It is virtually impossible for pupils to opt out

> of dissection in every state.

>

> This is incorrect. Nine states have

> legislation that allows students to opt out of

> dissection without academic consequences.

> Several other states have court decisions that

> allow students to opt out of dissection. In the

> states that have no specific legislation or

> jurisprudence, local school board policies often

> allow students to opt out of dissection.

>

> Opting out of dissection is not a new

> issue in the U.S.; I refused to dissect in 1966,

> albeit with academic consequences, and after I

> did, a girl at my school did.

>

>

> •Six to eight million healthy dogs are put to

> death simply because they are homeless and

> ironically this is considered an act of

> compassion.

>

> This is completely incorrect. The total

> number of dogs and cats combined who are killed

> in U.S. animal shelters has not been as high as

> eight million in 18 years, and has not been as

> high as five million in 13 years.

>

> These are the trends over time:

>

> From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2009:

>

> U.S. shelter killing

>

> Year Millions of Killed

> dogs & cats per

> killed 1,000

> humans

>

> 1950 2.6 13.5

> 1970 23.4 115.0

> 1985 17.8 74.8

> 1994 5.5 21.1

> 1997 4.9 18.3

> 1998 4.9 18.1

> 1999 4.5 16.6

> 2000 4.5 16.8

> 2001 4.4 15.7

> 2002 4.2 15.3

> 2003 4.5 14.8

> 2004 4.9 17.4

> 2005 4.4 14.8

> 2006 4.0 13.6

> 2007 4.2 13.8

> 2008 4.2 13.5

>

>

> •In the USA, Europe and Israel the number of

> animals used as experimental subjects has

> remained constant, with numerous reports of

> excessively cruel experiments.

>

> However, the total number of experiments

> performed has increased approximately tenfold in

> the past 20 years; the average number of animals

> used per experiment has correspondingly declined.

>

>

> •In the USA horses and their free-roaming brethren often end up in

> slaughterhouses.

>

> The last U.S. horse slaughterhouses

> closed in 2007. Horses are still exported to

> slaughter in Canada and Mexico.

>

> --

> Merritt Clifton

> Editor, ANIMAL PEOPLE

> P.O. Box 960

> Clinton, WA 98236

>

> Telephone: 360-579-2505

> Fax: 360-579-2575

> E-mail: anmlpepl <anmlpepl%40whidbey.com>

> Web: www.animalpeoplenews.org

>

> [Your donations help to support ANIMAL PEOPLE,

> the leading independent nonprofit newspaper

> providing original investigative coverage of

> animal protection worldwide, founded in 1992.

> Our global readership includes the

> decision-makers at more than 10,000 animal

> protection organizations. We have no alignment

> or affiliation with any other entity. Free

> online; $24/year by post; for free sample,

> please send postal address.]

>

>

>