A couple weeks ago, I laid out our ambitious Change Agenda for Animals—100 urgent steps that federal executive agencies must take for the sake of animals and their humane treatment. Since then, I’ve seen a mixture of both optimism and reality here in Washington: We hope that change is coming, but we know it’s going to take hard work if we’re going to be part of it.
On Inauguration Day, while the new president and vice president were still shaking hands and sitting down to lunch on Capitol Hill, new White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel was already hard at work. Racing from the ceremony to the White House, Emanuel quickly issued what is now known as the “Rahm Memo”—one of the most important directives of the Obama Administration’s first week in office.
Last
week, our nation witnessed the peaceful transfer of power which is a hallmark
of our democracy. We have the opportunity to elect the people who represent us
and who make laws on our behalf at the federal, state, and local levels, and we
have to participate in the process in order to have influence.
Birds were in the news last week, and not in a good way. A flock of Canada
geese is suspected of downing a US Airways jet as it left LaGuardia Airport
in New York, forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing in the Hudson
River. Thankfully, all 155 people aboard the plane made it out.
Every month, thousands of ex-racehorses, work horses, and
family ponies are crammed into double-decker trucks where they can barely
stand, and shipped hundreds of miles to Canada and Mexico. After arriving
across the border, they are slaughtered for food exports to Europe and Asia,
where horse meat is considered a delicacy. As Brad Woodard of Houston’s KHOU-TV
exposed
last month, the journey is harsh and the killing methods are brutal. Yet it
Senate confirmation hearings are in full swing this week for President-elect Obama’s Cabinet choices. Lawmakers are asking the nominees to lay out their vision for leading the federal agencies, and to explain how they will execute Obama’s plans for confronting the major challenges facing the nation.
I’ve previously observed that our deteriorating economy cuts both ways for animals—it may result in people abandoning animals or diminishing care for them, but it also may put questionable animal enterprises out of business, because they, too, are facing economic pressure. For instance, some states have terminated programs to allow the cruel and wasteful stocking of tame pheasants for target shooting.
The 111th Congress convened this week, and new members were sworn in on Capitol Hill. It is sure to be a busy year on a wide range of subjects affecting the nation, and animal protection is no exception. Among the very first bills introduced this week were two important measures to protect wildlife—both of which passed the House of Representatives overwhelmingly last year and should be on the fast track to getting over the finish line in the new session.
It’s a New Year, and many of us have made resolutions to improve our lives and the lives of others. But corporations, too, can resolve to make life better for their employees and for animals simply by creating a dog-friendly workplace.
The killing and smuggling of turtles for their meat and as an ingredient in Asian medicines is taking an astonishing toll on the creatures worldwide. A few years ago, 25 tons of live turtles were exported from Sumatra to China every single week. That’s just from one island to one country, and it gives you some idea of the scale of the problem.
