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Case #3: Today, over 90% of laying hens in the United States live caged in intensive egg production facilities, which have increased the average yield per hen from 70 in 1933 to 275 today. In these facilities, birds cannot forage, flap their wings, dust-bathe, nest, establish dominance hierarchies, or even preen themselves in natural ways; culling of injured birds is economically inefficient, and the entire population of a battery operation is slaughtered and replaced periodically (every 12-15 months on state of the art operations). Poultry are still exempt from federal humane slaughter legislation and by comparison to state of the art cattle slaughter facilities, poultry slaughter is still a relatively indelicate affair; fully conscious birds are from their legs on conveyor belts before being stunned and beheaded. Questions: 1. What conclusions would you personally reach about the morality of each of the practices described? Why? 2. Explain how Regan's and Singer's theories would apply to each of these practices, what conclusions they would imply, and why. What, if any, modifications of the practices in question would change these theories' implications about them? Hunting Note: Cases #1 and #3 are entirely fictional, but realistic. Case #2 below is based on an actual situation in Yellowstone in the early 1960's, although the contemporary management practice is not as described. Case #1: Peter Kirk is a midwestem farmer who hunts deer every fall just like his father and grandfather before him. Each year, Kirk spends several weekends afield, tracking deer and eventually killing one. He cures and freezes the venison, which is treated as a delicacy in his family. Case #2: Rick Pearson is a National Park Service ranger in Yellowstone. One of his jobs is to serve as a marksman during yearly culling of the northern elk herd, which has repeatedly exceeded the carrying capacity of its range. After extensive attempts at trapping and relocation, the Park Service killed about 4000 animals (upwards of one third of the population at the time) during the winter of 1961-62. The hunt was staged in the winter, when the animals are concentrated at lower elevations, it used Park Service marksmen, and the carcasses were processed on the scene, the meat being given to area Indian tribes. |
The initial herd reduction caused a public outcry because the methods seemed so unsporting or cruel, but an influential government report endorsed the technique and now each winter, several hundred elk are shot under similar circumstances, and this has stabilized the population within the carrying capacity of its range. Case #3: Howard Stancer is a successful Hollywood actor who has traveled the world for years trophy hunting. He has heads of 19 big game animals on his wall and needs only the head of a rare cat to have completed the prestigious "big 20" of trophy hunting. So this summer he is going to a game ranch in central Texas and paying $3500 to be guaranteed a cat of the species in question. These cats, along with a dozen other exotic species, are bred on the ranch in one acre pens for the purpose of such "canned" hunts. Questions: 1. What conclusion would you personally reach about the
moral permissibility of hunting in each of these cases? 2. What do you think a typical animal rights activist would say about each of these cases? 3. Explain how Regan's and Singer's theories would apply to these cases and what conclusions they would imply (i.e., in each case, is the hunting morally permissible, morally required, etc.) and why. DEHORNING CALVES
Steven Bursian, William Frey, Faith Gandiya, Leland Shapiro, Sally Walshaw A recent newspaper article reported the visit to a local dairy farm by a self-professed animal rights activist. She said, "I was horrified to see little calves having their tiny horns removed without any anesthetic while the calves screamed and bawled." According to a spokesperson for the state dairy cattle association, Holstein cattle (male and female) have horns. As these animals become mature, the horns are hazardous to people and other cattle. Horns also increase necessary feeder space for each animal. Non-chemical methods of dehorning include electrocautery irons and various cutting/scooping instruments. A veterinarian who agreed to be interviewed stated that the head of a calf is well-supplied with nerves that carry pain sensation. Older calves may struggle more and may seem more depressed after dehorning than younger calves. Some dehorning procedures appear to be less painful to calves than other procedures. |
TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION: 1. Invite students to engage in a role-playing exercise using rights-based, duty-based, and goal-based ethical theories to evaluate the case. Possible roles:
2. Ask students to suggest alternative procedures to avoid the problem of apparent pain in this common agricultural procedure. 3. Should the alternatives you mention be mandated for farmers? Why or why not? Our reasoning in constructing this case follows 1. Ethical problem to be embodied in the case study. General problem:
Specific problems:
2. The teaching objectives for this case study are: 3. The salient facts or features that create the
problem: 4. Features included to serve the teaching purpose:
Features omitted to serve the teaching purpose:
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