The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) recently held its “Taking Action for Animals” conference, and the content was certainly of interest to the animal agriculture and meat communities. HSUS took a bit of a different approach with this year’s event, changing the venue to Springfield, Ill., rather than the Washington, DC area. My theory is that the change of location reflects group like HSUS’ focus on state and even local level policy rather than just federal efforts, though the EATS Act was a major talking point for speakers throughout the conference. It’s also noteworthy that this conference is usually only held biennially, but TAFA was just held last year.

The event was heavily centered on helping attendees understand lobbying and the legislative process. Speakers discussed the perspective of the animal right movement with attendees, claiming that animals are being “abused” and this is creating imposing “danger” to the environment and public health, specifically referencing the elderly community — who I will note tend to be more likely to vote than the younger population, so the reference was likely strategic. There was a large emphasis on animals being “held captive” by the fur community. Most of the time during the event was spent getting attendees involved in the legislative process and "painting a picture” of the issues to get more people involved in the animal rights movement.

Of most current relevance to animal agriculture was discussion of the EATS Act, which one speaker referred to as a “huge threat” to the animal rights movement. Attendees were urged to visit their representatives’ district offices to express their opposition to the bill, which speakers said could “wipe out” hundreds of state-level laws, “especially all the bills on farm animals.”

We’ve also been closely tracking efforts by animal rights organizations to enlist veterinarians in their cause, which was discussed in a session on collaboration. One speaker from the Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association claimed that “in many states, the Veterinary Medical Association can be kind of on the wrong side of legislation or on the wrong side of welfare reform” and encouraged activists to reach out to “veterinarians that don’t identity with their state’s feelings.” The same speaker noted that “all veterinarians know what goes on in slaughterhouses, they know how horrible factory farming is,” however “there’s this huge disconnect if they like to eat meat.”

Speakers also shared HSUS’ strategies to help legislators who are sympathetic to their cause to get elected, as it is much easier to lobby those individuals once they are in office. HSUS uses questionnaires to guage the mindset of candidates on animal rights and make endorsements. Similar to their scorecard campaigns ranking restaurants and retail brands on their sourcing policies, HSUS also issues legislative scorecards which “literally hold legislators accountable for the votes they take or don’t take for animal welfare.” Speakers claimed that legislators know that HSUS is scoring and ranking them on these scorecards, so they tend to vote in favor of issues HSUS supports.

While I am sure it is not news to anyone that HSUS is active legislatively for animal rights, the current challenges surrounding the implementation of Prop 12 should bring increased awareness of their ability to influence how we raise animals for food. Holding this legislative-focused conference two years in a row (when it is typically only every other year) could be a sign of even further legislative efforts to come, spurred on by the Supreme Court’s decision on Prop 12. Be on the lookout for legislation at the local, state and federal level that could impact your business, and build the relationships now that you will need to leverage to push back on it.

HSUS convenes activists to 'take action for animals'

Join for free* to continue reading.