Wayne Pacelle, CEO and president of the Humane Society of the United States, will offer his perspective on the protection of animals in a talk at the University of Virginia School of Law.
Pacelle's talk, "Animal Protection in the 21st Century: Finding Clarity in Our Tangled, Contradictory Relationship with Animals," will be free and open to the public. It will be held Tuesday, Nov. 19 at 4:30 p.m. in Caplin Pavilion. A reception will follow.
Pacelle took office as leader of the Humane Society in 2004 following nearly a decade of serving as the organization's chief lobbyist and spokesman.
During his tenure, the organization has grown to be the nation's largest animal protection organization with 11 million members and constituents, annual revenue of $160 million and assets of more than $200 million. The Humane Society is the 155th largest charity in the United States.
Since 2005, Pacelle and the Humane Society have worked for the passage of more than 500 new state laws and more than 25 federal statutes to protect animals. These laws have included measures to halt the interstate transport of fighting animals, to stop commerce in big cats for the pet trade, to establish federal standards to include pets in disaster planning and response, to ban the import of puppy mill dogs from foreign countries, and to strengthen protection for sharks against the inhumane practice of "finning."
Pacelle has testified before Congress numerous times in support of animal protection issues, including the mistreatment of downer cows, the banning of "canned hunting," securing adequate funding for the Animal Welfare Act and other wildlife and animal protection programs, halting the trophy hunting of threatened and endangered species, combating cockfighting and dogfighting, cracking down on puppy mills and limiting the exotic pet trade.
Prior to joining the Humane Society, Pacelle was executive director of The Fund for Animals from 1988-94. He also served as associate editor and, later, president of the board for The Animals' Agenda magazine, and as a guest instructor for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Refuge Training Academy.
He serves on the boards of the Humane Society Wildlife Land Trust, Humane Society International, Humane Society University, the South Florida Wildlife Center, Global Animal Partnership and Humane USA. In 2006, Pacelle co-founded the National Federation of Humane Societies, a trade association principally representing local humane societies across the nation, and he currently serves on the board of that organization.
Pacelle's talk at the Law School is sponsored by the Bob Barker Animal Law & Rights Program at UVA Law, the UVA Institute for Practical Ethics and Public Life, and the UVA Bioethics Program.
Founded in 1819, the University of Virginia School of Law is the second-oldest continuously operating law school in the nation. Consistently ranked among the top law schools, Virginia is a world-renowned training ground for distinguished lawyers and public servants, instilling in them a commitment to leadership, integrity and community service.
