United States Department of Companion Animal Welfare

This is a new department (USDCAW). It is dedicated to improving companion animal welfare. It was decided in the higher echelons of government that the rapidly increased population of companion animals and their close association with people demanded a government department that was solely concerned with protecting their rights and improving their welfare.

Two useful tags. Click either to see the articles: Toxic to cats | Dangers to cats

In fact the USDCAW deals with all aspects companion animal welfare including the consequences of keeping companion animals:

  • Objective: to create and protect the rights of companion animals through the implementation of enforced regulations and the education of companion animal caretakers. The task is two pronged: education and regulation.
  • Overseeing the implementation of new regulations to improve companion animal caretaking;
  • Overseeing the gradual introduction of the obligatory education of prospective animal caretakers. A diploma will be required for everyone involved with companion animals: Diploma in Companion Animal Caretaking (DipCAC).
  • Liaising with national departments concerned with the criminal code to explore the possibilities of amending existing legislation;
  • Creating a seemless animal welfare criminal code that both guides animal caretakers and criminalises abuse. This area would include legalised abuse by veterinarians in devocalizing and declawing cats;
  • Overseeing and creating initiatives to reduce the feral cat population of the United States;
  • Creating a new inspectorate to ensure the highest standards at animal shelters and rescue centers;
  • Monitoring and investigation the running of animal charities of all kinds from the smallest to the mightiest to ensure high levels of probity and transparency;
  • Monitoring commercially manufactured companion animal products of all kinds;
  • Monitoring of boarding and breeding catteries and dog breeders.
  • Monitoring private zoos and the keeping of wild cats as pets. The objective would be the gradual elimination of all private zoos and the keeping of all and any wild cat as a pet. The new department would liaise with departments concerned with international trade in animals.

That is the task and objectives in outline. And in case you thought I was serious, I just made this up this morning in bed!

However, there is a serious side to this. At present in both the USA and UK and probably other countries matters concerning companion animal welfare seem to be incorporated into departments that manage agriculture and the environment. The companion animal is merged with all other aspects of our relationship with all animals and ancillary issues.

I feel that all animals are equal between themselves and to us, but the companion animal is such a large and important area of our lives that it is unsatisfactory to not have a dedicated department to deal with this aspect of our lives.

There are too many outstanding issues to deal with that are drifting. Not enough is happening to improve companion animal welfare. Improvements in their welfare will gradually remove the so called “feral cat problem”. The knock-on effect would be massive and hugely beneficial to American society.

Personally, I dislike regulations. I understand that most Americans prefer a laissez-faire attitude to life. Leave us alone and let us live our lives as we want to. I get that. It makes sense to me. I am the same. The trouble is that it is an impractical approach because too many people find it acceptable to abuse other people and animals. When people behave better then we can remove the laws.

In the meantime it is time to improve standards of companion animal welfare. The mission is two-pronged: education and regulation.

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7 thoughts on “United States Department of Companion Animal Welfare”

  1. Wouldn’t that be great! We all hate regulation in the areas we are not concerned about and yet we want it in certain areas we are concerned about. It just goes to prove that all regulation is there for a reason and it’s often just that we don’t really fully understand why it’s there. With such regulation as proposed above there would be plenty of people who would think its just annoying and stupid but thats always going to be the case with any regulation. So then why shouldn’t this area deserve regulation just like just about every other area of our lives and animal’s lives.

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    • Yes, for me the key thing about regulations and laws is that they create habits and the habits they help create are better than the habits people had before the regulations came into force. There are many examples of this. Drink driving is one. People are more responsible. In the past most drunk people drove cars after parties.

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  2. Nicely done Michael. The fact that you say the human world is evolving etc. denotes hope. If you can dream up such a department while in bed, just thinking about the plight of our furry friends- I think it will happen. Probably not in our lifetime. Just keep thinking Michael. Every little bit we do helps. You are doing a lot.

    dw

    Reply
    • Thanks dw. The things I listed are the things that always come up in discussion. They stare me in face. Of course they government don’t see the problems in the same way if at all. Perhaps one politician will read it one day and a seed may be sown. I didn’t write it for that. I wrote it for the fun of it.

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  3. The problem is, Michael, that no government program ever goes away when it’s no longer needed. It becomes a monster as the people working there struggle to justify their own existence, creating stricter and stricter codes so they have something to enforce. Also, I don’t think people are evolving and getting better. I think we started off good, rebelled against God, and it’s all been downhill from there. But that doesn’t give us an excuse not to keep trying. We’re accountable for what we personally do in an increasingly more evil world. The evil we are confronted with will never give up, so neither can we. No animal abuser will simply stop without intervention fron somewhere. That could come from the long arm of the law, but it could be from a friend who calls attention to the person’s cold hearted actions speaks the truth in love. That’s what I try to do with friends who declaw their cats or those who are not the best caretakers (like allowing their kids to chase the cat around.) We may start small, but we can all do something.

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  4. I was getting all excited, ready to contact that department. I used to really hate all government regulations and codes but then we became friends with some people who worked as building inspectors. I came to see how their work is important and even saves lives. I will say that codes that are too stringent don’t help, because people then have an incentive to get around the code instead of following it. Laws too strict are seldom enforced. But no codes at all and you have buildings coming down on peoples’ heads. Literally, at times. Codes for railings on stairs and things like that give poor people with disabilities some leverage against landlords who otherwise might not help them. I also don’t like government regulation, but people bring it in themselves at times. The deplorable facilities that pass for animal shelters and the sadistic creeps who work there are bringing this upon themselves. Sadly, some good shelters are going to get hurt if codes are made too strict. This will impose a burden which they may not be able to afford. But maybe we need to live with some of those unintended consequences in order to get rid of some of the really deplorable practices currently in place at so-called shelters.

    Reply
    • Thanks for your comment Ruth. I really trust your thoughts. The way I see it is that now in the present we need regulations but they can be wound down eventually when people are more willing to do the right thing themselves. The human world is still a unorganized, undeveloped and evolving place.

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