Animal protection making strides, slowly
April20
Did you know that there are 84 federal laws governing the treatment of animals in the United States? I was reminded of that when I attended a conference put on by the Animal Legal Defense Fund at Harvard Law School earlier this month.
The statutes range from the Marine Mammal Protection Act, to the Endangered Species Act to the African Elephant Conservation Act. They are seldom as tough as they need to be: the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act exempts poultry from any protection, for example, and the Animal Welfare Act, which governs commercial dog-breeding, does nothing to stop a breeder from caging a dog for its entire life.
Yet changes have been made, profound ones. One of the biggest was California’s passage two years ago of Proposition 2, which requires that farm animals be allowed to turn around freely stand, lie down and fully extend their limbs. (Sad to think of that simple an edict as ground-breaking, but it is.) All it takes is for two or three big states to pass legislation along these lines to make industry fall in step everywhere else.
The conference was a great chance to hear the latest on animal law strategies. David Wolfson, the animal-welfare advocate I studied animal law under and an expert on factory farming, noted that when the campaign to improve conditions for farm animals began 12 years ago, “no one thought we could make a crack at it.”
Amazingly, 118 law schools in the U.S. now offer courses in animal law. Where animal protection is concerned, experts consider dogs, cats and other companion animals as “gateway species” — the animals most likely to introduce Americans to the broader issue of protection for all. As Paul Waldau, president of the Religion and Animals Institute and Harvard Law School lecturer, noted, “You can’t get social movements without popular support.” Given that, I’m a little surprised the puppy mill epidemic wasn’t more of a focus at the conference. For thousands of dog lovers, it the hot topic, period, and will continue to be until shoddy breeders are run out of business.
Puppy mills will be a key subject at the Washington State Bar Association’s Animal Law Section’s continuing legal education program on June 17th in Seattle.
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