Animal-Rights Lobbyist Is Selected to Be Top Dog at Humane Society

When Wayne P. Pacelle was a young boy, he would urge his parents to drive carefully so they wouldn't accidentally hit the animals that sometimes strayed onto the roads near their home in New Haven, Conn.

Mr. Pacelle, 38, has since built a career around trying to keep animals out of harm's way. This month he took over the top spot at the Humane Society of the United States, the nation's largest animal-protection organization, where he has worked as a lobbyist and spokesman since 1994. He will earn $200,000 a year.

"I've been worried about roadkill since the age of 2 or 3," Mr. Pacelle says. "I don't know what other kind of work I could possibly do but this."

The Humane Society, with headquarters in Washington, has eight million members and an $80-million annual budget. Its primary purpose is advocacy, and it seeks to influence a range of policies affecting the treatment of animals, such as in research and food production.

Mr. Pacelle himself is credited with leading efforts at the Humane Society that were instrumental in the passage of more than a dozen federal laws, 15 statewide ballot initiatives, and countless state statutes to protect animals. He counts among his victories a campaign in Florida to ban the practice of keeping female pigs in small metal cages, called gestational crates, where the sows eat, sleep, eliminate, give birth, and nurse their young in the same tiny space.

The prohibition became state law in 2002 and was the first legislation in the country to restrict the means of confining farm animals. It has also become a lightning rod for critics who say that animal-rights advocates are out to do more than secure the humane treatment of animals, that they want to abolish animal agriculture altogether.

"Instead of fighting for more inspections, more oversight, more accountability on farms, Wayne Pacelle and the animal liberationists like him are running an anti-meat, anti-dairy stealth campaign -- stealth because it's done under the guise of the Humane Society, which looks like just a pet-care organization," says David Martosko, director of research at the Center for Consumer Freedom, a nonprofit group supported by food companies and restaurants.

Mr. Pacelle rejects such claims, but he does acknowledge that his views on animal protection are more strident than those of his predecessor, Paul G. Irwin, who was the Humane Society's chief executive officer for 12 years.

He says, however, that much of the difference between him and Mr. Irwin is simply "generational" and won't lead to big changes in what the Humane Society cares about or how it operates.

In an interview, Mr. Pacelle talked about his new role:

What do you consider your top priority?

We are going to tackle the industrial production of animals. The images we've had from youth of chickens scratching in the backyard or pigs wallowing in the mud are largely remnant images. The reality is that animals are now bred for certain physical characteristics, such as, in the case of turkeys, very large breasts, large body mass, so much so that they can barely stand. Most animals are confined so much that they can't even turn around or extend their wings. They are sometimes mutilated. Then, at the other end of the process, they are slaughtered in industrial slaughterhouse facilities where sometimes the animals are dismembered while they are still conscious.

Our goal is to make people aware that their food choices have enormous implications for animal protection, and that in the marketplace people can exhibit power to opt for products that are not produced in a way that causes cruelty.

What would you personally advocate on that score?

I am a vegan. I don't eat any meat or dairy or egg products. I have non-leather shoes and belts, and I definitely don't wear fur. But I do want to emphasize that in this society that is in some ways a bit of an ideal. That's a real personal commitment for me, which speaks to the level of scrutiny I bring to these issues.

Will your vegan philosophy affect the culture of your organization?

To some degree. But I'm also an enormously pragmatic person, and I would guess that 90 percent of our members are not vegetarian. We want them to make the right choices. For a lot of folks, they are not going to be ready to go vegetarian, and we really want to encourage them to support these producers who are exhibiting very responsible and humane husbandry practices. What I try to do, and what the organization does, is set a standard that people can strive for, but also at the same time to exhibit tolerance for a diversity of views and approaches. You can care about animals and come to some different conclusions about where to draw the line.

Do you run the risk of alienating supporters who may be dog-and-cat lovers, not activists?

I don't think so. All of our survey work and all of our work with our members show that people are concerned about animals. Whether it's dogs and cats or pigs or chickens or chimpanzees in laboratories or elephants in circuses, the protection and the humane treatment of animals is a universal value.

The Humane Society relies heavily on direct mail to find supporters. What do you think about that?

If we are to be a powerful organization that engages people who are concerned about the protection of animals, one goal has to be to build an army. These issues are not solved by reason and good will alone. These issues are advanced through the exercise of political power and strength, so my commitment to even exceeding our eight million supporters now is unwavering. I'd like to have us at 10 million active supporters in this country.

At the same time, for our own institutional health, we need to continue to diversify our revenue streams. We'll continue to work with corporate partners and we'll also work to identify members who can really give meaningfully to our programs. We'll work with people to find out how they would like to help pay for all of what we do. The key for us is to engage people. No social movement that calls for the sweeping set of reforms that we advocate can be successful by relying on a professional staff only. We have to engage and activate people in communities across the country to help change the status quo and improve the life of animals.

ABOUT WAYNE P. PACELLE, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF THE HUMANE SOCIETY OF THE UNITED STATES

Education: Earned a bachelor of arts degree with a dual major in history and studies in the environment at Yale University.

Work experience: He was previously senior vice president of communications and government affairs at the Humane Society. He has also served as executive director of the Fund for Animals, in New York; associate editor of The Animals' Agenda, an animal-rights magazine; and instructor at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Refuge Training Academy.

Volunteer work: Serves on the board of Humane USA PAC, a political-action organization, independent of the Humane Society, that he co-founded in 1999 to support political candidates with views favorable to the animal-rights movement.

Books he likes to reread from time to time: Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy, by Matthew Scully; Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes.