Executives found Dr. Grandin's approach "scientific" and not "emotional," Mr. Langert said. They marveled at her research techniques: how she measured animal behavior and conditions; how she paid attention to animal vocalizations; how she studied their response to electric prods; how she catalogued their adaptations to various conditions.
Indeed, Dr. Grandin often gets down on all fours to walk through a processing plant, as if she were an animal. She has autism, and she says things that bother her because of her condition, like loud noises, can bother animals, as well, McDonald's officials said.
- Animal Welfare's Unexpected Allies
Dr. Temple Grandin studies animal behavior and welfare issues. Her website focuses on her work on an area where such expertise is surely needed: the treatment and slaughter of animals raised for food. For instance, we can learn about her designs for more humane slaughter devices and research on how animals react to treatment inherent in factory farms and so forth.
A person like myself who finds the mass production of animals and animal welfare as basically mutually exclusive might look at such research with some disdain. This would be misguided, however, since you have to start with the possible. And, if we are going to have mass production of animals for food, the attempt to limit harm is a worthwhile enterprise. An enterprise that mixes animal welfare with some practical financial benefits, since mistreatment is not quite as financially useful as some in the industry might think.
Dr. Grandin appears to have such a mind-set. Her website, aside from some mostly technical material, includes an interesting essay concerning treating animals like property. She argues that they might be considered property, an abstract term that her condition has some problem getting a handle on, but they are not just "things" like a screwdriver or chair. Dr. Grandin focuses on neurological qualities of animals to show this, thus drawing a line at the oyster -- this would address a current commercial making fun of animal lovers who are told that their tissues kill viruses.
Different degrees of neurological development would require different degrees of protection. Animals also have certain values, such as bees who make honey and pollinate flowers or provide diversity, but we have laws regarding animal welfare largely because animals feel. As an autistic,* this must be of some special interest to her -- she in fact co-wrote a book about animal behavior which her condition appears to have influenced.
The essay is not comprehensive, so does not totally explain why the fact animals feel should matter to us. After all, it does not matter to many people, surely in the past before animal welfare laws were as prevalent as they are today. There are various reasons for such concern, of course, including a universal respect for life -- if we do not concern ourselves with the pain of our pets, for instance, it suggests a lack of care that will probably bleed over to other matters.
As Dr. Grandin notes, there is always some sort of favoring of one's own kind, but respect for others clearly have some value. This value is expressed in the animal welfare field in various ways, including religious respect for life, such as a belief we have a "dominion" over the earth that includes some obligation for its upkeep.
A final comment. Dr. Grandin noted that one review of her essay suggested that the raising of millions of animals for food is not beneficial to the animals themselves given the end result. She counters that life is worthwhile as long as such life is treated correctly. This raises a deep philosophical debate that Peter Singer addresses in the second edition of his seminal work Animal Liberation -- is the very creation of new life a good thing?
I wish not to dwell on the subject too much, but would suggest that even if we rightly respect Dr. Grandin's effort to better the life of animals, mistreatment is some fashion is inherent in the current state of mass production of animals for food (putting aside environmental concerns, etc.). Small scale animal husbandry is more open to debate, but easing the status of animals involved in factory farming can be taken only so far. It is akin to betterment of prisoners: at some point, obviously, we realize it isn't meant to be totally a good thing for those inside.
One can relieve the harshness of a system without ignoring that it is problematic at it core, though saying so might turn off the people running the system that you are trying to convince to ease things up some. Since in some fashion, we all must deal with imperfect systems that still can be handled in such a way to reduce their problematic elements a lot more so than is usually the case, this principle has universal application. Thus, I thought her comment was worthy of a response.
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* She has written or co-written various books relating to her condition, including a biographical account entitled Thinking In Pictures and Other Reports from My Life with Autism, which I probably will eventually check out. I posted a review of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time on a message board, and someone mentioned her writings. Interesting things and connections pop up all the time, no?