Animal Protection: What It Means and Why Animals Should Be Protected

What does animal protection mean?

Animal protection generally refers to preventing, reducing, or eliminating the harms that humans do to animals. Animal protection can be broken into three categories:

• Wild animal protection: Initiatives to protect and enable wild animals to live and thrive in their natural habitats
• Animal welfare: Legislation and campaigns to protect animals under human control, whether within farming, research, or companion animal contexts
• Animal rights: Advocacy to liberate animals from being used by humans at all

Why should animals be protected?

Science increasingly demonstrates that animals are far more sensitive, aware, and intelligent than humans have long believed. It's very likely that animals are aware of the conditions in which they’re kept on factory farms, as well as the abuses they suffer during laboratory experiments—and this means a change in practices is long overdue.

Animals also play a critical role in the ecosystems and biospheres that make life on Earth possible for humans. Protecting animals—as well as the oceans, forests, and grasslands they inhabit—will help safeguard the future for all species, including Homo sapiens.

Is animal protection effective?

Animal protection can be incredibly effective. Change can happen through grassroots advocacy, by engaging with corporations to hold them accountable, or by lobbying elected officials to enact protective legislation. The Humane League has secured many victories for animals over the years. Below are a few examples of how animal protection can be effective at reducing abuses for millions of living beings:

• Dunkin’ Donuts, Costco, CVS, Walgreens, and more have all agreed to stop caging egg-laying hens using outdated and inhumane battery cages.
• HelloFresh, Compass Group, Sodexo, and Delaware North have adopted policies to provide chickens with better living environments, reduce stocking density, and improve welfare during slaughter.
• Coffee giant Starbucks agreed to adopt policies to improve chicken welfare by providing them with more space and better living environments.
• Chipotle remains committed to the Better Chicken Commitment (BCC), and is reporting progress toward improved living conditions for chickens in its supply chain.
• Arizona, California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah, and Washington have all passed laws regulating the use of battery cages and/or the sale of “conventional” eggs (i.e. eggs from caged hens).

More and more companies are joining the ranks of large corporations making strides to improve the lives of the animals in their supply chains.

Federal animal protection laws

In the United States, there are numerous laws aimed at protecting both wild and captive animals. Though far from perfect, and in many cases difficult to enforce, these laws help inform the ways animals are treated by individuals and corporations.

Animal Welfare Act

The Animal Welfare Act (AWA) was passed into law in 1966 by the US government. The impetus behind the legislation was concern over the treatment of animals used in laboratory experiments, particularly the practice of vivisection, or surgery on living animals. Since its inception, the bill has expanded to include welfare issues within the animal entertainment industry, such as zoos and aquariums. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is charged with enforcing the Act’s mandates through investigations and by issuing citations and compliance reports.

The AWA leaves much to be desired in terms of animal protection. Ironically, the animals who feature most prominently in laboratories across the nation—mice and rats—are excluded from the bill’s purview. So too are farm animals, billions of whom die on factory farms and in slaughterhouses across the country every year.

Beyond these shortcomings, the USDA has been widely criticized for its failure to properly regulate exploitative businesses such as puppy mills, which are known to cause harm and welfare violations to animals. A 2019 study found that the agency issued 60 percent fewer violations of facilities such as zoos and laboratories when compared with the previous year.

Humane Methods of Livestock Slaughter Act

The Humane Methods of Slaughter Act mandates the “proper treatment and humane handling” of animals raised for food when they are slaughtered. One of this Act's most glaring omissions is the exclusion of birds, including chickens. The National Chicken Council (NCC) estimated that in 2018 alone, over 9 billion broiler chickens were killed in the US. This does not include turkeys, ducks, or spent laying hens, who are killed after their bodies no longer produce high volumes of eggs.

This massive exemption represents the glaring lack of farmed animal protection, and it allows for exploitative processes like live-shackle slaughter to take place in chicken slaughterhouses across the nation. This popular killing method requires chickens to be hung upside down with their legs clamped into metal stirrups, which often breaks their delicate bones. Chickens are then passed through an electrified bath designed to stun birds before their throats are slit and their bodies are thrown into boiling water meant to de-feather them. Live-shackle slaughter is notorious for the number of birds—half a million each year—who are not rendered unconscious by the electrified bath, thus remaining awake and aware for the duration of the process.

The 28-Hour Law

As live transport is stressful and dangerous for farmed animals, the 28-Hour Law stipulates that vehicles transporting certain animals for slaughter must stop every 28 hours to give them food, water, and the chance to exercise. However, if the transport vehicle contains access to food or water, or farmed birds like chickens and turkeys are being transported, the law does not apply, along with many other exceptions. Transporting animals such as cows, pigs, and sheep is common within industrial agriculture since animals are often sent to different grazing pastures, or from feedlots to slaughterhouses.

The Endangered Species Act

Passed in 1973, the Endangered Species Act is designed to protect species at risk of extinction and to conserve critical habitats. The Act covers a wide range of animals, from whales to condors. Administered by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, as well as the National Marine Fisheries Service, the Act maintains a list of over 1,600 species that are either endangered or threatened with extinction, and implements processes to curb further population decline. The Endangered Species Act is considered the world’s strongest law for protecting biodiversity.

The PACT Act

The Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture (PACT) Act was signed into law in 2019, making certain abusive behaviors towards animals a federal crime. The Act was a corrective measure for an earlier bill that made it illegal to record animals being crushed to death, known as “animal crushing,” without making the Act itself illegal. However, as with the Animal Welfare Act, a long list of excluded human institutions—including laboratory research facilities and factory farms—prevent this Act from making a difference for the vast numbers of animals suffering from welfare violations.

The Lacey Act

Originally conceived to protect game species from illegal hunting, the Lacey Act of 1900 has since evolved into a law that prohibits any export, import, sale, purchase, or transport of species that violates state, tribal, or foreign law. Both plant and animal species are included within the Lacey Act, and it has been used to prevent illegal logging activities.

State animal protection laws

Beyond federal legislation, a great number of states have passed laws aimed at preventing animal cruelty throughout the US. Below are some of the more well-known laws.

Foie gras sales bans

The production of foie gras, which involves force-feeding ducks and geese to enlarge their livers, has faced increasing scrutiny for its cruel practices. California became the first state to ban the production and sale of foie gras in 2012. Pittsburgh, PA passed a ban on the sale of foie gras in 2023—an effort led by Animal Policy Alliance member Humane Action Pennsylvania. These bans reflect growing public awareness about the extreme suffering involved in foie gras production.

Gestation crate bans

Gestation crates, which confine pregnant mother pigs in spaces barely larger than their bodies, have been banned in several states due to animal welfare concerns. California, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Maine have passed laws prohibiting these restrictive enclosures, while Michigan, Ohio, and Colorado have enacted phase-out periods. Many major food companies and restaurants have also pledged to eliminate gestation crates from their supply chains, responding to both legislative pressure and consumer demand for more humane farming practices.

Hot car laws

Left inside cars on hot days, companion animals such as dogs can quickly suffer heat exhaustion and even die from it. Over 30 states have passed some form of legislation, either prohibiting leaving animals in cars on hot days, or providing legal protection for people who witness these events and take action for the animal by breaking a window to save them.

Retail pet sale ban

Behind the glossy windows of retail pet stores are hidden stories of abuse. Many puppies begin their lives in puppy mills, facilities that keep dogs in unsanitary, cramped conditions and often cause long-term physical and emotional trauma for puppies. Around 300 cities and counties across the country have banned retail pet sales in efforts to disrupt the puppy mill supply chain.

Wild animal performance bans

Traveling circuses often force elephants, tigers, bears, and other wild animals to perform unnatural tricks for audiences. After the show, animals are held in crowded cages and often shuttled from city to city on tour. These conditions are what spurred over 30 states to ban wild animal performances in part or outright.

Anti-tethering laws

Anti-tethering laws commonly pertain to dogs, but they can also be applied to cats and other companion animals who have been chained or tied to a stationary object for a prolonged period. Around 23 states have passed various anti-tethering laws, with Massachusetts’ regulations among the most stringent, setting the limit at five hours of tethering.

How to protect animals

There are many ways you can take action to protect animals in your community and country. Legislation plays an important role in maintaining animal welfare and furthering protection standards, so keep an eye out for progressive legislation in your area that you can support by contacting your local representatives, signing petitions, or participating in community events.

For some simple things you can do to protect animals, see our Take Action page.

Conclusion

Local and state laws can play a large role in protecting animals, whether they live in the wild, on farms, in laboratories, or in your neighbor’s backyard. Laws are constantly evolving based on scientific and public understandings, and as the years go on, legislation is becoming more progressive—however slow the process may seem.

The good news is, there are plenty of ways for you to make a difference for animals through legislative progress. A great way to get started? Check out the Animal Policy Alliance’s latest campaigns to speak up for the millions of animals suffering on factory farms.