Earning the highest scores are California (first place), New Jersey and Oregon (tied for second place), and Illinois and Massachusetts (tied for fourth). Earning the lowest scores are South Dakota (last place), Idaho (50), North Dakota and South Carolina (tied for 48), Mississippi (47) and Alabama and Missouri (tied for 45).
“Our Humane State Ranking provides a big-picture look at how states are faring on animal-protection policies, and how they rank in the nation,” said Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of the HSUS. “There are some states that are adopting innovative and strong policies to protect animals, while others are lagging badly. Animal protection is a serious matter for tens of millions of Americans, and we hope state lawmakers fulfill their moral responsibility and help us crack down on abuses.”
The ranking was based on 66 different animal protection issues in 10 major animal protection categories including: animal fighting; animal cruelty; puppy mills; use of animals in research; equine protection; wildlife abuse; factory farming; fur and trapping; exotic animals; and companion animal laws. The HSUS ranking provides a different frame of reference than the recent report published by the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF), which are focused on the broad range of provisions that are included in state and territorial anti-cruelty statutes. Together, both the HSUS and ALDF ratings provide important yet distinct measures of how states are dealing with a broad range of animal welfare problems in society.
To see the complete 2011 Humane State Rankings, click here.
Image via MorgueFile.com
Ohio - 36 out of 50....sigh.....
ReplyDeleteActually the press release cites Ohio as one of the states showing significant improvement - moving up to 35 from 45.
DeleteI'm happy to at least see Wisconsin in the top tear!! I guess I'm surprised that each state is allowed to operate independently even tho it's a part of the same national group. Maybe if they enforced all their policies in all the states, things would be better.
ReplyDeleteMario - each state establishes and enforces its own animal protection laws. This report is just how HSUS rates them based on their own criteria. You can also visit the ALDF site to see how they rank the states.
DeleteYay for Colorado being number 6! Unfortunately, Denver has a ban on pit bulls, which I think is silly (probably part of the animal fighting laws that helped them get so high.) :/
ReplyDeleteHelen - I doubt the ban on Pit Bulls helped their score because HSUS opposes Breed Specific Legislation. Here's a link that shows how all the states were evaluated:
Deletehttp://bit.ly/AfidwC
I was a little worried about Arizona because of their policy towards immigration, but apparently the state likes animals a little better than they like people who weren't born here. It's #19 -- not great but at least in the top 20. I know we passed some decent anti-cruelty legislation for farm animals, but we still have greyhound racing in Tucson. Ugh.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting this!
I was worried about PA too, but we were ranked as a second tier state. I think it's important to see what other states are doing well so we can work within our own states to make an improvement.
DeleteInteresting. Thanks for sharing the link. It makes me wonder if there is something similar for Canada - I am going to have to look into that.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if there is anything similar in Canada Kristine - but you could check with Humane Society International/Canada.
Deletehttp://www.hsi.org/world/canada/
This was very interesting because it showed whether states were making progress or declining. And it concisely showed the problems states need to work on.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing.
I agree Pamela - it helps to see areas where our states have improved and where we still need work.
DeleteIn our travels we've visited all those states at the bottom of the list. They're full of beautiful places, people and animals. I hope their legislators see their deficiencies and get things turned around.
ReplyDeleteAmy - I think that's where advocacy really placed a vital role. People need to let their legislators know where they stand on the issues and hold them accountable for how they vote.
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