The Humane Society of the United States, which is a vigorous
lobbying organization with campaigns to force farming changes, says it will be
training more than 700 law enforcement personnel in Oklahoma for free
on how to investigate and handle animal cruelty cases.
The HSUS has run high-profile campaigns recently to get rid
of sow gestation crates and to get egg-laying hens out of cages.
In Ontario, Farm & Food Care offers to train inspectors.
This threatens to get crazy. Surely inspector training ought to be the responsibility of the enforcement agencies and not outsiders with vested interests.
Tara Loller, director of strategic campaigns and special
projects for HSUS, says the Oklahoma program is not new.
“Last year, we hosted 54 seminars and trained 2,262 officers
representing over 650 agencies.
“We piloted the Humane State Program, which also includes
training for animal rescues and wildlife rehabilitators, first in Puerto Rico
in 2015, with tremendous success. We are working to bring this program to three
more states in 2016—looking now at where resources are most needed,” Loller said.
