Go to an ag school and get a real human-animal studies degree!

About this time last year a listener/reader who is an attorney himself called my attention to an article in the Agricultural Law section of the Illinois State Bar Association’s May 2008 newsletter. The article discredited animal agriculture in this country. The author called for more laws to regulate livestock production and suggested an end to animal agriculture as an even better solution.The article was written by an attorney who, according to her website, has the first animal law practice in the state of Illinois. Hers is certainly not the only practice of this sort today! There are numerous universities and law schools that have added or are in the process of adding programs for animal rights law.

Just last week, the Humane Society University (HSU), the professional development program of Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) announced that it is searching for a Vice President for Academic Affairs for the university. The person selected to fill this position will be responsible for creating a presence for Humane Society University within the larger academic community.

HSU, according to the job posting, offers undergraduate degrees and graduate certificate programs in animal studies, animal protection and advocacy, and humane leadership.

According to the HSUS website, “Humane Society University is the first higher-education institution in the country to be licensed to provide B.S. degrees and graduate certificates exclusively dedicated to human-animal studies.”

I’m slightly confused and more than a little bit offended by that claim.

I majored in Agriculture Education with an emphasis in Animal Science in college. I certainly felt then and still believe that my university schooling was dedicated to human-animal studies. I took classes and labs on nutrition, genetics and breeding, animal health and disease control and prevention, anatomy and physiology, marketing, handling facilities and techniques, sanitation, and livestock business management. I took classes on meat science and dairy science. Animal care and welfare were paramount in each of the classes in the animal science curriculum.

Animal husbandry as defined by Webster’s dictionary is “a branch of agriculture concerned with the production and care of domestic animals.”

HSUS claims on its website that “HSU is not a university in the traditional sense.”

No kidding. In my opinion, this pretend university has nothing to do with human-animal studies. The animal advocacy curriculum, in the words of HSUS, provides participants with skills “to better assist the animals you serve.”

My cattle and my cat are not made in God’s image. They are my property. I do not serve them. They will be well cared for, but the day I come home and my cat has an attorney is the day America is no longer the land of the free and the home of the brave.