Current Press Releases

Campaign to Recognize Farm Animals as Sentient Beings Launched in United States

Mary Tyler Moore to Serve as Honorary Chair

Watkins Glen, NY- August 3, 2001 - Farm Sanctuary, a national farm animal protection organization, is launching a new campaign to have farm animals recognized as sentient beings in the United States. The campaign is part of a growing popular interest in preventing the suffering of farm animals in America. The website, www.SentientBeings.org, will be online on August 4th, 2001.

Mary Tyler Moore, the campaign's honorary chair, states, "Farm animals, like all animals, have feelings, and they should be protected from cruelty. But unfortunately, on today's factory farms, these gentle creatures are commonly treated like commodities, rather than as living feeling animals. As a civilized nation, we have an ethical obligation to prevent animal cruelty and to recognize animals, including farm animals, as sentient beings who are capable of feeling pain and suffering."

The European Union formally recognizes farm animals as "sentient beings," but no such recognition currently exists in the United States. However, recent events indicate a growing concern on the part of consumers, businesses, and influential political leaders in the United States. Both McDonald's and Burger King have made public statements urging improvements in the way farm animals are treated. Last month, Senator Robert Byrd, President Pro Tem of the U.S. Senate, gave an impassioned speech on the Senate floor during which he derided the cruelty of factory farming. He concluded, "Barbaric treatment of helpless, defenseless creatures must not be tolerated even if these animals are being raised for food -- and even more so, more so. Such insensitivity is insidious and can spread and is dangerous. Life must be respected and dealt with humanely in a civilized society." Again, last week, Senator Byrd spoke about farm animal welfare on the floor of the U.S. Senate and criticized factory farms for treating animals as "nothing more than unfeeling commodities."

Shockingly, while other developed countries have enacted legislation to protect farm animals, anti-cruelty laws in the United States have actually been amended to exclude farm animals over the past ten years. Farm Sanctuary's Sentient Beings Campaign seeks to improve the status of farm animals in the United States and to foster basic legal reforms.

Detailed information about inhumane farming practices, which are common in the United States, is available online at: www.factoryfarming.com. More information about Farm Sanctuary is available at www.farmsanctuary.org.

About Farm Sanctuary
Farm Sanctuary is the nation's leading farm animal protection organization. Since incorporating in 1986, Farm Sanctuary has worked to expose and stop cruel practices of the "food animal" industry through research and investigations, legal and institutional reforms, public awareness projects, youth education, and direct rescue and refuge efforts. Farm Sanctuary shelters in Watkins Glen, N.Y., and Orland, Calif., provide lifelong care for hundreds of rescued animals, who have become ambassadors for farm animals everywhere by educating visitors about the realities of factory farming. Additional information can be found at www.farmsanctuary.org or by calling 607-583-2225.