Protect and Serve — Including the Animals (Op-Ed)

Wayne Pacelle, President and CEO, 

Humane Society of the United States | February 18, 2014 11:45pm ET

Wayne Pacelle is the president and chief executive officer of The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). This Op-Ed is adapted from a post on the blog A Humane Nation, where the content ran before appearing in Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.

In recent years, legislatures have been fortifying the legal framework against animal cruelty, step-by-step, with felony-level penalties adopted for dog fighting, cockfighting and other extreme acts of violence. In addition, every day there are more and more interventions against cruelty in dozens of communities nationwide, as police and sheriffs and animal control personnel raid and bust up animal fighting rings, puppy mill operations and other dens of abuse.

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The World's Most Dangerous Band Promotes Shelter Pets (Op-Ed)

Wayne Pacelle is the president and chief executive officer of The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). This Op-Ed is adapted from a post on the blog A Humane Nation, where the content ran before appearing in LiveScience's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.

This has been a year of real progress in ending the use of carbon monoxide gas chambers in animal shelters. Texas banned chamber use on dogs and cats statewide; Mississippi and South Carolina have now closed what we believe to be their last working chambers; Michigan legislators are likely to pass a bill to outlaw chamber use; and Kansas is poised to promulgate regulations banning such chambers this fall.

Just last month, animal advocates closed two more carbon monoxide gas chambers in North Carolina and one in South Carolina, thanks to funding and support provided through The HSUS. We're working with every shelter and agency ready to shift away from carbon monoxide chamber use.

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