whoareawarethatthetraditionalfamilyfarmhasbeentaken
over by big businessinterests, and that some questionable
experimentsgooninlaboratories,clingtoavaguebeliefthat
conditionscannotbetoobad,orelsethegovernmentorthe
animalwelfaresocietieswouldhavedonesomethingaboutit.
Some years ago Dr. Bernhard Grzimek, director of the
FrankfurtZoo andoneofWestGermany’smostoutspoken
opponents of intensive farming, likened the ignorance of
Germans about these farms to the ignorance of an earlier
generation of Germans to another form of atrocity, also
hiddenawayfrommosteyes;^5 andinbothcases,nodoubt,it
isnottheinabilitytofindoutwhatisgoingonasmuchasa
desirenot toknowaboutfactsthatmaylieheavyonone’s
consciencethatisresponsibleforthelackofawareness—as
wellas,ofcourse,thecomfortingthoughtthat,afterall,the
victimsofwhateveritisthatgoesoninthoseplacesarenot
members of one’s own group.
Thethoughtthatwecanrelyontheanimalwelfaresocieties
toseethatanimalsarenotcruellytreatedisareassuringone.
Mostcountriesnowhaveatleastonelarge,well-established
animalprotectionsociety;intheUnitedStatestherearethe
American Society
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the American
HumaneAssociation,andtheHumaneSocietyoftheUnited
States; in Britain the RoyalSociety for thePrevention of
Cruelty to Animals remains unchallenged as the largest
group.Itisreasonableto ask:Whyhavetheseassociations
not been able to prevent the clear cruelties described in
Chapters 2 and 3 of this book?
Thereareseveralreasonsforthefailureoftheanimalwelfare
establishmenttotakeactionagainstthemostimportantkinds