Although many of us may not have direct interactions with live animals on a daily basis, animals are involved in almost every aspect of society today. Consider the following places animals are impacted by the daily activities of humans:
• animals are or are involved in producing the food we eat and the clothing we wear;
• animals are used to test the safety of medications we take, cosmetics we use, or household and garden products;
• we often use animals for entertainment purposes--whether it is on TV, the circus, or the zoo;
• many people decide to live with animals for their companionship; and
• wild animals live around us, even in the most densely populated areas of a city.

Each Spring, ALS hosts an Animal Awareness Week at Boalt Hall in order to educate students and faculty about issues involving animals in our society, the lack of protection that animals have through our existing laws, and how we can promote the humane treatment of animals. We also hold a delicious bake sale, with many extraordinary vegan options, in order to raise money for our various activities. Below is a description of some of the issues we covered last year.

Factory Farm Day:
Hundreds of millions of farm animals in the U.S. are routinely mutilated and harvested under inhumane conditions. Factory farms produce billions of pounds of manure a day, which finds its way into our lakes, rivers, and drinking water. Antibiotics allow factory animals to “survive” in unsanitary quarters, which in turn produces antibiotic-resistant bacteria in meat-eaters.

Wildlife Day:
Animals in the wild are at risk from hunters, trappers and traders, not to mention from degradation and confiscation of habitats. In captivity, wild animals are subjected to unnatural and unsuitable environments, poor husbandry, and punishing training methods.

Animal Experimentation Day:
Animal experimentation inflicts unnecessary pain and suffering in animals for test results that are not reliably extrapolated to humans. Major medical breakthroughs, including treatment for cerebral palsy and the teratogenic effects of thalidomide and DES, have come from observation of human patients, not from animal studies. Even the Animal Welfare Act excludes rats, mice and birds, and does not require the use of painkillers during experiments.