PETA, HSUS, Mercy for Animals, Farm sanctuary supports "happy exploitation" of animals

A portion of a comment that someone posted yesterday:

"I am saddened at the amount of infighting going on within the world of animal rights and welfare groups."

My reply:

It's *not* a matter of "infighting." It's *not* a matter of there being one "world" where substantive agreement is possible and should be pursued.

It's a matter of there being a fundamental and irreconcilable conflict.

I could explain (and have elsewhere explained) why this is the case but let's keep it really simple and just use pictures.

The next time that you are at Whole Foods and see them selling the bodies of dead animals with their "Animal Welfare Ratings"--which is the sort of thing that just about *every* large animal group has explicitly supported--if you think that disagreeing with that is a matter of "infighting," you are confused and have not yet grasped the simple idea that X and not-X cannot both be true at the same time.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=583377438348681&set=a.393908680628892.94280.156275557725540&type=1

To those who support welfare reform and who claim it does not send the wrong message:

Here is a picture of Whole Foods advertising organic chicken with a Global Animal Partnership Animal Welfare Rating of 2.

And guess who is on the Board of Directors of the Global Animal Partnership that labels "happy" meat?

Answer: Wayne Pacelle of the Humane Society of the United States

http://www.globalanimalpartnership.org/about-us/who-we-are/

If you doubt that this sort of thing sends a very loud, clear, and deliberate message to the public that it is morally acceptable to continue to consume animals, you are wrong.

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Gary L. Francione: The Abolitionist Approach to Animal Rights As to the support of this sort of thing, please see: http://bit.ly/eli95N

John Mackey
Chief Executive Officer
Whole Foods Market
500 Bowie Street
Austin, TX 78703

January 24, 2005

Dear John,

The undersigned animal welfare, animal protection and animal rights organizations would like to express their appreciation and support for the pioneering initiative being taken by Whole
Foods Market in setting Farm Animal Compassionate Standards. We hope and expect that these standards will improve the lives of millions of animals.

Animal Rights International (ARI)
Animal Welfare Institute (AWI)
Animal Place
Animal Protection Institute (API)
Association of Vets for Animal Rights (AVAR)
Bay Area Vegetarians
Christian Vegetarian Association
Compassion Over Killing (COK)
Doris Day Animal League
East Bay Animal Advocates
Farm Sanctuary
Humane Society of the United States (HSUS)
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PeTA)
Mercy for Animals
Northwest In Defense of Animals
Vegan Outreach
Viva!USA

Sincerely,

Peter Singer
President, Animal Rights International