The Register-Guard
Posted on 05/08/2002 12:04:39 PM PDT by Glutton
Pets may get a little R-E-S-P-E-C-T
By SUSAN PALMER
The Register-Guard
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The outdated language harkens back to once-common attitudes that women were the property of their spouses and black slaves were the property of those who employed them, animal welfare activists say.
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 Activists want the Eugene City Council to replace "animal owner" with "animal guardian" in city code language dealing with pets. Elizabeth Jayne, 21, "guardian" of 8-month-old Moose, is all for the change, saying, "I think it's great if it makes more people respect animals more." At rear are Teman Erhart and his dog, Dasi. Photo: NICOLE DeVITO / The Register-Guard |
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Councilors will take up the topic in a work session today, along with several animal control issues.
Proponents of the proposal aren't naive enough to believe a change in the language will result in an immediate reduction in animal abandonment or abuse, said David Duemler, a member of the Animal Welfare Network of Lane County. Rather it's a first step in getting people to change the way they think about animals, he said.
"The term owner carries no connotation of responsibility. ... It fails to distinguish between a living being and an inanimate piece of property," Duemler wrote in a January letter to the council.
Duemler, who teaches psychology at Lane Community College, said the relationship between language and behavior is subtle but real.
"In the long-term, the language we use can affect people's intuitions and their attitudes often in a way we're not aware of, and that can lead to a change in behavior," he said.
The local group's drive is part of a national movement spearheaded by In Defense of Animals, a nonprofit animal welfare agency based in California.
Several cities and at least one state have rewritten their codes to include the word "guardian," Duemler said, including Boulder, Colo., Berkeley, Calif., West Hollywood, Calif., and Rhode Island.
Those who love animals have been down this road before, said Diana Huntington of Junction City, also an Animal Welfare Network member.
"Twenty years ago the term 'animal rights' seemed outrageous and ludicrous," Huntington said.
Now "animal rights" is such a part of the culture that seventh-graders at Jefferson Middle School where she teaches frequently choose animals rights projects as part of their social justice curriculum, she said.
Students recently discussed the ethics of capturing elephants, training them to do circus tricks and hauling them around the world in cages, she said.
Changing city code language does no harm and costs almost nothing, she said.
But a memo to councilors relays the city attorney's concerns that the word "guardian" has legal meanings in city and state statutes, where it's used almost exclusively in temporary caregiver situations. The memo, written by city staffer Mary Walston, proposed an alternate term of "animal keeper."
In Boulder, where city councilors voted for the new language two years ago, there was some discussion about what rights the word "guardian" might imply, said Boulder City Councilor Dan Corson.
"There was some talk of, does this make the pet a ward of the state, does it give the pet a set of legal rights? The conclusion was that it did not," he said.
Corson, who lives with two dogs, a cat and two rabbits, said he wasn't a strong supporter of the measure, but didn't believe it would do any harm.
Most of the nine Boulder councilors supported it, and most letters to the editor of the Boulder paper on the subject were supportive, although some called the language change silly, he said.
Examples of changes in Boulder since the new language was enacted:
The Boulder newspaper, the Daily Camera, has used the term and a sign listing rules at a dog park incorporated the word, said Jan McHugh-Smith, executive director of the Humane Society of Boulder Valley.
At least one Eugene councilor, Gary Pape, said he has no problem using the term "guardian" in existing city code. But he said he's much more concerned with the other topics on the meeting agenda.
Those include complaints and service requests related to wildlife, county and city differences in the definition of dangerous dogs, licensing of cats and the ongoing work of the Animal Control Task Force set up by Lane County Commissioner Bill Dwyer.
"We need to go into more depth on animal ordinances," Pape said "We've had some problems that have been brought to my attention at least in my ward with people not being responsible with animals and we need to address that."
CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION
"The term owner carries no connotation of responsibility..."
She has obviously never "owned" anything that hurt somebody. I think ownership has a lot more responsibility attached to it than "guardianship" does. Nevermind. Why am I picking at the details... the whole thing is whacked.
Several cities and at least one state have rewritten their codes to include the word "guardian," Duemler said, including Boulder, Colo., Berkeley, Calif., West Hollywood, Calif., and Rhode Island.
Gore Country – Land of Idiots
This is one for the books. You could dance on the head of a pin all day and night splitting hairs on language changes like this.
It is opvious this is an intermediate step to gaining more animal rights. They just have cut the process into such tiny steps, they hope nobody will notice what they are doing.
We've seen this little game before, haven't we?
I am a beer guardian.
Me too, albeit a poor one...
You've got to be kidding.
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