Humane Society Leads Push on California Animal-Safety Measure

The efforts of the Humane Society of the United States to push Proposition 2, a California ballot measure to improve the treatment of farm animals, are examined in detail in an article in The New York Times Magazine

The proposition requires that by 2015 farm animals be able to move around freely— stand up, lie down, turn around, and fully extend their limbs.

Under the leadership of its chief executive Wayne Pacelle, the Humane Society has become, according to the magazine, “a savvy, unapologetically aggressive political player.” The organization, which has more than 10 million members, has seen its budget rise from $75-million to $127-million. It has merged with smaller animal-welfare groups and is now the wealthiest and most powerful animal-rights group in the nation, the magazine says.

Mr. Pacelle wishes to bring the animal-rights movement into the spotlight of the mainstream and is blunt about the Humane Society’s methods. He said, “We aren’t a bunch of little old ladies in tennis shoes. We have cleats on.”

For more on the Humane Society, read The Chronicle’s article.

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