A More Humane White House
The presidential ticket endorsed by the Humane Society Legislative Fund emerged as victorious on Tuesday night, with Barack Obama and Joe Biden elected as our next president and vice president.
HSLF had backed Obama and Biden because both senators have been strong supporters of animal protection legislation. Obama
has cosponsored legislation to stop horse slaughter and crack down on dogfighting, and has spoken out on issues such as the
abuse of downed cattle when he was on the campaign trail. Biden has been a leader on animal protection legislation, and has
fought in the Senate to protect dolphins from drowning in tuna nets and to stop the captive trophy hunting of exotic mammals.
In the most recent Humane Scorecard, Obama scored 67 percent and Biden received the highest possible score of 100+, while John McCain scored only 17 percent.
We
had been especially concerned about Sarah Palin’s terrible record on animal protection and conservation issues in Alaska, and her retrograde policies that encouraged shooting wolves from
helicopters and denying protections for threatened polar bears. The thought of Palin being a heartbeat away from the presidency
had struck fear in the hearts of animal advocates across the nation. The extremist NRA spent millions of dollars campaigning
for John McCain and Sarah Palin, and it was clear that Obama-Biden was the ticket for animals.
The next president and
vice president will have an enormous impact on animal protection policies, through enforcement and regulatory actions by the
Department of Agriculture, Department of Interior, and other federal agencies. We congratulate the Obama campaign on this
historic win, and we look forward to working with the new administration for a more humane White House. Additionally, we were
heartened to hear President-Elect Obama mention his family’s soon-to-be-adopted dog in Tuesday night’s acceptance
speech—and we’re grateful to hear that the dog will come from a shelter and will send a message of hope and change
for homeless dogs across the country.
