People who care about animal welfare should not be discouraged from trying to pass animal rights legislation. However, you must learn to discriminate between true progress and victories that gain nothing. Too often so-called humane legislation is so watered down or compromised in passage in U.S. Congress that, in effect, all it really seems to do is actually allow whichever animal use industry it supposedly regulates to cite the new law–which it bitterly fought–as proof that animals are not being abused, because now there is a law to protect the animals, and the industry is in compliance.
This is exactly what happened when the federal Humane Slaughter Act and Animal Welfare Act were passed decades ago. Neither Act is hardly ever enforced nor is it strong legislation, consequently leaving animals with hardly any protection at all while the inhumane industries in question can point to the laws and say the laws exist, therefore, we are in compliance until someone proves otherwise.
Critics charge that state and federal inspections to enforce the Acts are weak, understaffed and under-budgeted leaving animal use industries to virtually end up policing themselves. Remember, weak, so-called humane legislation can actually end up blocking or slowing down any progress on behalf of animals while animal advocates too often may settle for anything they can spin into a victory, even if it sacrifices the possibility of achieving real progress in the future.
SUPPLEMENTAL SOURCE: ANIMAL PEOPLE NEWS MARCH 2002