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ANIMAL ETHICS
Human concerns regarding treatment of animals and the rights of animals are the basis of the concepts of animal ethics, and principal components of the topic include animal rights, animal welfare, laws pertaining to keeping and raising animals, wildlife conservation, and laws and regulations for the safety, protection and welfare. Issues regarding the physical safety, health, dignity and protection of animals have been debated for centuries, and the issue has taken on many facets of interpretation, practice and advocacy. Philosophers from the past to the present day have debated the topic, including Pythagoras, Theosphrastus, Plutarch, and Porphyry. The proper treatment and the mistreatment of animals are the subject of debate in law schools and classes on the topic in many colleges and universities and in the national community in such issues as the mistreatment of whales at SeaWorld in San Diego and allowing wolves to live in Yellowstone National Park.

SCHOLARSHIP and LITERATURE
Debate and discussion of animal ethics are the subjects of a number of books and articles, and two principal scholars who have written on the subject are Tom Regan and Peter Singer. Singer is known for inspiring the modern movement and advocacy for animal rights. His views and positions are expressed in his book, Animal Liberation, and reflect a view known as utilitarianism. For Singer, “...animal liberation, or animal rights, go beyond animal welfare and humanitarianism in its usual form and state that showing kindness to animals and protecting them from cruelty are good, but no longer enough….the idea of animal liberation is that animal interests must be accorded the same respect as that given to humans. “

Singer says, in the Preface to the 40th Anniversary edition of Animal Liberation, page v: “Despite the obstacles, we have made significant progress. We can rightly deplore the fact that today, 40 years on, animals are still being mistreated on a vast scale.”   But he adds,  “In many parts of the world, including Europe and the United States, there has been a huge shift in attitudes towards animals.”  “There will always be periods when the movement  seems to be struggling to  hold its own, or even going backward. But there can be no doubt that attitudes towards animals are completely different from what they were 40 years ago.”  He concludes, “Over the next 40 years, we may see even bigger changes in the ways we treat animals.”

Tom Regan, author of The Case for Animal Rights, argues for the “total abolition of the use of animals in science; the total dissolution of commercial agriculture, and the the complete elimination of commercial and sport hunting and trapping.”

Animal Rights: What Everyone Needs To Know, by Paul Waldau presents detailed analyses and discussion of such topics as the social and political dimensions of the topic; laws; history and culture; philosophical arguments; definitions of animals and humans as animals, and the future of animal rights. In Animal Rights: Current Debates and New Directions, Cass R. Sunstein and Martha Nussbaum ask, “What, if anything, should human beings be doing that they are not doing now?”, and “what are some of the new directions for both theory and practice?”

Books, articles and various research materials covering the wide field of animal ethics are catalogued and easily accessible in the archives of the Animal Studies Repository. Http://animalsudiesrepository.org/acwrp_awap   Research writings on the topic are complied for the past ten years.

ADVOCACY
The public's attention to animals and their welfare includes the work of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), which was founded in 1866 and has a large national membership and support base as well as chapters in many cities and states across the country. ASPCA’s motto is: We Are Their Voice, and its adocates that animals are “entitled to kind and respectful treatment at the hands of humans and must be protected under the law.

“Our focus is to get pets out of shelters and keep them in homes, while increasing the protection of animals under the law,” says Matthew Bershdker, the president and CEO of ASPCA. The main targets of ASPCA’s work is aimed at preventing animal homelessness and animal cruelty. Its programs promote animal rescue, animal placement, and animal protection.

Another engaged advocacy organization is People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). PETA conducts lobbying of government agencies at both the state and federal levels and has more than three million members nationwide. Many of its employees are volunteers, and PETA also promotes a vegan lifestyle as a component of its support program for animal welfare.

Another important and active organization in the field is the Society of Animal Welfare Administrators (SAWA). Highlights from the the Society’s Code of Ethics include these statements: "We believe we have an obligation to prevent cruelty. We believe that people should treat animal as kindly as possible.

LAWS

The Animal Welfare Act was signed into law in 1966 by President Lyndon B. Johnson and is the only Federal law in the United States that regulates treatment of animals in research and exhibition. It requires that all animals be registered and licensed. Laws and regulations that have been enacted under the Animal Welfare Act include restrictions on animal dealers and owners, exhibitors of animals, animal transportation, research facilities and animal fighting. Regulations have also been activated for the food industry Many states and large cities have enacted their own laws and regulations regarding animal welfare and protection as well.