CHAPTER FOUR
DOWN TO CASES
| Albert Schweitzer had pronounced views on various specific and often controversial aspects of animal- nature- man relationships. He felt strongly about animals being forced to fight each other or trained to perform for man's amusement. |
| Nature's Cruelty |
First among the explanations we hear from lovers of cruel practices is the statement that nature herself is full of cruelty. True -- but this does not remove my guilt, when because of my thoughtlessness or delight in the drama of battle, I still further increase the existing measure of woe and suffering. |
| Animal Fights |
It is a disgrace to our time that animal fights are still being staged everywhere, including bull fights and cock fights and other cruel diversions.... In certain southern (European) regions the Sunday pastime consists in giving a rat to a dog in a wire cage. Young and old watch with excitement the vain fight which the rat puts up for its life. |
|
|
| Performing Animals |
The exhibiting of trained animals I abhor. What an amount of suffering and cruel punishment the poor creatures have to endure in order to give a few moments of pleasure to men devoid of all thought and feeling. |
| Amusements | The time will come when public opinion will no longer tolerate amusements based on the mistreatment and killing of animals. The time will come, but when? |
|
|
|
In 1932, he received word in the African |
| Falconry | And what is there "romantic" in this sport? Is it that men of an earlier -- and in many respects a thoughtless and inhumane -- age indulged in it?.... Sport is a physical exercise -- not watching a weak creature tortured by a strong one until it falls prey to it. |
|
|
|
In keeping with his philosophy of killing only for necessity, Dr. Schweitzer condoned the hunting of animals only if they were destructive to man and crops, but they must be killed as "quickly and painlessly as possible." He could find no excuse for recreational hunting. |
| Sport Hunting |
When will we reach the point that hunting,
the pleasure of killing animals for sport, will be regarded as a mental
aberration? We must reach the point that killing for sport will be felt as a disgrace to our civilization. |
|
To visitors who asked what to do with a young antelope they had purchased
from a hunter who had killed its mother, he said, "Unsweetened milk,
air, sun, shade and love for the antelope -- but what did you do to the
hunter?" |
| Laboratory Animals |
Those who experiment upon animals by surgery and drugs, or inoculate them with diseases in order to be able to help mankind by the results obtained, should never quiet their consciences with the conviction that their cruel action may in general have a worthy purpose. In every single instance they must consider whether it is really necessary to demand of an animal this sacrifice for men. And they must take anxious care that the pain be mitigated as far as possible. |
|
While a medical student, he had felt that much of the suffering inflicted on animals was entirely unnecessary. |
| Pain | How many outrages are committed in scientific institutions where anesthetics are often omitted to save time and trouble? How many also when animals are made to suffer agonizing tortures, only in order to demonstrate to students scientific truths which are perfectly well known? |
|
Expressions of sympathy and calls for greater care, he realized were not enough. (Only the United Kingdom offered any protection to experimental animals.) Until public opinion became stronger and animal substitutes available, Dr. Schweitzer could only take a compensatory spiritual approach toward repayment to these animals for their sacrifice. |
|
|
| Solidarity | The very fact that the animal, as a victim of research, has in his pain rendered such services to suffering men, has itself created a new and unique relation of solidarity between him and ourselves. The result is that a fresh obligation is laid on each of us to do as much good as we possibly can to all creatures in all sorts of circumstances. When I help an insect out of his troubles all that I do is to attempt to remove some of the guilt contracted through these crimes against animals. |
|
Dr. Schweitzer was to become aware years later that United States' public opinion -- encouraged by his concern for animals -- had become more insistent on controls over laboratory animal suffering along the lines of the British law. In 1963 he was to express his approval of legislation introduced in the U.S. Senate to regulate experimentation in order to reduce suffering. Heretofore, he had not involved himself in another nation's law making processes. But he felt strongly on this subject. |
| Endorsement | If you pass such a law in the United States, it will have important meaning for the world. |
|
In 1966 the Laboratory Animal Welfare Act was enacted, but without the
specific pain reduction principles endorsed by Dr. Schweitzer. Amended
three times in ten years and now called the Animal Welfare Act, it primarily
regulates acquisition and care of selected species. Humane groups continue
to press for stronger pain-reduction regulation, and for further development
and use of viable substitutes for sentient creatures. |
|
|
| Euthanasia | To put an end by mercy killing to the suffering of a creature, when that suffering cannot be alleviated, is more ethical than to stand aloof from it. |
|
Dr. Schweitzer carried out the law of "necessity" in his control of life-threatening tropical insects and snakes. But as his philosophical and biological perceptions deepened, he tried to be more discriminating, allowing, for example, a non-threatening column of ants to cross his path rather than destroying them by fire or chemicals. He searched for more natural biological controls to reduce dependence on certain chemical pesticides as he learned of their toxic effects on man and nature. Rather than treating pilings with chemicals to resist termites, he discovered a termite-proof wood. Within the rooms assigned to staff and visitors, there was posted, not without humor, a long list of "do's and dont's." No. 10 on the list: |
| Poor Creatures |
Do not use insecticides for killing the poor creatures. Invite them to take a walk in nature. Insecticides are dangerous for your health. |
|
|
|
From his earliest years, Albert Schweitzer was deeply moved by conditions that prevailed in the handling and slaughtering of animals used for meat. |
| Animals Into Meat |
Let no one regard as light the burden of his responsibility. While so much ill-treatment of animals goes on, while the moans of thirsty animals in railway trucks sound unheard, while so much brutality prevails in our slaughter houses, while animals have to suffer in our kitchens painful death from unskilled hands, while animals have to endure intolerable treatment from heartless men ... we all bear guilt for it. |
|
|
|
In the years since Dr. Schweitzer wrote those words, many Western nations
have passed humane slaughter laws. Nevertheless in many parts of the world,
much slaughter brutality continues. Rough handling, especially in highway
trucking continues to be widespread. Slaughter improvements, however, have
been followed with a new and dubious kind of animal-raising, known as the
"factory farm." |
