As an Anarchist, I am of the idea that human social conditions are at the root of our ecological problems. Currently our society is based in one of exploitation and domination, in which the biosphere is viewed as a resource to be extracted. By understanding humanities relationship with non-human life, that the very existence and sustainability of our natural environment is crucial to our survival, just as its survival is dependent on our decisions and actions, allows us to question the sustainability of our current social, political and economic principles in favor of conditions that would be more fulfilling for both ourselves as human beings and the rest of our biosphere. This is why I am of the idea that the liberation of animals is a necessary step in our social evolution towards a society more based in a socially ecological approach.

Our relationship with animals has evolved into one based in their exploitation as commodities, resources to be consumed by humanity for their own gains and pleasure. They are locked up in zoos, killed en masse in slaughterhouses, tested on, their environments and habitats destroyed, and are bred at an egregious rate as pets to the point at which we are constantly having to kill them simply do to a lack of resources and shelter. It is a relationship that means not only the exploitation and domination of animals, but threatens the very existence of human and non-human animals alike.

For humans, meat consumption comes with a number of health risks. For example, antibiotics are often mixed into the feed for cattle, causing bacteria to adapt and become increasingly resistant to antibiotics. Humans are then infected with this bacteria through the consumption of meat products. The cholesterol found in meat products, such as red meat, provide increased risk of heart problems and heart related diseases, lowering heart rates and blood flow which can also lead to erectile dysfunction.i Meat consumption may even contribute to obesity due to a stored surplus of protein within the human body.ii

Within slaughterhouses themselves, workers are forced to labor under appalling conditions. The workers themselves often tend to be lower-income people of color, with around 42% being Hispanic, 32% white and 20% black.iii It is unknown exactly how many workers are undocumented, but the practice of hiring them is known within slaughterhouses and meat processing facilities. Due to the already precarious position of workers due to “at will” hiring/firing, often times injuries go unreported and workers are actively discouraged from reporting them. Injuries are likely due to working with fast moving machinery and dangerous equipment such as high powered saws and knives. The repetitive nature of the job causes the majority of injuries due to long working hours causing chronic pain and injury to workers. All of this does not even take into account the psychological toll of the work.iv

The exploitative nature of slaughterhouses and factory farming in general put animals through horrendous living conditions and brutal torture and death. Animals are packed tightly together often with little room to move, in many cases stuffed into small cages. They are often abused by the workers themselves, whom are forced to disassociate themselves from the suffering of the animals. Some will survive the machinery meant to kill them and endure horrible pain and agony further down the processing line.

Chickens, for example, tend to live under horrid conditions. Those raised for meat production often live in large sheds containing thousands of packed, cramped chickens, walking around in their own waste and sometimes, the corpses of other dead chickens. They suffer from numerous health defects due to the growth hormones causing large, cumbersome breasts unable to be supported by the chickens legs, as well as internal organ problems. Lights are kept constantly on in order to encourage eating and growth while ignoring necessary sleep.v

Egg laying hens often are kept in “battery cages”, holding around 5-10 hens with less space than a standard sheet of paper. They will have their beaks partially cut down with a knife to prevent stress pecking, a painful process due to the nerve endings inside a chickens beak. As the hen begins to wear out from the exhausting process of forced egg laying, their bodies are shocked into laying more through a deprivation of food in a process known as “forced molting”.vi

Cows do not fair much better.vii Dairy cows generally spend their lives tied to a cage, connected to a milking device, which when combined with growth hormones, creates an increased risk of Mastitis, a painful swelling of the udder. They are constantly force impregnated in order to produce milk, while being immediately separated from their newborn calf. These calves will either be raised as dairy cows or if they are male, sent at a young age to be made into veal or raised to be slaughtered for their meat. Cows sent to slaughter are subjected to painful mutilations such as castration, removal of horns and branding. Living a short time on pastor land, they are eventually moved to large industrial feed lots, an exhausting and uncomfortable journey due to the majority of these feed lots existing in just four states. There they are fattened up and forced to live in crowded lots filled with mud and waste. Veal calves are removed from their mothers at an early age, and are intentionally underfed and have their movement minimized in order to keep their meat tender.

Among animals that are listed as either threatened or near-threatened, 72% are in such a position due to exploitation by humans for profit and personal benefit.viii Logging being the largest threat at 4,049 animals out of 8,688 species that are threatened or near threatened. Logging, in and of itself is an environmentally devastating practice that destroys ecosystems, threatening not just local animal and plant life, but reduces the effectiveness of the natural process of trees to act as “carbon sinks” something that is desperately needed with the continued effects of climate change.

Within the scientific community, animal testing has been a common practice for some time. However, the effectiveness of this practice may be questionable, not only in terms of practicality, but also in regards to safeguarding human and animal lives. The differences between human beings and animals on a physiological and genetic level make animal testing a highly unreliable method of research.ix This isn’t to deny the actual historical role that animal testing played in the development of the polio vaccine, for example. However, the vast majority of drugs tested on animals fail to translate successfully into human trials, with around 9 out of 10 drugs failing clinical studies.x

Even for those whom we claim are our friends, our cats and dogs, are not always treated well.xi Pets within our society are often seen as commodities, like all of the other animals we’ve discussed. Many are bred through pet mills, places in which dogs and cats are over bred to profit off as many litters as possible, with detrimental effect to the animals themselves. Dogs for example experience unhealthy and unsafe conditions at puppy mills, often either living in small wire cages or in pens with numerous other dogs. At birth they are removed fairly quickly from their parents, whom are themselves continuously bred until their bodies simply give out. Filthy conditions due to animal waste and lack of proper care and regulation of pet mills puts these animals through terrible conditions, all for the sake of selling an animal to someone looking for a companion, only to find their new found friend is sick and/or in pain.xii

Zoos in and of themselves have their origins in early civilization.xiii The most popular example of this being the use of animals within Roman society, particularly their use in the arena. Animals were a common sight within Roman games, either through dangerous horse drawn chariot races, ritual sacrifice or active combat with the animals themselves. Due to the imperial nature of Rome, a vast quantity of exotic animals not found within Romes borders such as lions, tigers, rhinoceros, hippopotami, and crocodiles were captured for exploitative purposes.

The ownership of of animal collections, known as menageries, were generally kept by aristocratic and royal individuals as a symbol of their power, particularly in Europe between the 15th and 18th centuries. It wasn’t until 1828 that the first public zoo would open in London for the purpose of studying animals. However, the scientific attitudes of the time would prevent them from becoming centers of study in preference to the then current methodology:

“All eminent champions of the zoo were united in an effort to shift the focus of scientific research within the field of natural history from dead to living specimens of plants and animals. This effort was, however, not very successful because most zoo protagonists were autodidacts who failed to gain enough scientific credibility so as to reform traditional academics institutions. The vast majority of naturalists continued to prefer the use of dead instead of living organisms as research material. “The ‘cathedrals of science’ in the 19th century were not the zoos but the natural history museums” “xiv

This forced zoos to open their gates to the public, under the auspices of education and entertainment. Since then, zoos have held a complex relationship with their captive animals. Attempting to balance the need for profit with the supposed goal of education and conservation is a difficult task in a society that is fundamentally structured on wealth generation and accumulation. This is not to say that these latter goals are not needed and well worth supporting, rather that these goals are an impossibly sisyphusian task within our current society.

It is for all of these reasons that I, as someone whom considers themselves both an Anarchist and a Social Ecologist, must stand in favor of animal liberation. To me, the exploitation and domination of animals is just another facet, an extension of our hierarchical relationship with first nature. Like much of the rest of our biosphere, we treat animals and their habitats as resources to be exploited and extracted. If they are not domesticated, they are either tested on, eaten, captured or generally slaughtered. I find this both ethically detestable and ecologically unsound.

However, I am of the idea that we can build a society that does not need to base itself on the consumption, exploitation and domination of animals. One in which humanity is able to ecologically sustain itself in conjuncture with animal lives. Pigeon towers existed within Persia as far back as the 16th century, possibly even farther, and acted as a practical and animal friendly way of harvesting the pigeons droppings for usage as fertilizer.xv Essentially, a simple tower was constructed using mud bricks, filled with small coves and ledges that allow wild pigeons to come in and nest. Then when an appropriate amount of time had passed, the owner of said tower would come and simply shovel up their droppings.

Holistically planned grazing is another form of farming that utilizes a symbiotic relationship between the animals and the land itself. It involves moving a group of animals around the specific spots during a year that is most beneficial, which is obtained by balancing the local ecology with the needs of the farm and the animals themselves. For example on one farm,xvi sheep are used in so far as they eat the grass, defecate and then step on/lay on the grass packing it into the soil, naturally fertilizing it in the process. The sheep are then rotated onto new land, land that does not for example contain local nesting birds, to repeat the process as the previously “fertilized” soil is then used for farming purposes.

Within scientific research, a number of alternatives exist to that of the typical use of animal testing. Cell cultures can be used to mimic human biological structures, even re-creating organs that can then be used for research purposes.xvii Donated human tissues also provide an avenue that can replace animal testing, even demonstrating a higher rate of accuracy. Along with being more efficient, such models may even be more environmentally friendly along side being less cruel to animals themselves.xviii

The idea that we need to exploit animals in order for humanity to thrive and function is a notion I do not agree with. Not only that, but it is my contention that if we continue to exploit animals, to use them for our own consumption and needs, we will continue to destroy not only the diversity of life that exists on this planet, but ourselves as well. The domination and exploitation of animal life is one that is perpetuated by the very social structures of our society and cannot be addressed through ethical consumption alone. It requires us to radically change not only the understanding of our relationship with animals, but requires a structural change to our society as a whole, one in which decision making power is in the hands of those effected by them. Such a society is one that I believe contains the conditions to rebuild our relationship with animals, one that is not obscured through bureaucratic, exploitative industries but through active personal and communal relationships with the land and animals.