species;butdevelopmentsinfarmingtechniquesthatdeprive
millions of animals of freedom of movement go unreported.
Before the recent successes of the Animal Liberation
movement in exposing one or two notorious laboratories,
whatwentoninresearchwithanimalswasnobetterknown
thanwhatgoesondownonthefarm.Thepublic,ofcourse,
does not haveaccess to laboratories.Although researchers
publishtheirreportsinprofessionaljournals,researchersonly
releasenewsoftheirworktothemediawhentheycanclaim
to havediscoveredsomething ofspecial importance. Thus,
until the Animal Liberation movement
wasabletoattractnationalmediaattention,thepublichadno
ideathatmostexperimentsperformedonanimalsarenever
publishedatall,andthatmostofthosepublishedaretrivial
anyway.Since,aswesawinChapter2,nooneknowsexactly
how many experiments are performed on animals in the
UnitedStates,itisnotsurprisingthatthepublicstillhasnot
theremotest idea of theextent of animal experimentation.
Researchfacilitiesareusuallydesignedsothatthepublicsees
littleoftheliveanimalsthatgoin,orthedeadonesthatcome
out. (A standard textbook on the use of animals in
experimentationadviseslaboratoriestoinstallanincinerator,
sincethesightofdozensofbodiesofdeadanimalsleftoutas
ordinaryrefuse“willcertainlynotenhancetheesteemwith
which the research center or school is held by the public.”^4 )
Ignorance,then,isthespeciesist’sfirstlineofdefense.Yetit
iseasilybreachedbyanyonewiththetimeanddetermination
to findout thetruth.Ignorancehas prevailedsolongonly
becausepeopledonotwanttofindoutthetruth.“Don’ttell
me,you’llspoilmydinner”istheusualreplytoanattemptto
tellsomeonejusthowthatdinnerwasproduced.Evenpeople