Henry Bergh

"New York City, April 1866: The driver of a cart laden with coal is whipping his horse. Passersby on the New York City street stop to gawk not so much at the weak, emaciated equine, but at the tall man, elegant in top hat and spats, who is explaining to the driver that it is now against the law to beat one's animal. Thus, America first encounters The Great Meddler."

Henry Bergh began his involvement in the animal rights movement in 1863. On his way to America, Bergh stopped off in London and there he was introduced to the Earl of Harrowby, president of England's Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. In America, Bergh began to take notice of the treatment of animals in slaughter houses, as well as the use of animals in sporting events such as cockfighting. According to the ASPCA’s history of Henry Bergh, titled “Regarding Henry”, Bergh's philosophy of animal rights focused on the idea that protecting animals was an issue that crossed party lines and class boundaries. To audiences of speeches he gave in New York, which included some of Manhattan's powerful business and government leaders, he stressed, "This is a matter purely of conscience; it has no perplexing side issues. No; it is a moral question in all its aspects."

The success of Henry Bergh’s speeches led to a large number of signatures on his “Declaration of the Rights of Animals” and, ultimately, to the passing of the charter that began the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The ASPCA was officially started on April 10, 1866 and nine days later Henry Bergh and the ASPCA witnessed the passing of an anti-cruelty law and his organization was given permission to enforce it.

By the time of Bergh’s death in 1888, the idea that animals should be treated without cruelty had spread all over America, and humane societies began to appear all over the country. By the 1900s, animal hospitals also began to appear in cities all over America.
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is responsible for the beginning of pet adoption programs. In 1896, 654 dogs and 163 cats were adopted from ASPCA shelters. Today that number is annually in the thousands.

It was men like Henry Bergh that made it possible for the awareness of animal rights to begin to reach the consciousness of people around the world. Today, along with the ASPCA, groups around the globe are doing their part to help educate and inform the general public about the importance of giving animals the respect and kindness that they deserve. As it was written in a publication after the death of Henry Bergh: “…so firm a hold did he take on the public sense of right that it is impossible that his work shall not be continued. He has made too many converts to render it all likely that his commonwealth will ever relapse into a condition to witness cruelty to animals without resentment.”

Basics on Animal Rights

The basic principle of the animal rights movement is that nonhuman animals deserve to live according to their own natures, free from harm, abuse, and exploitation. The general consensus is that animals should have the right to be free from human cruelty and exploitation, just as human beings possess this right. This principle goes beyond the idea that animals should be treated fairly while they are being raised for food, clothing, or any other so-called “needs” of humans. They should not be “used” in this manner at all. This is the main sentiment of most people that believe in the necessity of animal rights. In a section of a wonderfully relevant resource on animal rights titled simply “Animal Rights FAQs”, I have found many different examples of what I would like to incorporate into my own research.

According to the “Animal Rights FAQs”, what animal rights activists try to do is to “extend the human circle of respect and compassion beyond our species to include other animals, who are also capable of feeling pain, fear, hunger, thirst, loneliness, and kinship”. If individuals are successful at recognizing these qualities in animals, then in theory there can no longer be justification for factory farming, vivisection, and the exploitation of animals for entertainment. (Think the circus…or the Zoo. Do YOU think that animals enjoy being locked up and mistreated to make us laugh?)

Animal research is another area that must be explored. This topic is quite possibly the most controversial out of any discussed when considering animal rights. Because of the extensive research and the numerous arguments, both for and against, I have decided that it would be counter-productive in my research to apply too much time to this topic. It needs to be considered, however, whether or not the use of animals in scientific research is justified. I agree that in some cases in history, the use of animals was necessary. It is questionable today, however, whether it is still necessary to use living beings for research when there have been so many scientific developments and so much more technology today than there was in the past. It is the common belief of animal rights activists that none of this research is justified; compassion and concern for the pain and suffering of nonhumans has no exceptions.
The history of the animal rights movement can be traced as far back as the 1800s with a man named Henry Bergh. Bergh was the founder of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) and began was has come to be a large issue in America today.

More on Henry Bergh and the History of Animal Rights (link for wiki purposes)

Is a vegetarian diet safe?

“It is the position of the American Dietetic Association and Dietitians of Canada that appropriately planned vegetarian diets are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases”. ~Position Statement

A report issued by the American Dietetic Association verifies the fact that a vegetable-based diet is perfectly healthy. In a wonderfully informative 18 page article the ADA presents a concise study of a vegetarian diet as applied to the different nutritional needs of people of all stages of life including infants, adolescents, teenagers, adults, and even pregnant women, as well as any other person who chooses to life a meat-free life. According to the study, a well-planned vegetarian diet is safe and healthy for anybody. The numbers of people in America and Canada who are abstaining from eating meat are growing over time. Some factors that may affect these numbers in the future are the increased interest in vegetarianism and also the increasing number of different ethnic groups that are making their homes in North America, bringing with them their already vegetarian lifestyles. Less than 2 years ago, twenty to 25% of adults in the United States reported that they eat 4 or more meatless meals a week or “usually sometimes” maintain a meatless diet.

With the sources available today it is not hard to understand why vegetarian diets are becoming more popular now than in the past. Resources such as Web sites, magazines and newsletters, and cookbooks with vegetarian themes are popping up everywhere. Many famous people, such as Pamela Anderson, that Baldwin guy and others, have gone public with their decision to lead a healthy, meat-free lifestyle. There has also been a growth in professional interest in vegetarian nutrition. According to the ADA, the number of articles in the scientific literature related to this topic has increased from an annual average of less than 10 articles in the late 1960s to an average of 80 articles or more today. In the past, the focus of these articles was mainly to question the validity of nutritional adequacy of vegetarianism, whereas now the main focus is on the use of meat-free diets in the prevention and treatment of disease.

A brief intoduction to the vegetarian decision

What is a vegetarian?

In the simplest terms, a vegetarian is someone who completely avoids animal flesh, whether it comes from cows, chickens, or fish. Some people will only eat fish, and still call themselves vegetarian, but in all actuality this is not the true definition of this way of life. It is my belief that to consider yourself a pure vegetarian, you need to eschew any kind of animal flesh in your diet.
One of the main concerns about vegetarianism that most people have is whether excluding meat from your diet is a healthy way to live your life. Also, concerns about malnutrition are brought up. This is because most people in America believe that in order to live a healthy life they need a lot of protein and they feel that this protein can only be found in the flesh of animals. It is my intent, then, to try to dispel this myth. According to many sources that I have come across so far, meat is not necessary in a person’s diet, and we can easily obtain all the necessary vitamins and minerals and, yes, even proteins just from consuming vegetable based foods.

Why become vegetarian?

People decide to exclude animal flesh from their diets for many reasons. Many believe that a vegetarian diet is simply more healthful. Others believe not only in the health aspects of a plant-based diet, but also believe that the killing of animals for food is wrong, particularly when the animals are mistreated during their lives. As a matter of fact, almost 70% of North American vegetarians still cite one of these as being their primary reason for switching to a meat-free lifestyle. Other reasons, such as the state of the environment, human hunger and economics are also factors when individuals decide to move towards a plant-based diet.
But is cutting meat out of your diet safe? According to an invaluable tool in my research known simply as Becoming Vegetarian, a diet that excludes animal flesh is not only healthy but may in fact be better for you than a diet which includes meat. For example, a vegetarian diet reduces the risk of chronic, degenerative diseases such as coronary artery disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity, osteoporosis, gallbladder disease, and even hypertension. We all know that we need to monitor our intake of saturated fats. It is safe to assume, then, that a diet which contains more plant-based foods will help to reduce the intake of not only fats, but also the carbohydrates that get rich quick “doctors” and the media recently pointed out as the cause for obesity. These “fad diets” may seem like the answer to the prayers of America’s increasing population of overweight individuals, but they are actually not as effective as one would wish to believe. It is much safer and also healthier to gradually exclude fatty animal products from your diet rather than partaking in something that may, over time, prove to be dangerous to your wellbeing.

Animal Rights Handbook

There is a moment in each of our lives when our heart first reaches out to an animal. This is the first sentence in the book The Animal Rights Handbook, issued by the Living Planet Press and written by Linda Fraser. In this book, the author presents reasonable lifestyle changing options to encourage individuals to limit the use of animals and animal products in their daily routines. The book suggests methods that will gradually reduce the use of animal products and are simple and easy to understand. Best of all, these suggestions can be practiced by anyone, regardless of whether they are vegetarian or not. People who don’t think much about what goes on “behind the scenes” of companies that use animals for research and profit most likely would not bother to ever pick up this book for some light “weekend reading”, but it is my hope that some people actually do find what this book has to say interesting enough to give the suggested ideas a chance. There is a tribulation with this, however, because when many people are presented with ideas that have the potential to challenge the way they live, they don’t readily welcome these challenges. As Fraser suggests, “the most common response is denial. Animal cruelty seems too interwoven into the fabric of society—and into our own lifestyle—to be undone. No one person can make a difference, we think. It’s easier to get on with life and not worry about other problems”. I agree with the fact that people are hard to change, and that sometimes it may seem like one person can not make that big a difference in the world. What this book does, then, is not ask people to make a complete lifestyle makeover, but rather to make small changes, baby steps if you will, in the way they live their lives. The Animal Rights Handbook’s purpose is not to tell you how to live your lives. Rather, it offers specific suggestions that will help any person integrate ways in which to save the lives of animals.
The first few chapters in Fraser’s handbook focus on different choices consumers can make to begin a new compassion filled lifestyle. In a chapter titled “Fashion with Compassion”, Fraser discusses the different alternatives to fur and leather products that are available to the public. Examples of different companies that specialize in cruelty-free products are listed in the book, but there are far more available today then when the book was published over ten years ago thanks to the wonderful invention of the Internet and on-line shopping. A retailer worth mentioning known as The Vegetarian Site has a wide variety of products that offer interested consumers a chance to take their first step to living a cruelty-free life.
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Research Ideas

As I have pondered the possibility of researching and producing an interesting blog page, I have decided to stick with my original idea of focusing on animal rights. There are so many different aspects of this topic that I find important that I think I can easily spend the rest of the semester researching and not get bored with what I am doing. I have been tossing around many ideas that I think would be interesting to look into. Some of these ideas are as follows:

1. The dairy industry: What advances, if any, has this industry made to better the conditions of the animals that provide the dairy products consumers want.
2. Animal research: How far have we come to reduce the need for live animal testing, and is it really necessary?
3. Consumer education: What do people really know about the animal products they buy and use? If given the chance, would people want to know this information?
4. Vegetarian/Vegan diets: How can a simple change in your diet make a vast change in personal health? Will this switch make you a healthier person, or is this just a myth animal activists want you to believe?
5. Environment: How do animal rights and the treatment of animals affect our environment?
6. Shopping tips: What small changes in the way we shop can help the progress of animal rights? What are some substitutes available that are alternatives to animal products, and where can these alternatives be found?
7. In the kitchen: How can the information provided by this site assist me at home? (For this question, I was toying with the idea of perhaps including a recipe every once in a while or useful tips to use at home…)

The changing face of a blog page

I am a self-diagnosed "current events illiterate" when it comes to matters of the government. I know that this is a horrible thing to admit in the eyes of some people, but in order for this posting to spark any interest within myself I have to write about something that I care about. As I ponder different angles to make my "Voter Education" page more interesting, I realize that this is nearly impossible as I have never really had much interest in politics. I will admit that I find today's issues compelling at times, but in all honesty I would much rather research and report on something that involves me in what I believe to be a more personal way.
I have been a vegetarian for almost six years, and have switched to a vegan diet a little over a year ago. During this time I have noticed a myriad of reactions to my refusal to consume different animal products, such as meat and dairy, ranging from intrigue and slight interest to flat out anger and hostility towards my chosen lifestyle. One broad and important issue that I notice is hardly ever mentioned in politics is that of animal rights. The different aspects of animal rights influence the world more than most people realize, and yet not many people really understand the impacts that certain agencies, such as the meat and dairy industries, have on our world.
As the face of this blog page changes, I hope that the information I will be providing will be informative as well as interesting to my readers, and I also hope that perhaps this information will help give people new understanding of how a small change in an individual’s diet and way of life can impact the health of not only themselves, but also the health of our environment.