Sometimes I fear that animals will not survive our love for them. I think of the many dogs and cats who are overfed and under-trained, those that suffer because people love them too much to let them go. I think of the dogs who languish for years in crates because human beings think that is humane, the horses who suffered horrible deaths because slaughterhouses were closed by the government for two years, and they were shipped overseas to die, and of those many animals seen as piteous and abused children who are disconnected from the real world of animals.
In recent weeks, I’ve gotten two messages from different law schools announcing new programs focused on animal law. According to the proud press releases, these new graduates will focus on animals and work – are animals being treated well, compensated fairly, and do they have adequate advocacy? Should they be forced to work for human beings? We know this story. Lawyers to the rescue of poor animals.
These lawyers will also deal with issues relating to veterinary care. The releases suggests this will all be for the benefit of animals, not for lawyers. But the notion of lawyers entering our lives with animals and doing to the human-animal bond what they have done to the human-medical bond – or the rest of society – does not feel good to me. If vets have to cover their tracks the way medical doctors too, and if people who work with animals face lawsuits, then the costs of veterinary care are sure to go up, as medications and testing will proliferate, and the number of people willing to work with animals or even own them will go down. Animals are optional. It is not in their interests to become more expensive. In the corporate nation, things that might draw lawsuits – like playgrounds – quickly disappear.
The law seems much like government to me – once it enters a space, the space is invariably taken over, and rarely in ways that were foreseen. And in America, lawsuits are a booming business.
Animals desperately need work, and they need more jobs, not fewer ones. Work is an elemental way for animals to enter the mainstream of society, and not be relegated to backyards, basements and zoos. Animals are disappearing from the lives of ordinary people, and people and animals are suffering from that, I believe. Pets are confined to animal ghettos in corners of parks and pre-dawn gatherings. Dogs are not permitted in many work and public spaces. Animals other than domestic pets – donkeys, goats, horses come to mind – are vanishing from the public consciousness. Working traits developed by conscientious breeders – good Lab and border collie breeders, among others – could benefit society in so many ways, as I have learned, from hospice work with Izzy, to Lenore’s work in public spaces and bookstores. Donkeys don’t need gas or tune-ups. Just hay and water and consideration.
Donkeys are a lot cheaper than tractors, and they love to handle chores like firewood removal and hay wagon hauling. They consume waste move things, efficiently. Animals work to hunt, rescue, provide therapeutic and emotional support. They needed to be treated humanely and considerately, for sure. But it would make more sense to me if these new lawyers fight to get them good work, not to keep them from it. Animals have a right to work, not just to be seen in the context of suffering. I believe we need them in our lives, that we are broken without them. They need jobs and work to enter our lives and, in many cases, to survive. It is possible to protect them out of existence.