Passage Five Since 1975
advocates of humane treatment of animals have broadened their goals to oppose
the use of animals for fur, leather, wool, and food. They have mounted protests
against all forms of hunting and the trapping of animals in the wild. And they
have joined environmentalists in urging protection of natural habitats from
commercial or residential development. The occasion for these added emphases was
the publication in 1975 of "Animal Liberation: A New Ethics for Our Treatment of
Animals" by Peter Singer, formerly a professor of philosophy at Oxford
University in England. This book gave a new impetus to the
animal rights movement. The post-1975 animal rights activists are far more vocal
than their predecessors, and the organizations to which they belong are
generally more radical. Many new organizations are formed. The tactics of the
activists are designed to catch the attention of the public. Since the mid-1980s
there have been frequent news reports about animal right organizations picketing
stores that sell furs, harassing hunters in the wild, or breaking into
laboratories to free animals. Some of the more extreme organizations advocate
the use of assault, armed terrorism, and death threats to make their point.
Aside from making isolated attacks on people who wear fur coats or trying to
prevent hunters from killing animals, most of the organizations have directed
their tactics at institutions. The results of the protests and other tactics
have been mixed. Companies are reducing reliance on animal testing. Medical
research has been somewhat curtailed by legal restrictions and the reluctance of
younger workers to use animals in research. New tests have been developed to
replace the use of animals. Some well-known designers have stopped using fur.
While the general public tends to agree that animals should be treated humanely,
most people are unlikely to give up eating meat or wearing goods made from
leather and wool. Giving up genuine fur has become less of a problem since
fibers used to make fake fur such as the Japanese invention Kanecaron can look
almost identical to real fur. Some of the strongest opposition to the animal
rights movement has come from hunters and their organizations. But animal rights
activists have succeeded in marshaling public opinion to press for State
restrictions on hunting in several parts of the nation. Some animal rights organizations advocate the use of extreme means in
order to ______.
A. wipe out cruel people
B. stop using animals in the laboratory
C. attack hunters in the wild
D. catch full public attention