Things to do
. Write to your MP calling for a ban on factory farming; exports of live animals; patenting of genetically engineered animals; and use of animals in state-funded research.

. Give up meat and other animal products or eat less and buy only free range or organically grown. Boycott fur, avoid leather.

. Buy cruelty-free cosmetics and detergents, or use traditional non-tested cleaners eg. soda crystals or vinegar. Write to manufacturers.

. Avoid modern (ie. animal-tested) drugs if you can - treat ailments with alternative medicine.

. Get rid of unwanted creatures humanely: use humane mousetraps and products that kill insect eggs; gardens can be planned to discourage slugs; use diluted washing-up liquid as a pesticide.

. Pet-keeping and over-breeding can cause great suffering. Be sure you want one. Have it neutered. For further information consult Living Without Cruelty by Mark Gold (Green Print, 1988)

Groups to contact
AOTEAROA:
Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals,
P0 Box 15349 New Lynn, Auckland.

Save Animals from Exploitation,
P0 Box 331139 Takapuna, Auckland. New Zealand

Anti-Vivisection Society,
P0 Box 2065, Wellington. New Zealand

Vegetarian Society,
P0 Box 8517 Riccarton, Christchurch.

 

AUSTRALIA:
Animal Liberation,
37 Swanston St. Melbourne 3000.

Animal Rights,
Box 1435M GPO, Melbourne, Victoria 3001.

Australian Association for Humane Research,
P0 Box 356, Broadway, NSW 2007.

International Fund for Animal Welfare,
P0 Box 559, Avalon, NSW 2107.

Australian Vegetarian Society,
P0 Box 65, 20-21 Paddington, NSW.

 

CANADA:
Ark II the Canadian Animal Rights Network,
542 Mount Pleasant Road, Toronto, ON M5S 2M7.

Animal Defence and Antivivisection Society of British Columbia,
P0 Box 391, Station A, Vancouver BC V6 2N2.

Animal Liberation Front (Support Group),
P0 Box 915, Station F, Toronto, ON M4Y 2N9.

International Fund for Animal Welfare,
P0 Box 556, Station T, Toronto, ON M6B 4C2.

Toronto Humane Society,
11 River Street, Toronto, ON M5A 4C2.

 

UK:
Animal Aid,
7 Castle Street, Tonbridge, Kent TN91HB.

British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection,
16a Crane Grove, London N? 8LB.

Animal Liberation Front Supporters Group,
P0 Box BCM 1160, London WC1 N 3XX.

Compassion in World Farming,
20 Lavant Street, Petersfield, Hampshire GU32 3EW.

Lynx (Campaign against the fur Trade),
P0 Box 300, Nottingham, NG1 5HN.

Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals,
Causeway, Horsham, West Sussex RH 12 iHG.

The Vegetarian Society,
Parkdale, Dunham Road, Altrincham, Cheshire WA 1440G.

 

US:
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals,
P0 Box 42516 Washington DC 20015.

The Humane Society of the United States,
2100 L Street, NW, Washington DC 20037.

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WORTH READING
Kick off with Peter Singer's ground-breaking, highly readable Animal Liberation (Thorsons, 1984). For a more in-depth philosophical analysis there is The Case for Animal Rights argued coherently by Tom Regan (Routledge, 1984). Rape of the Wild by Andrée Collard and Joyce Contrucci (Women's Press, 1988) provides an illuminating feminist-green focus. And Carol J Adams' The Sexual Politics of Meat (Polity, 1990) draws the connections between meat-eating and patriarchy. The similarities between human and animal slavery - and between racism and speciesism - are highlighted in Marjorie Spiegel's short and moving The Dreaded Comparison (Heretic Books, 1985). Animal Revolution by Richard Ryder (Blackwell, 1990) gives us an interesting historical and contemporary account of changing attitudes towards speciesism. Thorough and devastating in its critique of the scientific practice of vivisection is Dr Robert Sharpe's The Cruel Deception (Thorsons, 1988). While Why You Don't Need Meat by Peter Cox (Thorsons, 1986) is disarmingly simple and persuasive.