DOE Falling Short In Humane Animal Education, Advocates Say (UPDATED)

The animal rights lobby has turned its attention away from horse carriages and begun targeting those higher up on the food chain.

New Yorkers for Clean Livable and Safe Streets (NYCLASS), which inserted itself into the 2013 mayoral primary and has been lobbying heavily for a horse carriage ban ever since, has launched a campaign to ensure humane education is taught in city schools, as required under a state law that the group contends is unenforced.

New York City Council Education Committee Chairman Daniel Dromm and 32 of his colleagues, along with NYCLASS’s executive director and fellow animal advocacy leaders, sent a letter to schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña last week requesting to meet with her to discuss the city’s compliance with the law. A spokesperson for NYCLASS said the group has lobbied every single member of the City Council on this topic.

The city Department of Education (DOE) did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Dromm, who was a public school teacher for 25 years, said educators often overlook the requirement because they have other demands and few are even aware of the state law, which reads:

"The officer, board or commission authorized or required to prescribe courses of instruction shall cause instruction to be given in every elementary school under state control or supported wholly or partly by public money of the state, in the humane treatment and protection of animals and the importance of the part they play in the economy of nature as well as the necessity of controlling the proliferation of animals which are subsequently abandoned and caused to suffer extreme cruelty."

The law also states that school districts shall not be entitled to public school money if the requirement is not met, and funding could technically be withdrawn for non-compliance, according to the New York City Bar Committee on Animal Law. Yet enforcement of the measure would be unlikely to impact any upstate or rural agricultural programs that teach hunting, according to Kimberly Spanjol, who is involved with a social-emotional service learning and violence prevention program called Youth Animal Protectors.

Dromm said he would ask about the department’s current financial commitment and training practices for humane animal treatment education at upcoming budget hearings and then assess whether more resources are needed.

“There is definitely a need for a focusing on or reemphasis on the requirements,” he said. “Children form their attitudes toward animals early on in life and I think that educating them about the correct and humane treatment of animals is really important.” 

Passed in 1947, the law was amended in the 1970s to mandate instruction on the importance of spaying and neutering animals to prevent the proliferation and suffering of unwanted pets, according to Meena Alagappan, executive director of Humane Education Advocates Reaching Teachers (HEART), which offers related education programs and professional development.

Alagappan and other animal rights advocates argue that education is needed in order to foster empathy toward creatures, the environment and one another—and notes that research has linked childhood animal abuse to interpersonal violence later in life.

“If you are teaching students about ‘Old Yeller,’ the book about the dog, it’s an opportunity to talk about the proper care of homeless dogs and cats,” said NYCLASS executive director Allie Feldman. “Or if you’re teaching about proper nutrition, you can talk about factory farms and why they are inhumane.”

Animal advocates say the DOE could use free humane education resource guides and partner with HEART, the United Federation of Teacher’s Humane Education Committee, or others to help train teachers at little to no cost.

Feldman said the issue is a priority for NYCLASS moving forward. 

“Getting two-thirds of the City Council just took a couple of weeks. That wasn’t hard at all,” she said. “Over the past 10 years you’ve seen a huge shift in the way that people are looking at animals.”

UPDATE: Records show NYCLASS spent $3,204 on lobbying in January and February for the implementation of the humane education law, on legislation requiring an animal shelter in every borough, on a bill banning horse carriages, and on resolutions to establish meatless Mondays and a tax credit to those who adopt pets from shelters.

UPDATE 2: DOE spokesman Harry Hartfield tells City & State that the Department enables principals to weave humane education components into lessons.

“It’s critical that we teach our students to be stewards of their community,” Hartfield said in a statement. "We empower principals to integrate lessons into their curriculum that remind students to be conscious and respectful of world around them.”