From Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The Humane Society of the United States:
Our treatment of animals is a challenging and sometimes confusing moral issue. We are a nation of pet lovers and wildlife watchers, and we have laws against malicious cruelty. There are as many as 20,000 organizations devoted to helping animals in our nation.
Yet the question remains, why would an animal-loving society need so much philanthropy and volunteerism to help and advocate for animals? It turns out there's a flip side to our relationship with other creatures. We also raise billions of animals in extreme confinement on factory farms, including millions of pigs raised in North Carolina. We raise or capture countless fur-bearing animals in spite of having synthetic or natural fiber coats, and breed dogs on puppy mills even while shelters struggle to adopt animals.
It's within our power to reach for a higher standard and find ways of doing business that do not leave a trail of animal victims in our wake. It was the United States that docked the whaling ships, replacing them with a fleet of new boats meant for watching whales. The Outer Banks has a vibrant whale and dolphin watching industry.
In North Carolina, lawmakers passed Susie's Law in 2010. The law, which was named for a dog who was beaten, burned and left for dead, increased penalties for those who commit felony acts of animal cruelty. Susie survived her ordeal and attended a ceremony where Gov. Bev Perdue signed the bill into law, but the legislature has otherwise failed to take meaningful action to protect animals.
It's not for lack of opportunities to do so. Bills to protect dogs at commercial breeding facilities and to restrict the gruesome practice of fox penning have been introduced but ultimately killed by elected legislators beholden to the powerful agriculture industry.
While other states have advanced measures to adopt humane standards for housing farm animals, passed common-sense consumer and animal protection laws addressing puppy mills and strengthened efforts to combat illegal animal fighting, North Carolina lags behind. The state fell to 33rd in our annual ranking of humane laws in 2011.
We can and should marshal our creativity and compassion to find better ways. We have so many reasons to do so. The callous mistreatment of animals has a corrosive effect. In homes where there is animal cruelty, there is likely to be spousal or child abuse. Food-borne pathogens may occur when animals are severely overcrowded on factory farms. Capturing wild animals and trading them like mere commodities - for food in live animal markets or for the pet trade - spreads diseases such as AIDS, SARS and avian influenza that threaten public health and cost untold billions of dollars. Sales of dangerous exotic pets are cruel to the animals and endangering communities.
Ultimately, a conscious concern for animals is necessary for our moral progress and our economic success. A civil society must sync up its economy with its values and ideals, and opposition to cruelty is among them.
