animal welfare

Republican Congressman Michael Grimm—notwithstanding his endorsement by HSUS’s Humane Society Legislative Fund—doesn’t support Mayor de Blasio’s pledge to ban horse-drawn carriages in New York City. “I don’t think we should ban the carriages. The only thing we should mandate is that the horses are treated well and treated humanely,” Grimm told the New York Observer. Grimm, who is challenged in the election by Democratic candidate Dominic Recchia, Jr., opined that the issue is purely political and not a matter of animal welfare as liberal Democratic Mayor de Blasio and animal rights groups have insisted. The stables, put to other uses, would be financially beneficial to developers, Grimm suggested. Mayor de Blasio did not return the Observer’s request for comment. Click for more details in Ross Barkan’s article. Posted October 14, 2014

A district judge in New Mexico has delayed for ten days the planned operations of the nation’s first horse slaughter plant in seven years. On January 13, 2014, State District Judge Matthew Wilson will listen to testimony in a lawsuit brought by state Attorney General Gary King. King filed the lawsuit last month after a federal appeals court vacated a temporary restraining order blocking the openings. It seemed, momentarily, that the way was cleared—once again—for processing plants to reopen. Going back in time, that temporary restraining order was allowed in July after the U.S. Department of Agriculture gave the go-ahead for resumption of the regulated slaughter of horses. This latest lawsuit by the New Mexico attorney general claims that the processor would violate the state’s food safety, water quality, and unfair business practices laws. The processor’s attorney argues that the state lacks jurisdiction because the meat would not be sold or consumed in the U.S., that the federal government has sole jurisdiction over meat shipped to international markets, and that the company is working with environmental officials to ensure lawful disposal of all waste. Click for more details in the Associated Press report by Jeri Clausing. Posted January 4, 2014

Stung by criticism of the staggering amount of money—£326,000—spent to prosecute the Heythrop hunt for violations of the Hunting Act, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) is attempting to repair relations with the British countryside. (See earlier, related FHL article.) The Society has proposed the establishment of a new self-regulating hunting association—an independent trial and drag hunt association—that would open the country to riders and hounds following drag lines, or laid scents. Sir Barney White-Spunner, executive chairman of the Countryside Alliance, responded, “We are quite happy to talk to the RSPCA in the interests of animal welfare when they drop their increasingly radical and politicised animal rights agenda.” White-Spunner’s response was interesting in that it articulates a distinction which eludes many people: that animal welfare and animal rights are two very different philosophies. While animal welfare strives to care for all animals with compassion and enhance the well-being of all species, animal rights seeks to end man’s dominion over animals and endow them with the same rights as humans. Click to read Stuart Winter’s complete article in The Express. Posted July 22, 2013