ND receives poor animal rights rating

February 8th, 2010, the Humane Society of the United States released its first "Humane State Ranking." Rating all fifty states, the Humane Society based each score out of sixty-five 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.

Sitting close to the bottom of the list, in forty-seventh place, North Dakota was graded a score of thirteen, tied with Mississippi. Below that sat Idaho with a score of nine and finally South Dakota, with a score of eight out of sixty-five. Minnesota sat close to the middle of the pack, ranking twenty-ninth with a score of twenty-three.

The Humane Society released that "Idaho, Mississippi, North Dakota and South Dakota got low marks in part because they are the only four states in the country with no felony penalty for egregious acts of animal cruelty."

When asked to comment about North Dakota's ranking by the Humane Society, Arlette Moen, executive director of the Circle of Friends Humane Society in Grand Forks, stated, "I absolutely agree with the ranking; there are minimal protection laws in North Dakota. The state obviously has humane treatment laws but there is very little behind the law. Plus the fact that it doesn't matter what you do to an animal in North Dakota, you'll never be charged with a felony and that's a problem because what we're doing is we're not only not protecting animals, but we're not recognizing that connection between someone who abuses animals and someone who is going to commit domestic violence."

Approximately 2100 to 2400 animals are rescued by the Circle of Friends Humane Society each year. Break that down further and that is 175 to 200 animals per month, many of them strays.

When asked how the community can counteract animal cruelty, Moen responded saying, "The best way of all is to contact your legislator and make it known to him/her that it is important that we change the laws in the state of ND, since we are one of only 5 states right now that does not have a felony penalty in place," Moen explained. "That needs to happen. It's not just animal shelters that need to say this, it's the general public. Otherwise legislators don't think it's important. That is the most important thing. The other thing is if you see animal abuse you need to report it to law enforcement. You need to be willing to give your name, be willing to testify and then you need to call [the humane society] so that they can have that information as well. But it is important that the law enforcement gets involved in something like that." "State animal rights activists asked the 2007 Legislature to adopt a felony animal abuse statute," Haga writes. "But legislators- concerned about how such a law might be applied inappropriately to ranchers, farmers with livestock and 4-H activities- rejected the measure." In the year 2011, animal campaigners are planning another push at the North Dakota Legislature. The Circle of Friends Humane Society is one of the local animal advocates planning another push at the administration to adopt a felony animal abuse statute.