The fur industry is well-known to house minks and other animals raised for their coats in cruel conditions and to kill them by such devices as anal electrical probes designed to kill without damaging fur (HSUS 2007).

The problem is that the underlying rationale for criminalizing animal cruelty is that animals (even those defined as "pests") feel physical pain the same as animals protected as "pets" in our culture. Unfortunately, the fact that killing an animal by drowning is legal does nothing to diminish its suffering.

In that respect, it is curious that so many people seem to believe that animals raised for slaughter deserve no protection from cruelty. Even many of those who support animal cruelty laws completely understand that animals raised for the slaughter house (or for harvesting their fur) can be housed humanely and in compassionate circumstances and in horribly cruel torturous conditions. Just last week, hidden...
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