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| ©The HSUS |
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The HSUS uses scientific research to inform animal welfare
advocacy and policy positions. |
By Bernard Unti
Given the complexity of today's animal protection landscape, the work of scientifically credible professionals is central to the success and vitality of The HSUS. This is true across the broad range of disciplines. To speak effectively for animals requires not just a tender heart, but a command of the facts.
A Model that Works
The HSUS's reliance on such expertise has been consistent since its founding in 1954 and was crucial to its earliest campaigns. But the drive toward full professional scientific and technical capacity within The HSUS grew greatly in the 1970s under the leadership of longtime president John A. Hoyt.
By the 1980s, this process began to reach maturity. The HSUS was a virtual "learned faculty" on animal welfare. Scientists, veterinarians, animal behaviorists, wildlife biologists and other professionals populated our staff. Through its program work and management of the
Journal for the Study of Animal Problems, The HSUS played a foundational role in the development of the science of animal welfare.
Body of Experts
The 21st century finds The HSUS even stronger. A second and third generation of scientists are helping apply the knowledge and insights of their disciplines to the scientific, technical and public policy debates about the welfare of animals.
The HSUS's bench strength includes not only scientists but attorneys, economists, historians, psychologists, trade analysts and others. In just about every area of concern, HSUS scientists and other staff members are playing active roles in the national and international policy networks where decisions about animals and their well-being are made.
They are publishing their work in peer-reviewed journals, providing science-based counsel and assessments to policy makers and others, and countering the claims of opponents in the public arena.
In this ongoing series, you'll hear directly from the people who are putting their specialized knowledge to use on behalf of animals, and why it's evermore important.
Bernard Unti is HSUS senior policy advisor and author of Protecting All Animals: A fifty-year history of The Humane Society of the United States.
