Animal Welfare
as compared to Animal Rights

Animal welfare is based on the time-honored traditional relationship of man and animal. It emphasizes respect for and concern for animals, and the concept that animals deserve to be treated humanely, provided a quality life and a humane death. Unlike the Animal Rights philosophy, Animal welfare supports responsible ownership, breeding and use of animals in agriculture, research, and other venues.

In comparison, Animal rights advocates seek the end to all breeding of animals. Their stated ultimate goal is NO USE OF ANIMALS BY MAN -- not for food, fiber, medical research nor even as pets.

In recent years, animal rights extremists have manipulated public perception with exaggerated and distorted data. They are the largest, most vocal group impacting on laws and issues relating to animals and are generally extremely well funded by people misled by their erroneous data. Animal Rights organizations spend a significant portion of the donations sent to them on such legislative initiatives. While some of their initiatives would appear superficially to make sense to the general public, they ignore much more workable alternatives that would not support the ultimate aim of abolishing the use of animals by man, and which may, as a result, have ramifications that are far more dangerous to our society than are seen at first glance. Thus, without public awareness, the rights of animal owners are being gradually eroded, while animal welfare is getting lost in the shuffle.

Some of the animal rights goals are subtle and aimed at gradually achieving their ends... like the effort to substitute "companion animal" for "pet" in our laws and vocabulary and in the process gradually destroy the concept of pet ownership and your ability to own pets. Such smoke and mirrors tend to cloud their real aims, as you will see when you visit the links below. We encourage you to join us in responsible animal advocacy by supporting animal welfare goals and recognizing the danger posed to our society by the animal rights movement.

If you came to this site to adopt an animal or help in rescue, you are already supporting animal welfare ideals. We provide the following links to help you view the whole picture and to help you target your donations to help the animals:

Basics:

• What Every Pet Owner should know about Animal Rights
• Why be a Pet Owner as compared to "Animal Guardian"?
• Cats: "There oughta be a law..."
• The Pedigreed Cat Fancy, A Brief Overview of Cats in Society
• Dogs will be dogs . . . but cats won't
• Due Credit - Let's Give Responsible Breeders the Credit They Deserve.
• Animal Rights vs Animal Welfare - Explaining the difference to a child

"Pet" Overpopulation

• The No-Kill Solution
• Are Owned Cats Causing a Population Crisis?
• Redefining "Pet Overpopulation" - This is a *MUST READ* for anyone who wishes to stay on top of the current situation in this country surrounding animal shelters, pounds and humane societies.
• Cat Overpopulation - CFA's Position
• Pedigreed Cats Face Extinction
• Are there too many dogs and cats?
• Trap/Alter/Release Programs for Feral Cats

Why not to support Coercive Legislation

• Why Not Coercive Legislation
• The San Mateo Ordinance - An Abysmal Failure
• NAIA: Mandatory cat licensing - The San Francisco SPCA takes a close look at a popular but seriously flawed answer to cat population problems
• San Francisco SPCA Report on Cat Licensing
• Position  Paper on Cat Licensing
• Pennsylvania Court Strikes Down Ordinance Limiting Number of Cats Per Residence

Debunking Animal Rights Myths and Propaganda

• AnimalRights.net - Debunking Animal Rights Myths
• What is the REAL agenda of the animal rights movement?
• Quotes from Animal Rights Activists
• Animal Right Myths FAQ
• HSUS "fact sheet" distorts animal control issues and answers
• The Trojan Horse of Animal Protectionism
• Liberation Zoology

Groups you should know

• The NAIA Trust
• Join the NAIA Animal Talk Email list and learn about NAIA
• CFA Legislative Committee
• The National Pet Alliance
• Animal Owners United
• San Francisco SPCA - An impressively progressive program.
• Americans for Medical Progress
• The Sportsmen's and Animal Owners' Voting Alliance (SAOVA)

Advocate and Donate Wisely

• The booming economy has fueled Animal Rights budgets. Know who you are donating to and where the money goes!

• Check the status of more than 1.7 million nonprofit organizations on Guidestar and see how they allocate the funds they receive - find out where your donations go!
• Before you consider donating to PETA, you may want to read these sites:
  Political Radicalism and Animal Rights: People For The Ethical Treatment of Animals
  Peta Kills Animals - reports high kill rate at PeTA Shelter
• The The Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance has breakdowns of where your charity dollars go. The BBB has published standards for charitable giving and lists charity reports on all national charities that meet its standards. To inquire about a charity or file a complaint against a charity, contact its Philanthropic Advisory Service.
• The Capital Research Center has a comprehensive online resource on corporate donation to non-profit organizations and the ability to browse non-profit profiles.

• Legal information, governmental contact information, and other useful references for advocacy