Ruth Harrison (; 24 June 1920 – 13 June 2000) was an English animal welfare activist and writer.
Biography
Harrison was born in London, the daughter of the author Stephen Winsten and the artist Clara Birnberg. She was educated at Bedford College, London.Harrison nee Winsten. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Subscription or UK public library membership required As a Quaker and as a conscientious objector during the Second World War (thereby following the stand of her father in the First World War), she served in the Friends Ambulance Unit, first in Hackney, London, and then with displaced persons in Schleswig-Holstein and Bochum in Germany. Ruth married architect Dex Harrison in 1954. She served on the Farm Animal Welfare Committee.McKenna, Carol. (2000). "Ruth Harrison". The Guardian. Retrieved March 4, 2020.
In 1964, Harrison published Animal Machines, which describes intensive poultry and livestock farming. The book exposed the suffering inflicted on farm animals by industrialised agriculture.Swanson, Janice C. (1998). Harrison to Rollin: Farm Animal Welfare in Transition. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science 1 (2): 167-174.Sayer, Karen. (2013). Animal Machines: The Public Response to Intensification in Great Britain, c. 1960–c. 1973. Agricultural History 87 (4): 473-501. The book prompted the British government to appoint a committee chaired by Francis Brambell to investigate the welfare of farm animals. In 1965, the "Brambell Report" was published which outlined Five Freedoms."The Five Freedoms: A History Lesson in Animal Care and Welfare". Michigan State University. Retrieved March 4, 2020. Harrison's book was published in seven countries and was the inspiration for the European Convention for the Protection of Animals Kept for Farming Purposes.Animal Welfare Quarterly accessed 28/03/08 In 1986 she was awarded an OBE.
Harrison died of cancer in 2000, shortly before her eightieth birthday.
Legacy The Australian ethicist Peter Singer has said that reading Animal Machines was important in his becoming a vegetarian and adopting the views that he sets out in Animal Liberation.Peter Singer talk, "My Life in Philosophy: The Point of View of the Universe and Its Implications for Ethics, Animal Liberation and Effective Altruism" (Universität Graz, in Graz, Austria, June 7, 2017, published to YouTube on Aug 11, 2017)
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) president and co-founder Ingrid Newkirk, also credits Harrison's book, Animal Machines, with changing her life.Ingrid Newkirk commentary, What Does 'Turkey Day' Mean to You?, Tribune News Service, Nov. 24, 2022
Selected publications Animal Machines: the New Factory Farming Industry. Vincent Stuart Publishers. (1964) Case Study: Farm Animals. In R. J. Berry. (1992). Environmental Dilemmas: Ethics and Decisions. Chapman & Hall.
References
Further reading Kirchhelle, C. (2021). Bearing Witness: Ruth Harrison and British Farm Animal Welfare (1920-2000). Palgrave Macmillan.
External links
Animal Welfare Quarterly - A Tribute to Ruth Harrison