Barack Obama's interest in animals

[Guest guest]

Not exclusively Asian but relevant not only for Asia but for the entire

world of animal protection.

 

http://hslf.typepad.com/political_animal/2008/09/humane-society.html

 

Monday, September 22, 2008

Humane Society Legislative Fund Endorses Obama-Biden

 

One of the guiding principles of the Humane Society Legislative Fund is that

we evaluate candidates based on a single criterion: where they stand on

animal protection policies. We don't make decisions based on party

affiliation, or any other social issue, or even how many pets they

have<http://hslf.typepad.com/political_animal/2008/07/should-obama-ad.html>.

We care about their views and actions on the major policy debates relating

to animal welfare.

 

It stirs controversy to get involved in candidate elections. But we believe

that candidates for office and current lawmakers must be held accountable,

or they will see the animal protection movement as a largely irrelevant

political constituency. In order to have good laws, we need good lawmakers,

and involvement in elections is an essential strategy for any serious social

movement, including our cause.

 

While we've endorsed hundreds of congressional candidates for

election<http://www.fund.org/voter_guide/>,

both Democrats and Republicans, we've never before endorsed a presidential

candidate. We have members on the left, in the center, and on the right, and

we knew it could be controversial to choose either party's candidate for the

top office in the nation. But in an era of sweeping presidential power, we

must weigh in on this most important political race in the country. Standing

on the sidelines is no longer an option for us.

 

<http://hslf.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/2008/09/22/oba\

ma.jpg>

I'm

proud to announce today that the HSLF board of directors—which is comprised

of both Democrats and Republicans—has voted unanimously to endorse Barack

Obama for President. The Obama-Biden ticket is the better choice on animal

protection, and we urge all voters who care about the humane treatment of

animals, no matter what their party affiliation, to vote for them.

 

Sen. Barack Obama <http://obama.senate.gov/> (D-Ill.) has been a solid

supporter of animal protection <http://www.fund.org/humanescorecard/> at

both the state and federal levels. As an Illinois state senator, he backed

at least a dozen animal protection laws, including those to strengthen the

penalties for animal cruelty, to help animal shelters, to promote spaying

and neutering, and to ban the slaughter of horses for human consumption. In

the U.S. Senate, he has consistently co-sponsored multiple bills to combat

animal fighting and horse slaughter, and has supported efforts to increase

funding for adequate enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act, Humane Methods

of Slaughter Act, and federal laws to combat animal fighting and puppy

mills.

 

In his response to the HSLF

questionnaire<http://hslf.typepad.com/political_animal/2007/12/the-president-3.h\

tml>,

he pledged support for nearly every animal protection bill currently pending

in Congress, and said he will work with executive agencies such as the U.S.

Department of Agriculture and the Department of the Interior to make their

policies more humane. He wrote of the important role animals play in our

lives, as companions in our homes, as wildlife in their own environments,

and as service animals working with law enforcement and assisting persons

with disabilities. He also commented on the broader links between animal

cruelty and violence in society.

 

Obama has even on occasion highlighted animal protection issues on the

campaign trail, and has spoken publicly about his support for animal

protection. In reaction to the investigation showing the abuse of sick and

crippled cows which earlier this year led to the largest meat recall in U.S.

history, he issued a statement

saying<http://hslf.typepad.com/political_animal/2008/02/downers-obama.html> " that

the mistreatment of downed cows is unacceptable and poses a serious

threat to public health. " He is featured in Jana Kohl's book about puppy

mills,* A Rare Breed of

Love<http://hslf.typepad.com/political_animal/2008/02/yes-we-canstop.html>

*, with a photo of Obama holding Baby (shown above), the three-legged poodle

rescued from an abusive puppy mill operation, and his political mentor, Sen.

Dick Durbin <http://durbin.senate.gov/> (D-Ill.), is the author of the latest

federal bill to crack down on puppy

mills<http://www.fund.org/press-releases/puppy_mills_bill.html>.

 

 

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mabiden2.jpg>

Importantly,

Obama's running mate, Sen. Joe Biden <http://biden.senate.gov/> (D-Del.) has

been a stalwart friend of animal welfare advocates in the

Senate<http://hslf.typepad.com/political_animal/2008/08/where-do-the-ve.html>,

and has received high marks year after year on the *Humane

Scorecard*<http://humanescorecard.org/>.

Biden has not only supported animal protection legislation during his

career, but has also led the fight on important issues. He was the co-author

with Sen. Barbara Boxer <http://boxer.senate.gov/> (D-Calif.) in the 108th

Congress on legislation to ban the netting of dolphins by commercial tuna

fishermen. He was the lead author of a bill in the 107th Congress to

prohibit trophy hunting of captive exotic mammals in fenced enclosures, and

he successfully passed the bill through the Senate Judiciary Committee.

 

On the Republican ticket, Sen. John McCain

<http://mccain.senate.gov/>(R-Ariz.) has

also supported some animal protection bills in

Congress<http://hslf.typepad.com/political_animal/2008/01/elephants.html>,

but has been inattentive or opposed to others. He has voted for and

co-sponsored legislation to stop horse slaughter, and voted to eliminate a

$2 million subsidy for the luxury fur coat industry. But he has largely been

absent on other issues, and has failed to co-sponsor a large number of

priority bills or sign onto animal protection letters that have had broad

support in the Senate.

 

The McCain campaign did not fill out the HSLF presidential questionnaire,

and has also not issued any public statements on animal welfare issues. He

was silent during the downed animal scandal and beef recall, which played

out during a high-point in the primary fight. Yet he did speak at the NRA

convention earlier this year, and is the keynote speaker this weekend in

Columbus, Ohio, at the U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance

rally<http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/sports/stories/2008/09/21/outdoors_no\

tes21.ART_ART_09-21-08_C13_S8BCJCU.html>—an

extremist organization that defends the trophy hunting of threatened polar

bears and captive shooting of tame animals inside fenced pens.

 

While McCain's positions on animal protection have been lukewarm, his choice

of running mate cemented our decision to oppose his ticket. Gov. Sarah

Palin's (R-Alaska) retrograde policies on animal welfare and

conservation<http://hslf.typepad.com/political_animal/2008/09/palin.html>have

led to an all-out war on Alaska's wolves and other creatures. Her

record is so extreme that she has perhaps done more harm to animals than any

other current governor in the United States.

 

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in2.jpg>

Palin

engineered a campaign of shooting predators from airplanes and helicopters,

in order to artificially boost the populations of moose and caribou for

trophy hunters. She offered a $150 bounty for the left foreleg of each dead

wolf as an economic incentive for pilots and aerial gunners to kill more of

the animals, even though Alaska voters had twice approved a ban on the

practice. This year, the issue was up again for a vote of the

people<http://hslf.typepad.com/political_animal/2008/08/yesterday-just.html>,

and Palin led the fight against it—in fact, she helped to spend $400,000 of

public funds to defeat the initiative.

 

What's more, when the Bush Administration announced its decision to list the

polar bear as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, Palin filed a

lawsuit to reverse that decision. She said it's the " wrong move " to protect

polar bears, even though their habitat is shrinking and ice floes are

vanishing due to global warming.

 

The choice for animals is especially clear now that Palin is in the mix. If

Palin is put in a position to succeed McCain, it could mean rolling back

decades of progress on animal issues.

 

Voters who care about protecting wildlife from inhumane and unsporting

abuses, enforcing the laws that combat large-scale cruelties like

dogfighting and puppy mills, providing humane treatment of animals in

agriculture, and addressing other challenges that face animals in our

nation, must become active over the next six weeks to elect a president and

vice president who share our values. Please spread the word, and tell

friends and family members that an honest assessment of the records of the

two presidential tickets leads to the inescapable conclusion that

Obama-Biden is the choice for humane-minded voters.

 

*Paid for by Humane Society Legislative Fund and not authorized by any

candidate or candidate's committee.*