Addressing Animal Abuse: The Complementary Roles of Religion, Secular Ethics and the Law

Pamela D. Frasch (1)

This paper examines the role that religious belief plays in societies' treatment of nonhuman animals, first asking two questions. Does religious belief continue to play a role today in societies' treatment of nonhuman animals, and should it? The paper discusses the interaction of (a) religion, (b) secular ethics, and (c) the law. As with a three-legged stool, each leg or component relies on the next for support. Religious values and claims, as features of the ethical framework by which many people live, have daily implications for nonhuman animals. On a sliding scale, negative to positive, a religious point of view may affect other animals in different ways. Beliefs--religious in nature and origin--about other animals sometimes stand behind the claims and ethical formulations of avowedly nonreligious people and institutions and may be of some interest to philosophers and historians. The paper concludes that only through consideration and involvement of the three separate, yet inter-connected, components can animal abuse be effectively addressed.


To see clearly the most significant features of our relations with nonhuman animals, we must look at some distinctive aspects of the inevitable interaction between humans and nonhuman animals, including some of the very negative impacts. One of these is animal abuse, (2) a particularly significant issue in light of the common claim that humans are moral animals. Below I will consider various ways in which religion has been involved in our understanding and perception of the problem of animal abuse, the development of anti-cruelty laws, and the impact ethical formulations have had on that development. Only in this way can adequate descriptions and even proposed specific solutions to problems be crafted.

The Prevalence of Animal Abuse

Comprehensive statistics tracking the number and types of animal abuse on a national basis do not exist. However, a 1997 study by the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty of Cruelty to Animals (MSPCA) and Northeastern University provides regional statistics that are instructive (Arluke, Levin, Luke, & Ascione, 1999). The study, examined 80,000 MSPCA investigation case files involving intentional physical cruelty to animals between 1975 and 1996. Of the 80,000 case files, 268 resulted in efforts to prosecute the individuals charged with animal abuse. The majority of those cases involved dogs (57.8%) with cats being the second most likely victim (26.9%). Most of the alleged abusers were young males (27% were under 18 years old; 56% were under 30 years old). Beating, stabbing, and shooting were the most common methods of abuse (over 68%). Adolescents were almost twice as likely as adults to beat their victims, and adults were almost twice as likely as adolescents to shoot their victims. (Arluke, Levin, Luke, & Ascione, 1999, pp. 245-253).

Only 44.4% of the 268 cases resulted in guilty verdicts, with the resulting sentences generally being "light." For example, 91 defendants paid an average fine of $132; 28 defendants served an average of four and one-half months in jail; 19 defendants served an average of 50 hours community service; and 56 defendants paid an average of $99 in restitution. (3) Sentences frequently contained more than one penalty. Based on these statistics, Arluke, Levin, Luke, and Ascione (1999), the study's principal investigators, reached the following conclusion: "It's clear that the criminal justice system does not take animal abuse very seriously."

Records maintained by the Anti-Cruelty Division of the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) are consistent with the findings of the MSPCA/Northeastern Study. In 1999, ALDF received over 10,000 communications reporting some form of animal abuse and neglect. ALDF staff of two caseworkers (one full-time, one half-time) and one staff attorney (devoting approximately one-fourth of her time to this task) was able to respond to, and work on, 246 cases. The remaining cases were generally referred to other organizations for assistance.

The 246 cases involved the abuse of more than 4,000 nonhuman animals and were widespread geographically, representing every state except Alabama, Delaware, Hawaii, New Mexico, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, and West Virginia. Dogs (43%) and cats (16%) were the most likely victims; beating (15%) and shooting (12%) were the preferred method of intentional abuse. (4) Of the 339 known defendants, 85% are male, 15% are female with 90% charged as adults and 10% charged as juveniles. Of the 246 cases, approximately 20% were convicted, 5 % were acquitted or had their cases dismissed, and 75% were still pending as of May 2000. Cases that are still pending have not been disposed of for a number of reasons, including incomplete investigation, continuances granted to either the prosecution or defense, or crowded court dockets.

The above statistics, although not sufficient to obtain an exhaustive picture of the depth and scope of animal cruelty generally in the United States, show that the problem is widespread and affects significant numbers of nonhuman animals.


Effectiveness of Anti-Cruelty Laws?

One way in which states have attempted to control animal abuse is to criminalize the activity. Favre and Tsang (1993) have written a comprehensive history of the development of anti-cruelty laws in the United States. Their analysis suggests a history of significant interaction between religious and secular values in the development of these laws. In the following, they describe the most basic features of the U.S. legal system's attempt to address animal abuse.

Under the legal system of the United States, two primary sources of law govern the conduct of individuals. The first is legislation. While the first half of the 1800s saw tentative attempts at the adoption of anti-cruelty legislation, the real legislative effort would not occur until the 1860s and beyond. The second source of law is the cumulative result of court decisions. For centuries, legal concepts had been developed and applied within the English court system. These were transferred to the colonies and slowly became modified as the United States legal system developed independent of the English system. The concepts that arise out of this tradition are generally referred to as the common law. (p. 6)
Favre and Tsang (1993) also point out that the New York State legislation of 1829 was "representative of the first wave of anti-cruelty laws in the United States." That law included language that concentrated on domestic nonhuman animals.

§ 26. Every person who shall maliciously kill, maim or wound any horse, ox or other cattle, or any sheep, belonging to another, or shall maliciously and cruelly beat or torture any such nonhuman animals, whether belonging to himself or another, shall upon conviction, be adjudged guilty of a misdemeanor.
Favre and Tsang (1993) suggest that social concern for abuse of domestic nonhuman animals initially had mixed motives. Although there was obviously some concern for the nonhuman animals abused, the principal concern often appeared to be the belief that such acts were harmful to the human actor and potentially to the human community, because the acts of animal abuse might lead to acts against humans.

Historically, major voices in the western Christian tradition, such as Thomas Aquinas, had opposed cruelty to nonhuman animals on the ground of its effect on humans. (5) Immanuel Kant also made this argument, stating,

So far as animals are concerned, we have no direct duties. Animals are not self-conscious and are there merely as a means to an end. That end is man.... Our duties to animals are merely indirect duties to mankind. (6)
Finally, Favre and Tsang (1993) summarize the way in which the U.S. legal system adopted this position advanced by the mainline Christian tradition:

Thus, the concern was for the moral state of the human actor, rather than the suffering of the nonhuman animal. This focus of concern was reflected in the early state laws by the location of the anti-cruelty provisions within the criminal code. In many states, these provisions are found in chapters of the criminal code entitled, "Of Offenses Against Chastity, Decency and Morality." This was the case in New Hampshire, Minnesota, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, among others. (p. 6)
Today, each one of the United States has an animal anti-cruelty statute. Tannenbaum (1995) has argued that anti-cruelty provisions in state laws "create legal duties to nonhuman animals. They therefore afford legal rights to nonhuman animals." (7) Indeed, some lower level courts have used the word "rights" in connection with such protections. For example, a California trial court judge commented, "Now, stray dogs, abandoned dogs, have rights under our statute which must be carefully followed." (8)

The counter argument is that if these are "rights," they are very peculiar ones. This rebuttal argument has some plausibility, given that such alleged "rights" are not enforceable by the nonhuman animals involved, and often not by humans either. The conclusion that these protections are more akin to moral rights than to legal rights is also suggested by limitations on recovery of damages (one cannot, for example, recover for the pain and suffering of the alleged right holder), the laxity of enforcement, and the trend to exempt many practices from the anti-cruelty laws. For example, as noted by Wolfson, "Seventeen states in the last ten years have amended their statutes to exempt 'accepted, common, customary, or normal' farming practices...." (9)

Whether or not such protections are construed as rights, it is clear that state anti-cruelty statutes provide the principal, and in some cases the only, legal protection available to nonhuman animals in our society. Most anti-cruelty laws are misdemeanor offenses, although 27 states (as of April 2000) have at least one form of a felony anti-cruelty law (Frasch, Otto, Olsen & Ernest, 1999). (10)

Just how common it is for animal abuse cases to be prosecuted is difficult to assess, because there is no reliable national database that provides a statistical analysis of how many animal cruelty cases are criminally charged and prosecuted each year. However, one conclusion suggested from a review of the MSPCA/Northeastern Study, the ALDF cases, and information provided for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) on their website (www.aspca.com), is that a very low percentage of such cases are, in fact, prosecuted. The MSPCA/Northeastern study shows that approximately .033% (268 of 80,000) case files resulted in efforts to prosecute; the ALDF files show that .246% (246 of 10,000) cases reported resulted in prosecution efforts; and the ASPCA website shows that of the more than 5,000 cases per year it investigates, roughly 300 individuals (16%) are issued summons or are arrested.

Anecdotal evidence indicates that--except in the extreme cases--some prosecutors are less likely to charge or prosecute animal cruelty compared to other violent crimes. This apparent reluctance to prosecute stems, no doubt, from many factors, including cultural values related to religion. At the level of day-to-day realities in real world prosecutors' offices, limiting factors include real or perceived limitations in available resources; inexperienced staff; incomplete or error-filled investigations; pressure from the community to focus on other crimes; and personal, religious or political biases against taking animal abuse seriously as a violent crime (Frasch, Otto, Olsen, & Ernest, 1999, pp. 69-70).

In recent years, many states have made significant efforts to improve anti-cruelty laws. Efforts take many forms, including making the more flagrant acts of cruelty a felony; requiring convicted abusers to undergo psychological or psychiatric evaluation and treatment; or providing a proceeding (sometimes civil, sometimes criminal) by which owners of abused nonhuman animals are required to forfeit their ownership rights. Thus, the nonhuman animal(s) can be fostered or adopted before the criminal trial on the abuse charges. This keeps abused nonhuman animals from languishing in shelters (sometimes for months or even years) as the criminal case is prosecuted while saving the shelter significant monies it would otherwise spend in housing costs, food, and veterinary medical care.

Yet, no evidence shows that these important efforts have reduced the number of abuse cases each year. Consistent with the MSPCA/Northeastern, ALDF and ASPCA information cited above, many humane societies report that only a handful of the hundreds, even thousands, of cruelty cases reported to their investigative department are ever prosecuted. OHS is Oregon's largest humane society with an annual budget of $2.3 million. OHS has 57 employees and approximately 200 active volunteers. In 1999, the shelter received approximately 6,000 dogs and more than 9,000 cats. It also has a separate investigation department with two full-time investigators. In 1998, the investigation department received approximately 1,200 reports of animal abuse throughout Oregon, although most were from the greater Portland metropolitan area. Of the 1,200 reports, only two cases (.016%) were brought to the attention of the District Attorney and prosecuted as a crime. (11)

Religion and Animal Abuse Cases

The roots of the ethic we have inherited for judging acts toward nonhuman animals are anchored in both religious and secular foundations. Accordingly, values expressed in religious concepts and vocabulary undergird the legal system's expression, interpretation, and enforcement of various rules that on their face challenge abusive actions toward nonhuman animals.

When considering possible revisions, adjustments, reforms and other changes designed to establish effective legal recognition and enforcement of prohibitions against animal abuse, it would be imprudent not to consider religious, secular, and other culturally significant beliefs that bear directly on what constitutes abuse and/or neglect. Sociological analyses have repeatedly shown that a large majority of U. S. citizens consider themselves affiliated with a particular religious body. In 1990, the Graduate School of the City University of New York conducted a comprehensive survey led by Barry A. Kosmin and Seymour P. Lachman, on religious identification known as "The National Survey of Religious Identification." This survey asked, among other questions, about religious preference in the United States. The results showed 86.2% of those polled identified themselves as Christian, 1.8% as Jewish, and only 7.5% as non-religious. (12) The breakdown of self-identified Christian adults in the eight largest groups was as follows: 26.2% Catholic, 19.4% Baptist, 8.0% Methodist, 5.2% Lutheran, 2.8% Presbyterian, 1.8% Pentacostal, 1.7% Episcopalian, and 1.4% Mormon.

The Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches, in which statistics are derived primarily from organizational reporting, provides similar information. According to the 1999 Yearbook, the five largest U.S. religious bodies are the Roman Catholic Church--61,207,914 members (in 1996); Southern Baptist Convention--15,891,514 members (in 1997); United Methodist Church--8,496,047 members (in 1996); Church of God in Christ--5,499,875 members (in 1991); and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America--5,185,055 members (in 1997).

What makes these figures important on the issue of protecting nonhuman animals from abuse is that religious traditions overall have not been consistent protectors of nonhuman animals. Consider, for example, the recent pronouncement on the purpose of nonhuman animals found in the Roman Catholic Catechism:

"Nonhuman animals, like plants and inanimate things, are by nature destined for the common good of past, present and future humanity." (13)

This view is hardly exhaustive of either the Catholic or other Christian sources for dealing with animal abuse, (14) but the position is reflective of the mainline Christian tradition's view of the subordinated and utilitarian relationship that nonhuman animals have to the human species as a whole.

What the numbers do not tell us is whether individual believers rely on the teachings of their religious body when making decisions as to what is appropriate interaction with, or treatment of, nonhuman animals. However, even if a small percentage of individuals rely on views promulgated by the official institutions of their religious tradition, this translates into the churches influencing many individual acts of kindness or cruelty.

References to Religion in U. S. Legal Analyses

Given the recurring emphasis in the United States regarding the importance of separation of church and state, one might conclude that it would be hard to find published legal cases that invoke the authority of God or any religious tradition's scriptures. On the contrary, references to the Bible of the Judeo-Christian tradition have been extremely common in reported decisions, and especially so in the decisions dealing specifically with nonhuman animals. These frequent references confirm that, with regard to nonhuman animals, nods to religion-based morality are the norm, rather than the exception, in U.S. jurisprudence.

European legal systems pre-dating development of the U.S. legal system provided ample precedents referring to religion as a source of valuable views on the moral significance of nonhuman animals, and U.S. lawyers and judges surely knew, and relied on, the more prominent of these. One very interesting, though obscure, example of how religion played a part in resolving legal issues is exemplified in this passage about a sixteenth century problem:

Bartholomew Chassenée, a distinguished French jurist of the sixteenth century, made his reputation at the bar as counsel for some rats who had been put on trial before the ecclesiastical court of Autun on the charge of having feloniously eaten up and wantonly destroyed the barley-crop of the province....Under such circumstances, the proper thing to do would be, not to seek legal redress and to treat the noxious creatures as criminals, but to repent and humbly to entreat an angry Deity to remove the scourge. (15)
Two hundred years later, William Blackstone, the most famous eighteenth century legal commentator in England (and whose work was immensely influential on both sides of the Atlantic), wrote:

[The Book of Genesis] is the only true and solid foundation of man's dominion over external things, whatever airy metaphysical notions may have been started by fanciful writers upon this subject. The earth, therefore, and all things therein, are the general property of all mankind, exclusive of other beings, from the immediate gift of the Creator. And, while the earth continued bare of inhabitants it is reasonable to suppose that all was in common among them, and that every one took from the public stock to his own use such things as his immediate necessities required. (16)
In the English legal system, the presence of religious values was, of course, not confined to the courtroom. In Parliamentary debate on proposed laws, religious values also played a major role in how nonhuman animals were seen. In 1809, Lord Erskine, then Chancellor of England, referred to the biblical passages that have been traditionally interpreted in the mainline Christian tradition as granting humans dominion over all other nonhuman animals. (17) Erskine, however, was a well-known animal lover, and so he used references to the biblical grant of dominion to remind his listeners that there was also a moral dimension to the grant of dominion. In fact, Erskine cited this well-known biblical passage usually used to justify human actions harming nonhuman animals for just the opposite purpose, that is, to support the first bill ever before the English House of Lords designed to protect nonhuman animals from then-current practices.

Early legal developments in the American colonies reflected the English heritage regarding the relevance of religious beliefs to the moral and legal significance of nonhuman animals. Thus, one finds numerous biblical references in published cases, particularly in the area of animal cruelty. In 1636, the Puritan legislature in Massachusetts ordered the local courts to adhere to the Old Testament unless doing so conflicted with a statute. (18)

State courts continued to cite biblical views in their decisions as if the biblical analysis reflected well the actual order of the universe. In 1888, a Mississippi judge, addressing limitations on human practices imposed by anti-cruelty statutes, summarized the basic assumption that such statutes merely incorporated biblical views of the rightful and complete superiority of humans over all other nonhuman animals.

Such statutes were not intended to interfere, and do not interfere, with the necessary discipline and government of such nonhuman animals, or place any unreasonable restriction on their use or the enjoyment to be derived from their possession. (19)
In 1911, when addressing the obvious problem that human treatment of food- nonhuman animals sometimes is in great tension with the compassionate sensibilities that are the foundation of an anti-cruelty and kindness ethic, a New York State court echoed the standard position that the Christian scriptures were authority of a higher sort than a literal reading of the anti-cruelty statutes:

[b]y biblical mandate man was given 'dominion over the fish of the sea, over the fowls of the air and the beasts, and the whole earth and every creeping creature that moveth upon the earth.' Man is superior to animals, and some of them he uses for food and is permitted to slaughter them. Many are the means he employs for such purpose, and in such cases the incidental pain and suffering is treated as necessary and justifiable. (20)
An entirely different image, however, is evident in the notion "peace from evil animals," which can be found both in Leviticus 26:5-6, 9, 12, and Ezekiel 34:25. These two images are, of course, in tension with one another. Of the two, the second dominates in the sense that it is human interests, far more than the interests of any nonhuman animals, that the mainline interpretation of the tradition has deemed critically important. The relationship between the two views, however, is not a simple one, and the views often overlap.

Murray (1992, p. 60), summarizing the less dominant view, notes that even when wild nonhuman animals are called "evil" (Leviticus 26:6, Ezekiel 34:25), they, nonetheless, have been created by God, who feeds them (Psalms 104:21) and proudly describes them to Job (Job 38:39). Thus, wild nonhuman animals are not all bad or always examples of disorder. At times, they are examples of the way the world should operate and have a relationship with God to which humans should aspire. This less dominant view can also be seen as supporting the notion that God, as the creator of all life, conferred a goodness on creation generally, be it orderly or chaotic from the human point of view.

Within this framework, humans, including judges and legislators who rely on the Bible for their views about nonhuman animals, could well embrace an ethic in which respect and consideration for all living creatures are paramount, irrespective of the benefits or the harm humans experience because of practicing this ethic. Some Christian theologians have taken this a step further, arguing that the advantages humans enjoy demand that we give not only equal, but greater, consideration to the interests of nonhuman animals when compared against the interests of humans (Linzey, 1994).

Yet, even if such alternative and more inclusivist interpretations could be grounded in the biblical passages that promote the less well-known view that other animals can matter, most U.S. courts have not paid much attention to the alternative biblical view. Very much in line with their English heritage, U.S. courts typically have used to exclusive human benefit the dominant Biblical view of human-nonhuman animal interaction. This is not to say, however, that some courts have not used various biblical passages and interpretations to buttress their decision to prohibit certain practices that harm nonhuman animals.

On the issue of the moral significance of nonhuman animals, then, courts have had several alternatives that they could follow. As happened with attitudes dominating U.S. society regarding slavery, inter-racial marriage, bigamy, and gay rights, the courts have, on the whole, been heavily affected by the mainline interpretation of these practices within western Christianity. New community attitudes and beliefs about these human against human problems did not fully develop until after prominent church leaders gave their stamp of approval, and such approval may well be a significant factor affecting the direction that human attitudes toward nonhuman animals take in the twenty-first century.

Extra-religious Ethics as Another Source of Views on Animal Abuse

Certain non-religious values were also important factors affecting the above and other legal decisions. These non-religious sources include, among others, legal reasoning patterns, legal traditions arising out of non-Christian sources, (21) communal/cultural values related to longstanding practices, and secular, business and economic realities.

Another method for attacking the problem of animal abuse (one that has received substantial media attention) is to educate the community about the important link between animal abuse and human violence. Interest in this area has grown tremendously in recent years, and the scientific research exploring the nonhuman animal-human cruelty connection has experienced similar growth (Lockwood & Ascione, 1998; Ascione & Arkow, 1999). Hellman and Blackman (1996) who produced the first well-documented evidence studied 84 prison inmates and found that 75% of those charged with violent crimes had a history of cruelty to nonhuman animals, enuresis, and fire-setting.

In 1997, the MSPCA/Northeastern University study found that 70% of people who had committed violent crimes against nonhuman animals also had criminal records for violent, property, drug, or disorderly conduct crimes. In addition, the study found that more than half (56%) of animal abusers who committed other crimes committed those crimes before the animal offense (Arluke, Levin, Luke, & Ascione, 1999). This finding disputed the generally accepted premise that violent individuals practice on nonhuman animals and then graduate to human victims. Seen in this context, animal abuse is not so much the "canary in the coal-mine," predicting future human to human violence, as part of an overall scheme of anti-social, community-based violence.

Additional studies show a high correlation between family violence and animal cruelty. A 1983 study of New Jersey families referred to youth and family services because of child abuse reported that 60% of the cases had at least one member of the household who physically abused nonhuman animals. The study also indicated that an abused child in the family sometimes perpetrated animal abuse (DeViney, Dickert, & Lockwood, 1983). In England, Hutton (1983) found that 83% of families whom social service agencies had reported for animal abuse also had been identified as at-risk families for child abuse and other violations. (Hutton, 1983; Loar & White, 1992; Adams, 1994; & Rosen, 1995).

A related area is the movement to promote general humane education in schools and in the community. Many humane societies and shelters have an education department and spend a substantial amount of their revenue on educating students and the public. For example, roughly 15% (approximately $350,000) of OHS's annual operating budget is devoted to humane education. Indeed, a number of states have legislatively mandated humane education and have devoted state monies to fund this endeavor. (22)

The link argument may be a useful tool employed by animal protectionists to promote better laws and community sensitivity to the plight of abused nonhuman animals. However, in my view, there is a danger that the argument may appeal to the self-interest of humans--that is, we primarily should care about animal abuse because of the possible harm the abuser may do to humans.

This may not satisfy those who argue that other animals, in and of themselves, matter. The resulting advantage to nonhuman animals is only a by-product of attempts to stop future violence to humans by intervening when the perpetrator's victims are still nonhuman. Some philosophers argue that it is important to move beyond this human-centered ethic:

[We must begin] to reach for a more adequate set of moral categories for guiding, assessing, and constraining our treatment of other nonhuman animals. As Socrates pointed out, all such ethical change must build upon pre-existing ethics, by a process he called recollection. A mainstay of Western ethics is protecting the fundamental interests of individual humans from being totally submerged for the benefit of the group, and it is this notion that is being exported to nonhuman animals. (23)
Paul Shepard (1996) commented,

...the idea of "mercy" toward nonhuman animals, with its detached overriding of life and its assumptions about "lower" and "higher" life-forms, seems to me more dangerous and anemic than the robust, meat-eating, storytelling, primal peoples (sic) or the best of modern hunter-naturalists.
If one subscribes to such positions, seeking to change prevailing attitudes and practices by establishing, in Rollin's words, "a more adequate set of moral categories" for human and nonhuman animal interaction, religious belief can play an important role. As with the three-legged stool, each leg of contemporary attitudes--religious belief, secular ethics, and legal enforcement--arguably relies on the other two for support. If one of the legs is missing, the stool (metaphorically, today's prevailing ethic regarding nonhuman animals) becomes unstable and topples over.

It may not be enough to criminalize animal abuse without ensuring that animal abuse will be taken seriously by both the general and legal communities, especially the latter's enforcement arm, as a violent crime. Similarly, it would then not be enough to provide humane education unless one also ensures that sufficient laws exist to penalize inhumane treatment.

Communities, when analyzing whether nonhuman animals are entitled to any protection or legal rights, might benefit from carefully assessing claims that the presence of nonhuman animals can have positive impacts on humans. In the end, a fundamental shift in how communities view human relationships with nonhuman animals may be necessary before animal abuse can be tracked well and adequately addressed. Religious beliefs about other animals no doubt will continue to affect decisions in this area and thus must be engaged creatively by those who wish to affect public policy in the general arena of human-nonhuman animal relationships.

Conclusion

Thus, we can argue forcefully that effective reduction of animal abuse cannot occur without dialogue between, and perhaps even integration of, secular ethics, religion-based morality, and legal enforcement. Responsible communities, secular or religious, must develop ethical credos informed by, and responsive to, both the realities of other animals and the inclination of some humans to abuse nonhuman animals. Although some religious believers and institutions will cling to the dominant Biblical view (Murray, 1992), causing nonhuman animals to remain both social and legal commodities, other religious believers and institutions can be fully religious while developing a framework rooted in the kindness ethic, compassion, and belief that nonhuman animals possess intrinsic value.

These alternatives suggest that religious views will play a major role in future developments. In fact, any secular-based advocate--individual activist or community--who seeks effective, community-supported anti-cruelty laws should consult with, and include, religious bodies in discussions regarding options for, and roots to, change. Indeed, given the history of change--such as repudiating human slavery--within Christian communities, Christian circles one day may accept the intrinsic goodness and value in nonhuman animals, accord them moral and legal protections, set aside incidental disadvantages to human interest, and adopt an inclusivist, ethical stance.

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Notes

1 Correspondence should be sent to Pamela D. Frasch, Director, Anti-Cruelty Division, Animal Legal Defense Fund, 2103 SE Belmont, Portland, Oregon 97214. The author is grateful to Dr. Paul Waldau for his assistance and insight in developing this paper.

2 The term "animal abuse" encompasses both cruelty (typically viewed as an affirmative act which results in harm), and neglect (typically viewed as a failure to act which results in harm).

3 The study notes that sentences frequently contained more than a single type of penalty.

4 The highest percentage of cases in the ALDF files are neglect cases (20%). Neglect cases are not considered in the MSPCA/Northeastern study.

5 Thomas, the most influential Catholic theologian, states this position in both Summa Theologiae (2a, 2ae, q. 64, art. 1, ad. 3) and Summa Contra Gentiles (Bk 3, Pt 2, ch 112, art. 13).

6 Kant, I., "Duties to Animals and Spirits," in Lectures on Ethics, trans. Louis Infield (New York: Harper and Row, 1963), pp. 239-241.

7 Tannenbaum, J., (1995). Animals and the Law: Property, Cruelty, Rights, in Mack, Arien (ed.) Humans and Other Animals, Columbus, Ohio: Ohio State University Press, 125-193, at p. 167.

8 Smith v. Avanzino, California Superior Court, San Francisco County, June 17, 1980, cited in Frasch, P. et al., (2000). Animal Law. Durham, North Carolina: Carolina Academic Press, at p. 727.

9 Wolfson, D., (1996). Beyond the Law: Agribusiness and the Systemic Abuse of Animals Raised for Food or Food Production, 2 Animal Law 123, at p. 123.

10 Frasch, P., Otto, S., Olsen, K., Ernest, P., (1991). State Animal Anti-Cruelty Statutes: An Overview. 5 Animal Law 69. As of publication of this journal, the number of states with felony-level anti-cruelty provisions had risen to 29, including Georgia and Alabama.

11 Telephone interview with Susan Mentley, Operations Director, Oregon Humane Society, March 28, 2000.

12 The presence of Muslims, not reflected in these figures, reflects one way in which the American religious scene has been changing since this 1990 survey, namely, demographics. One of the most widely used texts in undergraduate college courses (Fisher, Mary Pat, (1997). Living Religions, 3rd edn, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall) notes (at 367), "Islam is the fastest-growing religion in the United States, and may soon become the second largest religion in the country."

13 Catechism of the Catholic Church 1994, London: Geoffrey Chapman, Paragraph 2415.

14 A good discussion of these sources can be found in the works of Andrew Linzey cited in the "References" section below.

15 Evans, E.P., (Faber & Faber, repub. 1987) (orig. pub. 1906), The Criminal Prosecution and Capital Punishment of Animals.

16 Blackstone, W., Dawsons of Pall Mall 1966 (1756) (Excerpt from Volume II), Commentaries II "The Rights of Things."

17 Wise, S. (2000). Rattling the Cage: Toward Legal Rights for Animals, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Merloyd Lawrence/Perseus, 44.

18 See, for example, Haskins, G. L. (1960). Law and Authority in Early Massachusetts: A Study in Tradition and Design, New York: Macmillan, at 141.

19 Stephens v. State, 65 Miss. 329, 331, 3 So. 458 (1888).

20 People ex. Rel Freel v. Downs, 136 N.Y.S. 440, 445 (mag. Ct. 1911).

21 In Rattling the Cage, Wise notes at 42 this comment from Holmes with respect to wild nonhuman animals: "[We] have adopted the Roman law." (Wise gives the original source in his footnote.)

22 For example, in Pennsylvania, the law states: "Instruction in humane education shall be given to all pupils up to and including the fourth grade, and need not exceed half an hour each week during the whole school term. No cruel experiment on any living creature shall be permitted in any public school of this Commonwealth." PA ST 24 P.S. § 15-1514 (1999). And in Illinois: "The superintendent of each region and city shall include once each year moral and humane education in the program of the teachers' institute which is held under his supervision." Il ST CH 105 § 5/27-15 (1999).

23 From a summary of a talk which Bernard Rollin gave at the XVth congress of IPS (from GAP Australia newsletter).
 

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