Animal laws and values: Strange bedfellows

Although dogs and cats have been consumed for millennia across the Asian diaspora, the Yulin dog-meat festival that began in 2010 really brought the atrocities of this industry into light, causing global outrage.

In 2016, the Yulin government issued a written pledge to end the festival, setting up checkpoints along the road to stop trucks illegally carrying dogs and cats for slaughter. Illegal, because so many were stolen pets; illegal, because the traders carried no paperwork stating ownership or health status of the animals; and although there were no animal welfare laws to speak of, the sheer brutality challenged existing criminal laws around public acts of violence.

In 2017, they announced fines would be imposed on restaurants, street vendors and traders for buying and selling the meat. It was a start, but intense pressure from dog traders caused the sanctions to be relaxed, and the festival continued. Nevertheless, public knowledge and shifting attitudes have caused deep declines in demand, and according to No Dogs Left Behind, “attendance at Yulin has remarkably declined to about a third of what it was.”

By 2020, two cities in China had banned the trade, and organizations, including Humane Society International and their local partners, are hopeful the People’s National Congress will one day soon ban the trade in China entirely.

Other countries and cities across east Asia have also banned the trade, including the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan and Indonesia, where, in 2021, officials intercepted a truck and arrested the trader who was sentenced to a 17-month jail term, “marking the country’s second ever prosecution of dog meat traders under the animal health and safety laws and representing a milestone in the global campaign to protect dogs from being slaughtered for food.” (HSI)

Even with bans in place and officials cracking down, these practices continue in out-of-the-way places, and under cover of darkness — just like dog fighting here in the U.S., despite the fact that it’s illegal in all 50 states and three provinces.

Animal welfare laws are like Swiss cheese. Even our country’s Animal Welfare Act (1966) that set standards for the “humane care and treatment” of animals used in research, exhibition, and transportation for commerce is frequently bypassed when the end product is for the benefit of humans. Offenders who violate standards of care typically face little or no consequences, leaving countless animals suffering, law enforcement personnel frustrated, and many people heartbroken. Sadly, abuse and cruelty cases from the private sector often end up the same.

Alan Edmonds, of Animal Protection Voters of New Mexico, explained to me that in New Mexico (as in many states) existing laws against animal abuse (including dog fighting) are a fourth-degree felony — the lowest level.

In our overburdened courts, offenders frequently take plea deals, never see a judge and are not held duly accountable for their crimes. Many go back to “business as usual.”

A common thread emerging over the past five to 10 years has the potential to strengthen laws protecting animals both here and abroad. That thread is the awareness that these activities also affect humans, from the spread of zoonotic diseases including rabies, to the presence of criminal activities like drug and human trafficking, weapons, gambling, child abuse and exploitation typically found within.

During our 2024 legislative session, a bill that added dog and cock fighting to the list of these racketeering offenses (racketeering is a second-degree felony) was postponed indefinitely, but Edmonds is hopeful that a new version of the bill will make it through the 2025 session. (Learn more about this on APVNM’s website.)

So, while we might hope that the abuse alone would be enough to strengthen laws and penalties for these heinous acts, if it takes connecting the harm to people, so be it.

Another aspect of harm is how these activities affect the people performing them. Committing acts of abuse and cruelty on any living thing changes the way our brains feel and express empathy. Neural connections literally break down and people lose the ability to feel connected to life. Imagine that. It’s no wonder the rates of anxiety, depression, substance abuse, domestic violence and other forms of hostility run high among this population.

Like my mom said, “You can’t do stuff like that without it affecting you somehow.” Remember also the words of Chief Seattle … “whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.” I find it hopeful that amidst so much violence, people are working to remind us just how true that is.

(Colleen Dougherty is a writer, educator, artist and behavioral health therapist. Her 20-plus years in animal welfare include jobs and volunteer work in veterinary clinics, animal shelters and TNR organizations. She has been a speaker at the New Mexico State Humane Conference and the National LINK Conference in Albuquerque, holds degrees in art and counseling therapy, and graduate certificates in eco psychology and humane education. Her passion is building joyful and respectful relationships between animals, humans, and the Earth. She began writing Paw it Forward in March 2016.)