emphasize safe activities like collecting stray dogs and
prosecuting individual acts of wanton cruelty, instead of
broad campaigns against systematic cruelty.
Finally,atsomepointduringthelasthundredyearsthemajor
animalwelfaresocietieslostinterestinfarmanimals.Perhaps
thiswasbecausethesupportersandofficialsofthesocieties
camefromthecitiesandknewmoreand caredmoreabout
dogs and cats than about pigs and calves. Whatever the
reason, for most of thepresent century, the literature and
publicity of the old established groupsmade a significant
contributiontotheprevailingattitudethatdogsandcatsand
wildanimalsneedprotection,butotheranimalsdonot.Thus
peoplecameto thinkof“animalwelfare” assomethingfor
kindlyladieswhoaredottyaboutcats,andnot asa cause
founded on basic principles of justice and morality.
Thelastdecadehasseenachange.First,dozensofnew,more
radical Animal Liberation and animal rights groups have
sprung up. Together with some previously existing
organizations that had been able to make relatively little
impactuntilthen,thesenew groupshavegreatlyincreased
public awareness of the immense, systematic cruelty that
takesplace in intensive animalproduction, in laboratories,
and in circuses, zoos, and hunting. Secondly, perhaps in
response to this newwave of interest in theconditions of
animals, more established groups such as the RSPCA in
Britainand,inAmerica,theASPCAandHumaneSocietyof
theUnited States,have takena muchmoreforceful stand
againstcrueltytofarmandlaboratoryanimals,evencalling
for boycotts of products like intensively produced veal,
bacon, and eggs.^7