One of the biggest recent developments in the course of achieving animal equality is the formation of high-profile animal rights groups such as the ASPCA or HSUS. Groups such as the ASPCA are organizations similar to the Longmont Humane Society and have goals of both raising awareness for animals being neglected and sheltering those that are homeless or abused. While their primary goal is ensuring that these abandoned animals get sheltered and adopted, they can also use instances of animals in their shelters as educational material illustrating the toll humans take on animals through neglect, abuse, and misrepresentation. PETA, and groups like it, tend to focus more on the awareness and education side of the problem and seek to educate the public about ways we can serve animals and elevate their status in our society*.
Along with these groups, numerous petitions and bills at all levels of government have been introduced and passed that begin to scratch the surface on attaining animal equality. In many cities, where it is easier for concerned citizens to attend town hall meetings and get their voice heard, the restrictions and punishments for animal abuse and neglect are either different or more severe than on state or federal levels where it takes mass support to get anything on the table. These tighter-knit communities also offer opportunities for individuals to unify the people more on an issue, such as controversially overhauling the way we view humanity, and allow for these ideas to begin to spread.
These things may seem like significant progress, and it is impossible to ignore the fact that public sentiment around animal equality is very slowly changing, but in all honesty nothing has changed for our global society as a whole. We still clearly place ourselves above animals and while many know it is "wrong" to kick a puppy, they see no problem with using animals as tools for our success. We still see it as better to kick a dog than to kick a baby, but why is the baby more deserving of protection than the animal?
Unfortunately, none of the legislation passed attempts to address the root causes of animal mistreatment. In order to truly solve the problem, we as humans must first acknowledge that we have an addiction to power over every other living thing on the planet. This is not something that will come easy, but if we cannot even recognize this it will be impossible to see a reason to so drastically alter the lifestyles of most of the planet's population.
Once we can acknowledge that we have abused our position of power and that hierarchy is not necessary, we must accept that we need to change. At this point, it is crucial that we begin to legitimately give animals a place in our politics, economics, and social orders. We need to give them agency and help them utilize it, because it means nothing to consider their perspectives if we don't understand them. We need dedicated individuals helping us understand them, not forcing them to assimilate into our lives. You cannot walk into a nation where the people don't speak your language and then get upset when they can't communicate with you. It is our job to ensure that they are our equals, not their job to become our equals. Once we recognize their importance and equality, we must LISTEN. Our solution cannot be holistic without actually hearing, considering, and incorporating their perspective and dissent. Just because they do not have a physical voice in our civil society and public sphere does not mean that we can say we recognize them as equals and then fail to listen. It will take effort on our part to ensure that they are heard, but it is our moral duty to ensure that we hear them.
As far as our human legislation goes, we need to abolish the use of other living things without proper consideration for how we will support them and ensure their continued survival and success. They are not our pawns, and we cannot legally allow them to be used as such. Economically, the same must be true as well. We cannot be utilizing these animals and natural things for our own good without ensuring that we are contributing to their continued success as well. As we are seeing with the current pandemic, we are truly at the hands of nature, just as nature is in our hands as well.
*I do not directly condone the actions of PETA or other relatively extreme groups like it, nor am I associated with any of the groups listed above other than the Longmont Humane Society. I agree with their general purpose, but I personally believe they go about it in a way that makes them more hated and encourages the public to disregard them. Nevertheless, I have included them in an example here for the purpose of illustrating the formation of these high-profile organizations, not to glorify their sometimes questionable actions.