We’re seeking to
create a humane society,
and there’s no way
to do that without
thinking more broadly
about community,
and the animals are
part of our community.
Welcome gracious viewers
to Animal World:
Our Co-Inhabitants.
Today we are proud
to present the first
in a two-part program
on Mr. Wayne Pacelle,
president and
chief executive officer
of the Humane Society
of the United States
and author
of the best-selling book
“The Bond: Our Kinship
with Animals, Our Call
to Defend Them.”
With a mission
of “celebrating animals
and confronting cruelty,”
the Humane Society
strives to build
a compassionate world
where all animals are our
cherished co-inhabitants,
free to live
without fear of abuse,
exploitation or neglect.
As leader of
the largest organization
in the United States
dedicated to
animal protection,
Mr. Pacelle, a vegan, works
to constructively shape
animal-human relations.
He has secured
lasting victories
for our animal friends
in federal and state
legislatures as well as
courtrooms and boardrooms
across the nation.
An animal lover
from childhood
and passionate advocate
for animal rights
throughout his career,
Mr. Pacelle tells us about
his early involvement
in animal welfare causes
and his decision
to become vegan.
I had a kinship
with animals
from a very young age.
I mean
my mother would tell you
when I was three or four,
I was very focused
on animals.
And I believe
that we have a bond
with other creatures,
I actually just wrote
a book called “The Bond,”
and it explores
and explains why we’re
so connected to animals,
and why
a three or four year-old
with really no inculcation
and no direction
in terms of kind of
an active compassion
for animals,
felt this fellow feeling
for other creatures.
And as that,
feeling just really
got imbedded in me,
as I got older, I began to
make some connections,
and it just continued
to grow, and
become more powerful.
And when I was
a college student,
I started an animal
protection organization
to work against
factory farming, and
other abuses of animals,
that’s when
I became vegan, when
I was 19 years of age.
And I felt that this was
really my life’s calling,
was to speak up for
these creatures who can’t
speak for themselves.
A long-standing champion
of the voiceless,
Mr. Pacelle believes
humans have a duty
of care and responsibility
towards all the animals
with whom
we share our Earth.
In the relationship we have
with other creatures,
we have all the power, and
we should use our power
not just to advance
our own economic gain
or selfish interest,
but to be good
to other animals
and to be altruistic
and other-centered.
And I’ve often felt that
how we treat animals
is a basic test
of our character, because
they are so vulnerable,
and they are so weak,
compared to
how strong we are, that
it really is a reflection of
the decency and restraint
that we’re capable of.
The Humane Society has
successfully campaigned
for the passage
of hundreds of new state
and federal laws that
safeguard animal lives.
As the group’s president,
Wayne Pacelle has testified
before the US Congress
on the urgent need
for greater recognition
of animal rights and
animal industry reforms.
Well, I do believe
that if we’re going
to be active on
animal protection issues,
we need to take steps
in our personal lives to
kind of wring the cruelty
out of our lives,
and the daily behaviors
that we engage in, whether
it’s food or clothing
or buying products
tested on animals,
and opting
for the alternatives.
But we also need to look
at this on a macro level,
and we need
to prevent cruelty
from happening
in the first place.
So we need
to strengthen policies
to protect animals,
and inevitably
that leads us to the local,
state, federal and even
international bodies that
can address these issues
of how animals are treated,
and to have certain
standards that exist.
So I’m very focused on
getting new laws passed
to protect animals,
and I have been
fortunate enough
to work in Congress
to help pass
a couple of dozen laws,
and more than
a thousand laws
at the state level,
including about
30 ballot initiatives
where the citizens
are organized
to adopt policies
to say stop factory farming
or outlaw cockfighting,
or stop bear baiting,
or other
inhumane practices.
So, I want to appeal directly
to the people in power.
So testifying before
Senate committees
or US House committees
has been a way
to transmit our message,
and really make
a compelling case
that animals matter,
and that we have
responsibilities
to be decent to them.
If we have
anti-cruelty statutes
that are already accepted
in America and in countries
throughout the world,
then that standard needs
to be logically applied,
and it needs to be applied
even to settings where
the conduct that we exhibit
toward animals is legal,
but it's very harmful
to the animals
like factory farming.
Under
Mr. Pacelle’s leadership,
the Humane Society
is working throughout
the United States
to stop the mistreatment
of animals.
The organization has also
extended its operations
across the globe to address
animal welfare issues.
We have a network
of organizations now
that operate
under one umbrella.
And one
of our organizations
is Humane Society
International,
because we’ve realized
that animal cruelty
doesn't stop
at a nation’s boundaries,
and in the era
of globalization,
and in an era of
so much worldwide travel
and the Internet,
these industries that are
causing harm to animals
are operating
on that global scale,
and we need to be able to
meet them and challenge
what they’re doing,
and show a different
and a better way of
interacting with animals,
and to move away
from this model
of exploitation and harm,
and move toward
compassion and mercy
and goodness
toward all animals.
Since Mr. Pacelle’s
appointment as president
in 2004,
the Humane Society
has introduced
bold new initiatives
and accomplished much
in the realm of bettering
the well-being of wildlife
and companion animals
including
freeing many imprisoned
in research facilities.
Notable accomplishments
include the group playing
an instrumental role
in banning
“Internet hunting”
in nearly all states
in the US.
Internet hunting involves
remotely shooting animals
with a real gun by using
a computer and webcams.
Also the Humane Society
assisted in
the successful evacuation
of thousands of animals
following Hurricane Katrina
which devastated
the southeastern US
in 2005.
In part due to the efforts
of the organization,
the Pets Evacuation and
Transportation Standards
(PETS) Act
become federal law
in 2006 and requires
local and state agencies
to plan for the rescue,
care and shelter
of companion animals
following disasters.
Mr. Pacelle has been lauded
for his achievements
in crafting, qualifying,
and passing
animal-related
state ballot initiatives.
Thanks to his leadership,
voters in the state
of Missouri enacted a law
in 2010 addressing cruelty
in puppy mills and
California voters passed
“Proposition 2” in 2008
which ended
the intensive confinement
of 20 million
farm animals in the state.
What lies ahead
for the Humane Society
of the United States?
Mr. Pacelle shared with us
some of the group’s
upcoming projects
and long-term objectives.
Science is also going
to allow us to innovate
and really leave behind
methods that we thought
were indispensable
or central at one point,
and now just look like
acts of cruelty with
new technologies ahead.
So, I think
that we’ve got to address
the massive killing
and inhumane treatment
of animals in agriculture.
Ten billion animals a year
killed in the United States,
65 billion worldwide.
The billions
of sea creatures
who are also victims,
not just the fish
who are used for food,
but the so-called bycatch,
the collateral damage
from all of these
industrial fishing practices
like sea turtles
being killed or sea birds
like Albatrosses.
So we’re going
to address that,
we’re going to crack down
on puppy mills,
we want to eliminate
animal fighting,
dogfighting and
cockfighting worldwide.
We want to stop the trade
in wildlife parts
and products,
like elephant ivory,
and rhino horn and
the skins of many species
throughout the world,
many of whom
are in danger.
So it’s a very broad agenda.
We are concerned
about all animals, and
our mission statement
is celebrating animals,
and confronting cruelty.
So those are
our twin focuses,
we want to celebrate
the positive expression of
the human-animal bond,
and we want to
recognize the attributes,
the cognitive qualities
of these animals.
At the same time, when
people use their power
in a way that’s harmful
to animals, we want
to try to stop that.
We want to show them
the better way.
So confronting cruelty
is central to our mission.
We end our show today
with a note of optimism
from Wayne Pacelle
regarding the future of
animal-human relations.
I think that
more and more people
are recognizing
their own responsibilities
to other creatures,
that these other creatures
are conscious, aware,
thinking, feeling beings,
and they have the same
spark of life that we have,
they have the same will
to live that we have,
they have the same wish
to avoid pain and suffering
that we do.
And once we are alert
to their needs
and to their wants,
then I think decent people
are going to act
in a better way.
And a lot of people
can characterize it
in different ways.
They can say that
the animals have rights,
or they can talk about
how this framework
works for them.
But ultimately this is
really more about us
than it is about them.
It’s about our
being responsible and
exhibiting a lighter step
on the planet.
Thank you Mr. Pacelle
for all that you
and the Humane Society
of the United States
volunteers do for animals
in the US as well as
around the globe.
We share your view that
animals and humans have
a shining future together,
filled with peace
and harmony.
For more details
on the Humane Society
of the United States,
please visit
Mr. Pacelle’s book
“The Bond”
is available at
Wonderful viewers,
please join us tomorrow
on Animal World:
Our Co-Inhabitants
for the conclusion
of our two-part program
when we will speak
with Wayne Pacelle about
his bestselling new book
“The Bond: Our Kinship
with Animals, Our Call
to Defend Them.”
We will also have
highlights from
the 2011 Genesis Awards,
a Humane Society
sponsored event that
recognizes major news
and entertainment media
for producing
outstanding works that
raise public awareness
of animal issues.
Thank you
for your company today
on our program.
Coming up next is
Enlightening Entertainment,
after Noteworthy News.
May Heaven grace us all
with beauty, wisdom,
strength and kindness.