Paul Hansen's Page

Despite the 1990 ban on ivory trade, elephants continue to be killed by poachers. According to Defenders of Wildlife, at the turn of the 20th century, there were a few million African elephants and about 100,000 Asian elephants. Today, there are an estimated 450,000 to 700,000 African elephants and between 35,000 and 40,000 wild Asian elephants. Defenders of Wildlife is working through the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to maintain a ban on the sale of ivory…

Professor Eleonora Gullone, Associate Professor in Psychology at Monash University, Australia, believes that “Almost without exception, the perpetrators of animal cruelty crimes are the same individuals who carry out aggressive and violent acts including assault, partner and child abuse. Thus, animal cruelty crimes should be treated with the same seriousness as crimes against humans. Moreover, the punishments should reflect their severity." For more details on her new book, Animal…

Modern institutions like to euphemize their worst habits, and nowhere is this more evident than in the meat industry. Animals have been reduced from sentient individuals to material commodities that contribute to the production of capital. Hence, they are captured, caged, raised, poached, trapped, skinned, traded, or sold as “exotic” pets or for their fur, body parts, or supposed medicinal value.

The semantics of meat-industry terms is itself revealing. Such terms as “poultry”,…

In reality, the meat industry is interested NOT in animal welfare, but in maintaining its “market share” or bottom line—and that means substituting euphemistic labeling for true ethical reform and getting anti-cruelty laws compromised. Read this essay by James McWilliams: …