Animal rights

• BROWNSBURG, Ind., April 17, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Forrest and Charlotte Lucas were inducted into the recently created Missouri Agriculture Hall of Fame at an April 9 ceremony in Jefferson City.
• "Agriculture is the heart and soul of Missouri, and the recipients of this award truly deserve the honor," stated Parson.
• "We are honored and delighted to be selected as two of the first inductees into Missouri's Agriculture Hall of Fame," said Forrest Lucas.
• Regarding their efforts to solve food insecurity in Missouri, Forrest and Charlotte support the Missouri Farmers Care Foundation, Hogs for Hunger initiative and annual Drive to Feed Kids.

• "As a whole, these pieces offer a unique reflection and authentic voice of the time before the growth of the internet and the birth of social media."
• With Power to the People , researchers have access to a wide range of rare primary sources on social movements that have shaped modern Western history.
• The archive paints a multifaceted picture of social history that highlights equity, diversity and inclusion.
• The University of Bradford's Special Collections on Peace, Politics, and Social Change: highlights social movements around the world.

• Let’s picture what our societies might look like if animals were granted rights against being killed, made to suffer or exploited for human gain.
• When activists argue for animal rights, they ask us to imagine a different world.
• First, we need to understand how our lives are shaped by animals’ lack of rights.
• The range of uses we put animals to is enormous – going far beyond food, labour and clothing.

Thinking about it

• The humanities and social sciences try to answer the question “so
  how would that work?”.
• It is already possible to grow meat, eggs, milk, and leather in a lab without harming animals.
• Animal agriculture uses vast amounts of land, water and energy, both to house and feed animals, and pollutes our air, rivers and oceans.

• One worry we might have is about the loss of jobs and income generated by animal agriculture.
• Animal rights theorists might respond in a number of ways: one would be to say that we ought not to protect jobs and income generated from rights violations.

Animal testing

• For example, advances in computer modelling allow scientists to predict how medicines will act in human patients without the need for testing on other animals.
• Many people worry that we might not have achieved many of the medical advances we have without animal testing.
• This may well be true, but for animal rights advocates this isn’t enough on its own to justify it.
• In these cases, vets do have the right to refuse to euthanise an animal.

Animal rights

• As citizens, animals could be entitled to workers’ rights, health and retirement benefits.
• Full animal rights mean that dogs like Finn would be entitled what is known as legal personhood.
• When we try to imagine a world with animal rights, it turns out not to be so difficult after all.

Stephen Cooke is affiliated with The Vegan Society UK Research Advisory Committee and the Animal Welfare Research Network.

• Protect The Harvest rebrands, adds chief administrative officer as it eyes future growth.
• Effective September 1, Dr. Mike Siemens assumed the role of executive director, with a focus on strategic development, growth and meeting constituent needs.
• Theresa Lucas McMahan, moved from executive director to the newly created chief administrative officer position, focused on organizational effectiveness and operations.
• Lucas McMahan has been with Protect The Harvest since 2013, serving in several roles including as a member of the board of directors, board secretary and, executive director.