THL
Animals deserve more protection than they have today. By becoming involved in this movement, you can make a huge difference in their lives.
Non-human animals are all around us, even if they're more difficult to perceive in an increasingly urbanized world. In many cases, humans breed animals to be born on factory farms or in laboratories, where they're routinely poked, prodded, and exploited for human interests. Animal protection is a way to fight back against that exploitation.
Animal protection is a line of defense for non-human animals. But what exactly does animal protection mean, and why do animals need protection in the first place?
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- Dunkin’ Donuts, Costco, CVS, Walgreens, and more have all agreed to stop caging egg-laying hens using outdated and inhumane battery cages.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 less cruel slaughter methods.
- Subway reformed its chicken welfare policies to implement better living conditions (including improved lighting and better enrichment), optimized stocking densities, and less cruel slaughter methods.
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 supposed to enforce the act’s mandates through investigations and by issuing citations and compliance reports.
Farm animals and laboratory animals are not protected under the Animal Welfare Act.
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 Livestock Slaughter Act mandates the “proper treatment and humane handling” of food animals 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
The 28-Hour Law stipulates that no animal can be transported for longer than 28 consecutive hours without being given food, water, and rest by temporary unloading. 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. Since transport can be stressful for animals, this law aims to mitigate the more harmful effects, preventing animals from going without food, water, or rest for prolonged periods.
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 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 legislation that prohibits any export, import, sale, purchase, or transport of species that violates states, 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.
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.
Contact your local representatives, sign petitions, and participate 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 today. A great way to get started? Speak up for the millions of animals suffering on factory farms. Call out companies that are needlessly contributing to animal abuse and demand that they do better for chickens by signing onto the Better Chicken Commitment. Together, we can end the worst abuses faced by animals today.
