Humane Society Ranks States on Animal Welfare

Here's a way to find out how your state ranks.

California is #1 again....yay! Washington State, where I currently live, is #6!

At the bottom....(drum roll please) South Dakota!!!

Animal Welfare in the State of California

California really is at the forefront of animal welfare and this is an excellent article detailing what's going on in the State and the challenges animal welfare faces. It also does a great job at profiling Jennifer Fearing who led the victory of Proposition 2. She sounds amazing.

Best & Worst States for Animal Protection

According to this Technorati article, the Humane Society rated the states on their animal protection laws.

BEST STATES
California (best-yay!)
New Jersey
Illinois
Massachusetts
Colorado
Maine

WORST STATES
Ohio
Hawaii
Alabama
North Dakota
Mississippi
Idaho
South Dakota (worst)


According to the Animal Legal Defense Fund, the states fell this way...

BEST
Illinois (best)
Maine
Michigan
Oregon
California

WORST
Mississippi
Idaho
Hawaii
North Dakota
Kentucky

SRI Denies Access to the Humane Society

If the incident is insignificant, then why deny access?

From the San Jose Mercury News...

A Menlo Park research facility Monday refused to allow a humane society representative to check up on a monkey that bit a female lab worker the day before.

SRI International officials said the lab worker is OK and because their facility is under federal oversight, the Peninsula Humane Society doesn't have to be given access to its research animals.

"The worker ... received a very minor injury to the finger, was treated onsite by emergency response personnel and then at a local medical facility," SRI said in a statement released Monday. "The worker is fine and returned to work on Monday."

Because an animal bite occurred, Menlo Park police alerted the Peninsula Humane Society, which is under county contract to follow up on such incidents. The organization is supposed to check whether an animal that bites a human poses a continued threat, is vaccinated for such diseases as rabies, and might need to be quarantined, said John Conley, deputy director of public health for San Mateo County.

....The humane society was rebuffed twice by the research facility, first on Sunday after the incident was reported and again on Monday when it sent a representative to see the monkey.

Humane Society Puts Pressure on South Carolina's Bear Baying

Ugh, this is barbaric and right out of the dark ages.

From the AP...

A declawed, defanged bear is chained to a stake as hunting dogs bark and snap, trying to force the bear to stand on its hind legs. The training exercise called bear baying is intended to make the bears easier to shoot in the wild and it's only allowed in South Carolina.

Armed with new undercover video of four such events, the Humane Society of the United States is pressuring state officials to explicitly outlaw the practice, which the organization says is effectively banned in every other state. Animal rights advocates say it's cruel to the nearly defenseless bears and harms them psychologically.

Hunters say the exercise popular in the state's hilly northwestern corner helps them train their dogs on what to do when they come across a bear during a hunt.

State law on the issue is murky. Statutes banning animal fighting have a specific exemption for dog training. And while South Carolina's attorney general says animal cruelty laws prohibit bear baying, he hasn't prosecuted any cases.

Steps Towards Ending Factory Farming?

Well, maybe, although I think there is still a long way to go. Last week there was a slew of articles about the agreement in Ohio between the farm industry and animal welfare activists to expand cage sizes for calves (veal), hens and pigs. This concession was to avoid a November ballot vote a la California's Proposition 2. This New York Times article argues that it could lead to other states following suit.

A recent agreement between farmers and animal rights activists here is a rare compromise in the bitter and growing debate over large-scale, intensive methods of producing eggs and meat, and may well push farmers in other states to give ground, experts say. The rising consumer preference for more “natural” and local products and concerns about pollution and antibiotic use in giant livestock operations are also driving change.

The surprise truce in Ohio follows stronger limits imposed by California voters in 2008; there, extreme caging methods will be banned altogether by 2015. In another sign of the growing clout of the animal welfare movement, a law passed in California this year will also ban imports from other states of eggs produced in crowded cages. Similar limits were approved last year in Michigan and less sweeping restrictions have been adopted in Florida, Arizona and other states.

Ag's Reaction to Ohio Deal with Humane Society

Yesterday, I raised the issue that some may think the Humane Society copped out by making a deal with Ohio agriculture and NOT bringing new animal welfare regulations to the ballot. Well, it looks like, on the other side, big agriculture and others of that ilk feel like Ohio ag itself made a deal with the devil by entering this agreement.

Unexpected Farm Animal Deal in Ohio

To me, it's another example of the Humane Society's growing savvy and clout in the US. I know many will disagree with me and say it's a cop-out, but I'll take what I can get.

From the Associated Press...

Animal welfare groups led by the Humane Society of the United States have agreed to abandon a fall ballot issue against animal cruelty as part of a deal with state farm groups brokered by Gov. Ted Strickland.

...The deal calls for Strickland, the Humane Society, the Ohio Farm Bureau and their partners to join forces in favor of tougher laws governing farm animals, including provisions that ban certain crates and cages and the use of strangulation as a form of euthanasia.

It also calls for setting felony-level penalties for cock fighting, cracking down on puppy mills and promoting a ban on future exotic pet purchases.

Humane Society's Explanation for Working with Michael Vick

Found this piece from May 2009. It's the Humane Society explaining why they teamed up with Michael Vick on his community service work. I'm still torn about that, although I certainly understand their logic.

Humane Society's National Conference Announced

I recently received this email announcement. The conference is to be held from July 23-26 in Washington, DC.

Someday, I hope to attend one of these conferences. It looks like they have some great workshops with people like Gene Bauer from Farm Sanctuary and Nicole Pollata from the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF.)

The Conflict Between Animal Welfare and Agribusiness

This article pretty much sums up how the two agendas are simply at cross-purposes. Compassion is perceived to hurt profits.

It spotlights the Humane Society, but I think it's a pretty universal comparison.

Humane Society Cites Abuses at University of Minnesota

Ugh. All this stuff makes me sick. Don't give me that slop about universities being better than corporations. I don't care if they're supposedly working for altruistic purposes (they're not, but that's another story), they are allowing animals to suffer through negligent care separate from the excruciating experiments they must still undergo.

What BS.

(Media-Newswire.com) - The Humane Society of the United States has obtained government reports showing that the University of Minnesota has violated federal standards of care for animals in laboratories. Violations included failing to properly administer pain-relieving medicine, failing to provide adequate veterinary care and failing to properly euthanize animals. The improperly euthanized animals remained alive but were discarded as if they were dead.

The HSUS learned of the violations through the U.S. Department of Agriculture's online inspection reports and documents in response to a Freedom of Information Act request to the National Institutes of Health's Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare.

"The public doesn't want animals to suffer gratuitously in research laboratories," said Martin Stephens, Ph.D., vice president of animal research issues for The HSUS. "University of Minnesota should publicly affirm its commitment to minimizing the suffering of animals in its research labs."

Humane Society Calls for Refuge for 9 Chimps

These chimps are currently at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s New Iberia Research Center. This is the same place that was nailed by a Humane Society undercover investigation. Videos showed mistreatment of the lab animals.

The Humane Society wants 9 chimps that are not being "used" as part of experiments to be released to a sanctuary. I just love the language used by the Research Center's spokesperson.

{Dr. Jeff Rowell, NIRC director, in an e-mail Wednesday} "said the nine remaining animals are being housed as a family group at the center with access to indoor-outdoor caging.

“The animals have not been and are not currently being accessed for biomedical research,” Rowell said."

"Accessed?" Interesting. Let's make this as clinical as possible. It's irrelevant that these chimpanzees share 98.6 percent of our DNA. They may as well be centrifuges or test tubes to these people.

Senator Maria Cantwell Receives Award for Animal Welfare Work

She is a US Senator from our home state of Washington. My husband worked for her years and years ago, when she was just a State representative.

U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) received the Humane Society’s Legislative Leader award for her leadership in protecting animals. The Humane Society of the United States cited Senator Cantwell’s efforts to improve marine mammal rescue capability, including such challenges as disentangling marine mammals from fishing nets. The Society also noted Cantwell’s work on climate change.

Humane Society Ranks States in First-Time Report

It's their first annual "humane state" report. Ohio, Mississippi, North Dakota, Idaho and South Dakota are at the bottom. California and New Jersey came out on top.

Top Ten Animal Stories of the Decade

A list compiled by the Humane Society...

Obama Gets B- on Animal Protection

The Humane Society gives President Obama a B- on animal protection. Not that great, but I no longer think of Obama as a progressive anyway.

It's probably still better than w.

Patriots and Steelers Eye "Sick Vick" for Signing

Well, I know two teams I may not be rooting for next season. (Of course, I've disliked the Patriots ever since their coach was caught with filming other teams. And the Steelers? Not since they were handed the Super Bowl over the Seahawks. Worst officiating EVER!)

Plus, I personally have no room for forgiveness for Sick Vick. Others may, but I don't.

What do you all think about his upcoming work for the Humane Society? Pretty savvy on HSUS' part? Or are they trying to get publicity?

Settlement Forces Animal Research Facilities to Disclose More

This would be awesome. Now, I know it doesn't solve everything, but it's another chink in the armor. I worry it won't pass the DC district court for some wacky reason. I don't like to celebrate until I'm sure of something.

From the LA Times....

Animal research facilities will be required to disclosee more information online about their experiments under a court settlement signed Wednesday by the Humane Society of the United States and the Agriculture Department.

According to the Humane Society, the settlement will require the Agriculture Department to post annual reports from those facilities, including what they call "pain and distress information," on its Web site. The two parties settled in a lawsuit filed by the advocacy group four years ago after the group were unable to obtain information they requested.

The settlement will now be submitted to the federal district court for the District of Columbia for final approval.

Northwestern University NOT Signing HSUS Pledge to Prevent Pain in Lab Animals

The Humane Society began a campaign in March 2008 to get 600 university presidents to sign a pledge to prevent severe pain and distress in animals used in research. So far only 37 presidents have signed it.

HSUS is now attempting to reach students through Facebook.

Here's a campus article about Northwestern University, one of the schools that have NOT signed.