Measuring the State of Animal Protection--Where Do We Stand?

A recent Gallup Poll found that U.S. adults generally believe the country has only “poor” or “fair” moral values. However, opinions seem to be improving slightly, and there is an increasing number of people who think that that the state of moral values is “good” or “excellent.”

-----------

Does this growing confidence in U.S. morality translate into growing moral behavior when it comes to the treatment of animals? This question has been on our minds at HRC for some time, which is why we developed a report that investigates the state of animal protection in the U.S. and how it changes over time. We will release the results of the new Humane Trends study later this summer.

Humane Trends measures the state of animal protection using 25 of the most reliable data sources available across five key areas—companion animals, wildlife, animals used in research, farm animals, and general animal protection. We will update these measures bi-annually moving forward so that we can systematically track changes in the state of animal protection over time. We will eventually have a wealth of longitudinal data on the state of animal protection.

Until then, I thought it would be useful to take a look at few key areas of concern for animal advocates right now, to see if our improved outlook on U.S. morality is reflected by improved behaviors toward animals.

Fur. A major goal of the animal protection movement through the 1990s was getting people to stop wearing fur. While some claim that wearing fur is officially a fashion faux pas, attitudes have not changed much in the last couple years, actually veering toward greater acceptance of wearing fur. In 2008 and 2010 in our annual Animal Tracker survey, HRC asked respondents whether they agreed that wearing fur was morally wrong. In 2008 only 28% of respondents agreed with the statement and by 2010 that number had decreased by an additional 5%. However, there has been some improvement, most notably the Truth in Fur labeling Act, which President Obama signed into law in 2010.

Farming. The industry in which the most animals in the U.S. are killed each year is the food and farm industry. So, are we killing fewer animals? It doesn’t appear so. According to the USDA, which has data up to 2008 regarding the red meat, fish, and poultry availability per capita, in 2004, the average U.S. citizens was eating an average of 294 pounds of red meat, poultry, fish and/or shellfish per year; by 2008, that number had only dropped by 6.7 pounds. Groups such as the Farm Animal Rights Movement calculated a drop in 2009, but it is unclear if this is a sustained trend.

Hunting. Another area of concern for many animal protection advocates is hunting. Here we have seen some improvement, at least in terms of the number of hunters. In 2006, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued 14,726,427 hunting licenses. This number steadily decreased over the next four years and by 2010 that number had been reduced by 278,387 licenses. However, this past year has seen a major increase that brings levels higher than any other time in the past five years; in 2011, 14,974,534 hunting licenses were issued.

Overall it looks like not much has changed for animals in recent history; where changes have occurred, they are generally for the worse. We will let you know when the Humane Trends report is available for a more comprehensive perspective on the state of animal protection in the U.S. Stay tuned!