Issue 3
![handle is hein.journals/nyuev6 and id is 539 raw text is: ARTICLES
TOWARD A NON-PROPERTY STATUS
FOR ANIMALS
THOMAS G. KELCH*
In his thoughts, Herman spoke a eulogy for the mouse who had shared
a portion of her life with him and who, because of him, had left this
earth.
'What do they know-all these scholars, all these philosophers, all
the leaders of the world-about such as you? They have con-
vinced themselves that man, the worst transgressor of all the spe-
cies, is the crown of creation. All other creatures were created
merely to provide him with food, pelts, to be tormented, extermi-
nated. In relation to them, all people are Nazis; for the animals it
is an eternal Treblinka.'
TNTRODUCrION
The magnitude of exploitation of animals is astonishing. Es-
timates of the number of animals scientists use in experiments
each year in the United States range from 10 million to 100 mil-
lion with the best guess being about 17 to 22 million.2 This is so
even though most, if not all, animal experiments are unnecessary
and many are of no real scientific value.3 Humans farm about
150 million tons of meat each year.4 In animal experiments and
farming, the conditions and treatment of animals is often appal-
ling. It is doubtful that many people would personally subject
* Associate Professor of Law, Whittier Law School. B.G.S., 1978, Univer-
sity of Michigan, J.D., 1981, University of Michigan Law School. I am most
indebted to Stephen M. Wise for his insightful comments on an earlier draft of
this Article.
1 Isaac Bashevis Singer, The Letter Writer from The Seance and Other Sto-
ries, in JON WYNNE-TYsON, THE EXTENDED CIRcLm A CmoMoNPLAc2 BooK
OF ANtiAL RIGHTs 335 (1989).
2 See PETER SINGER, ANIAL LmERAnON 37 (1990) [hereinafter SINGE,
ANmiAL LIBERATION].
3 For an extensive discussion of the myths about animal experiments and
their supposed validity, see ROBERT SHARPE, THE CRUEL DECavnoq: THE
USE OF ANiALS IN MEDICAL RESEARCH (1988).
4 See C. DAVID COATS, OLD MACDONALD'S FACTORY FARM 22 (1989).
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Issue 3
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Issue 3
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