Spreading the Word for Animals

Look at any major social movement and it has communications platforms to disseminate ideas, review books in the field, dig deep into issues, release research or investigations, and allow debate and discussion within the fraternity. The left, for example, has magazines like Mother Jones and The Nation and talk show hosts at MSNBC. The right has Rush Limbaugh and the National Review, the Weekly Standard and Fox News.

Go to a newsstand, and you’ll see hunting magazines galore, and there are newsletters and other print publications that come from major hunting rights organizations. On the agriculture front, there is Feedstuffs and then there are trade magazines like Pork and Beef. There is a laundry list of blogs.

Years ago, I served as an editor at The Animals’ Agenda, the national magazine of the animal protection movement. That periodical is defunct, but now Animal People plays the role of an independent journal covering news within the field of animal protection.

The HSUS has a remarkable magazine called All Animals, and we also publish Animal Sheltering Magazine. They are published by The HSUS, but their content reaches far beyond the programs and activities of The HSUS. These magazines talk about the big issues of the day for animals and for our society.

I’m pleased to see that there is a number of emerging local radio shows in our field, and the most important is The Animal House, broadcast from WAMU in Washington, D.C. It’s hosted by long-time news man Sam Litzinger, who is an anchor and reporter at CBS News. And its featured animal expert is my good friend Dr. Gary Weitzman, who is president and CEO of the San Diego Humane Society & SPCA.

I’ve started doing regular commentaries on the show, including on horse slaughter. I am so pleased to be able to contribute to this important show.

The Animal House is the No. 1 rated show in its time slot in the Washington, D.C. market, and it’s now on the air in 30 other markets as well. You can contact your local public radio station and urge them to carry The Animal House, too. If they run it, they’ll soon find out that there are herds and gaggles and packs of listeners who care about veterinary health issues for their pets and animal issues in our society.

Tune in, and let’s work to get more information about our vital cause into the public domain.