Laura Hagen–managing director of wildlife at Humane World for Animals (formerly the Humane Society of the United States)—explains the rationale behind the organization changing its name some 70 years after its inception.
Hagen addresses the effectiveness of the re-branding, including erasing the
longstanding confusion that was triggered by, for example, donations to HSUS when the donor might’ve meant one of numerous local organizations with “humane society” in their name. Or vice versa. An attorney and veteran animal advocate, Hagen traces the path of her 20-plus year career. That path generally traveled along public policy lines—pausing that journey to fortify those skills by going to law school at Lewis and Clark in Portland, OR, with an emphasis on animal and environmental law. After undertaking other campaigns and jobs, Hagen settled into the employ of HSUS/Humane World for Animals, where she’s now managing director of wildlife. In that capacity, she recently assembled information identifying a circumstance that even those who pay close attention to animal welfare matters may find startling: exactly a decade after Ringling Bros. halted the use of elephants in their shows, it turns out 14 elephants are still regularly forced to hit the road and perform in
other circuses. Making the situation even more egregious, most of these elephants are in their mid to late 50s In our conversation, Hagen described some of the exhibitors who own the elephants, and rent these animals (again, these are animals, not equipment to be rented for a weekend home project) for circuses, fairs, Renaissance festivals, and other events where elephants serve as a drawing card. Hagen’s description included the story of Betty, a 57-year-old elephant owned by Carden Circus. Her tale includes lameness exacerbated both by performing and having to give rides, and that even after being cited by the USDA, Carden wouldn’t retire Betty, instead sending her to a roadside zoo in Indiana. Hagen reviewed the ongoing efforts by states and municipalities to pass legislation preventing wild animals from performing within their borders—currently, 12 states and dozens of municipalities have enacted such bans. To see, and support, Humane World for Animals’ work in this regard and otherwise on behalf of captive wildlife, visit this section of their website: https://www.humaneworld.org/en/issue/helping-captive-wildlife
ALSO: I spoke with Doll Stanley, Justice for Animals Senior Campaigner for the longtime animal welfare organization In Defense of Animals (IDA), regarding some pointed criticism IDA voiced of the sentencing a judge recently handed down in a high-profile Florida cruelty case. This case involved the poaching of 13 alligators—authorities originally charged the key defendant, Jacob Latreille, with 14 felony counts of the illegal killing, possessing or capturing of alligators. By the time this case reached its completion, Latreille was, somehow, essentially sentenced to probation. Stanley observed that in this legal realm of animal cruelty, not only are the laws often toothless, but so, too, is the enforcement of those laws—the sentencing. (https://www.idausa.org/)
COMEDY CORNER: Eddie Izzard’s “Talk To The Animals” (https://www.eddieizzard.com/en)
MUSIC: Rebekah Pulley’s “Talking Animals Theme,” instrumentals
NAME THAT ANIMAL TUNE: We didn’t play “Name That Animal Tune” today.
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