where science and ethics intersect with politics
President Trump’s executive order on “Promoting Agriculture and Rural Prosperity in America” assigns a task force to identify impediments to farming in the US. One particular impediment is the animal agriculture business. The Humane Party’s Agricultural Policy Transition Team has already done the labor intensive task of crunching numbers and ultimately resolving such impediments.
The green iguana, found in South Florida, where I live, is considered to be an invasive species. Despite the rather benign behavior of these docile creatures, local citizens view them as pests. Iguana hunting, especially in South Florida, is legal. Homeowners possess the right to “kill-on-sight” if they believe that an iguana is becoming a nuisance.
Federal tax dollars are funding animal research projects. Whether the taxpayer agrees or disagrees with the use of animals in laboratory testing arenas is of no importance to the United States government.
The United States meat industry is worried about taking a massive financial hit because of the new refugee policies that Trump has enacted.
The Northern Jaguar has become virtually extinct over the past several years and their survival is threatened by the construction of a wall with Mexico.
Does Sonny Perdue’s nomination contradict what the position itself should ideally represent or will the former governor surprise us by transferring his generosity toward domesticated animals to the millions of farm animals whom he will now oversee as Secretary of Agriculture?
