"Animal cruelty does not occur in a vacuum, and the failure to fully examine its origins would likely lead to future criminal acts and the continued cycle of abuse and violence.”
Hon. H. Lee Chitwood, Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court, Pulaski, VA
Animal Rights (AR) attorneys, government officials and non-profits (NGOs) from around the globe came to Portland to share and present their genius ideas to increase the level of protections under the law for non-human animals across the planet.
I had the tremendous honor to be asked by the Animal Legal Defense Funds (ALDF) to speak at the 32nd Animal Law Conference in Portland, OR this past weekend regarding the duality of governorship of American Samoa.
It was an incredible convergence of compassionate, intelligent and highly motivated lawmakers, politicians, university professors, NGOs and law students, who actively listened and learned about one another's programs and perspectives. Animal Rights Lawyers are working more intensively to move ‘non-human animal’ status in the legal systems around the world to ‘personhood’ status, therefore affording them stronger rights to freedom from pain, torture and death.
We recognize that non-human animals are sentient beings. They feel pain, they empathize with others, they communicate and they live within a social system. Just smile at your dog right now and you know this to be true.
It was a forward thinking conference showcasing diverse projects including mapping sperm whale communication in relation to ship noise pollution (which you can compare to a jackhammer noise on the human ear) with the end goal of banning ocean noise pollution. Another attorney is working to ban octopus farming, an immensely intelligent and beautiful creature that should never be farmed for food or profit. Another demonstrated the achievements in the UK this year to ban the transport of calves, cows and other animals to Europe and gave us all hope that this can be replicated in places like Hawaii and Australia. The animal food industry uses massive ‘cowtainers’ on enormous cargo ships, to transport millions of live animals to far off destinations only to be killed for human consumption.
I came away each day inspired and excited knowing that these brilliant attorneys were finding ways in their everyday work places, even if in corporate and political locations, to make positive changes for non-human animals. Such as the attorneys who are advocating and winning cases all over the states, to ensure that hospitals serve plant based foods at least one day a week, if not every day.
These incredible humans are changing the conversation and then the laws. They are the key to improving the lives of animals and stopping the killing. They have the ability to change forever, what we wish to be changed today,
Jessica Chapman, an amazing attorney at the ALDF, and I have been working together behind the scenes for quite a few years. One project that we are working on is to try to persuade the FDA to grant the White Mountain Apache Tribe a waiver, which will allow them to apply to the FDA to use the contraceptive implant, Superlorin, for dogs who cannot come to the MASH clinics.
Superlorin implants last for one year when placed in a dog. However, it is only approved for Ferrets in this country, but is approved for use in dogs in 39 other countries around the world. As yet, the FDA has not approved the use of the waiver, but we will keep trying as there are serious human health concerns. There are Rabies and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (RMSF) in and around the reservation, both of which are zoonotic diseases transmitted by dogs. We would like to use preventative measures before any human is infected with these lethal diseases, not wait for a tragedy to occur and then react. Essentially, it would be another tool in our tool kit to manage the escalating dog populations.
We are also working with the ALDF to help the authorities and NGOs of American Samoa humanely manage their dog and cat population. American Samoa is an unincorporated and unorganized Territory of the United States. American Samoans’ are not automatically given US citizenship, they are US Nationals. The Secretary of the Interior manages American Samoa. This all means it is very difficult to change any laws and update them to be culturally appropriate.
Jessica asked me to speak about the challenges of the duality of governorship as it pertains to cats and dogs. I spoke to an audience of young attorneys and on behalf of the American Samoan NGO who we partner with Alofa mo Meaola (Love for Animals), to ask for their help.
American Samoans live in traditional villages, there are no fences, the majority of the village dogs are essentially ‘owned’ by the clan or clans of the village, not by individuals. This clashes when you try to apply Federal law, which assumes dogs have one ‘owner’.
I gave a talk explaining this and I was thrilled, as many people came up afterwards to offer their help, either as a vet, or as an attorney. The Animal Law Conference will be making the talks available online soon and we will share the links. My esteemed colleagues from Puerto Rico were also in this session and they gave excellent speeches on the status of animal laws in Puerto Rico, another Territory of the US.
While we are all facing challenging choices everyday, I was truly inspired to know I was in a room of over 500 professionals who were mostly all vegan, kind and wanting to collaborate and share their expertise to further help protect non-human animals from human violence forever.
Emma Clifford
Animal Balance
Here are some links that you may find interesting:-
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