Rights and Welfare of Animals

Animal Advocacy Organizations

There are many local, national, and international organizations that advocate for the rights and welfare of animals, domestic and wild. Two of those organisations are PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) and the ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals). In this paper, the two will be compared and contrasted.

PETA & ASPCA

The ASPCA was the very first humane society to exist in North America, according to their website. Henry Bergh founded the ASPCA in 1866, who believed that animals have the right to be respected by humans, and to be treated kindly, and to be protected under the law. In fact the ASPCA was the first humane organization that has been granted "legal authority to investigate and make arrests for crimes against animals… [although the ASPCA] fulfills its mission through nonviolent approaches" (ASPCA).

PETA was founded in 1980, and their mission statement explains, "…animals have rights and deserve to have their best interests taken into consideration" (PETA). PETA is far more aggressive in its philosophy than the ASPCA, and PETA takes the position that animals "…are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on, or use for entertainment." PETA firmly believes that all beings (human and animal) "…deserve to be free from harm" and deserve to have their best interests taken into account "regardless of whether they are useful to humans" or not (PETA).

The ASPCA was actually incorporated by the New York State Legislature in 1866, and today has three key areas of interest and action: a) "caring for pet parents and pets"; b) "providing positive outcomes for at-risk animals"; and c) serving victims of animal cruelty" (ASPCA).

PETA, as mentioned, is far more aggressive in its approach to public relations and to direct action that protects animals. For example, PETA carries out undercover investigations in certain animal testing laboratories. One of PETA's biggest public relations events involve the shocking tapes that their undercover investigators produce, showing, for example, that lab monkeys were subjected to "punching and choking" during testing procedures at a lab owned by Covance, a New Jersey company (Benz, et al., 2005). How did PETA secure video of those brutal conditions for the monkeys? The lab -- not aware they were hiring an undercover PETA person -- put a PETA technician in its primate toxicology department.

The ASPCA is less interested in publicity events like PETA pulls off and is more interested in activities like education; this is not to say that PETA does not educate the public, but the ASPCA is known more for helping citizens identify, for example, signs that pets are not being treated kindly. The ASPCA has a list of signs that pets are being abused; a few of those signs include: a) when a collar is too tight a dog suffers; b) evidence of "multiple healed wounds" or open sores that are untreated; c) a dog that is infested with fleas, ticks, or signs of "inadequate grooming… overgrown nails or a dirty coat"; d) seeing an owner strike the animal or leaving a dog on a leash in the back yard with no shade, no water; and e) signs of weakness, limping, or heavy discharge from the nose or eyes (ASPCA)