Oreo's Law, Round Two

When Oreo's Law was first proposed, I had a number of concerns about it. Despite accusations that I was advocating for killing animals, my article laid out several suggestions for improving the law to ensure it would protect the animals it was intending to help, and I'm pleased to report that New York State Assembly Member Micah Kellner, co-author of Oreo's Law, has been working on amendments to the bill.

We need to protect animals no matter what type of organization they end up in. Animals should be protected from suffering, whether it's a death sentence for healthy animals in a shelter or a life of stress or neglect at an unqualified rescue organization. When both things are possible, there's no reason to accept a law that addresses one and not the other.

Now it looks like we may not have to.

Kellner's amendments would take care of the problem that anyone with a 501c3 designation -- which has nothing to do with animal knowledge or standards of care — could take any animal. An organization whose staff or volunteers have a history of animal cruelty would not be able to demand animals from shelters. A shelter could also refuse to turn over an animal if they commit to finding her a home instead of euthanizing.

In addition, a dog or cat that is irredeemably suffering or dangerous could still be put down. I imagine there will be some question as to who gets to define "suffering" and "dangerous," especially considering the law's namesake, but those questions need to be asked, not ignored. There's no shortage of healthy, friendly animals who need homes right now, and Oreo's Law is shaping up to be a bill that can help them.

It seems like every day there are news stories about city-run shelters, private sanctuaries, and rescue groups that have failed the animals in their care. Not all shelters are the enemy, and not all rescues are the heroes. Shelters and rescues are individual organizations comprised of individual people, which means they are subject to the good, the bad, and the ugly of human nature. Just because California's Hayden's Law hasn't resulted in a slew of abuse cases doesn't mean we shouldn't try to improve future legislation to address the situations we know exist in the world.

Kellner is ready to go a step further, to move beyond Oreo and change the name of the law, if need be. That might not be a bad idea if the law is going to transcend the media frenzy and high emotions of Oreo's story to do what's best for animals that still have a chance.

Photo credit: m kasahara