According to a recent article by
Sue Manning for the Associated Press, the FBI is turning animal cruelty into a Top-Tier Felony. For years,
according to the article, the FBI has filed animal abuse under the label
"other" along with a variety of lesser crimes, making cruelty hard to
find, hard to count, and hard to track. The bureau announced this month that it
would make animal cruelty a Group A felony with its own category — the same way
crimes like homicide, arson and assault are listed.
This change will help the FBI
track crimes nationally and should boost efforts at the State level, as well. In
Georgia, cruelty to animals is a misdemeanor and is defined as “when [a person]
causes death or unjustifiable physical pain or suffering to any animal by an
act, an omission, or willful neglect”. It is something we see all too
regularly on the evening news, but seldom with any consequences for the
perpetrators.
Animals might not have rights, at
least not as we understand “rights”, but why shouldn’t they have some
protection under the law, including international laws. In June of 2006, the
United Nations General Assembly approved a Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples. This declaration, before the world, was intended to impart worth
and dignity to those people who have no representation in the United Nations. It
affirmed that indigenous individuals “have the collective right to live in
freedom, peace and security as distinct peoples”. The Declaration also affirms that all people
“contribute to the diversity and richness of civilizations and cultures”. These
individuals have no economic power, no military power, no standing in the world
community. They are just people – and they have rights and protection.
I wonder if some groups of
animals don’t deserve some similar protections. Why couldn’t we say, for
example, that elephants “have the collective right to live in freedom, peace
and security as distinct creatures” or that beluga whales “contribute to the
diversity and richness” of our planet?
Author Barry Lopez wrote in his
award winning 1986 book, Arctic Dreams,
that “we have irrevocably separated ourselves from the world animals occupy. We
have turned all animals and elements of the natural world into objects”. “Because
we have objectified animals”, he goes on to say, “we are able to treat them
impersonally” and, I might add, cruelly.
There aren’t many things on which I would like
to turn back the clock. I really like my indoor plumbing and my air conditioned
home, but it is a shame we can’t reclaim that personal connection to the
natural world that was enjoyed by our ancestors. Being cruel to animals is just
plain wrong. We shouldn’t need the FBI to tell us that. But I do like the idea
that if someone is cruel to animals they might find a black SUV in their
driveway, and two agents in dark suits and sunglasses knocking on their door.
