Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States, on a recent court decision to limit the United States Navy’s use of sonar:
The court—in a decision that will have wide-ranging impacts for marine mammals of all kinds beyond those affected by sonar—held that NMFS shirked its legal duty to properly mitigate these harmful impacts. The ruling emphasized the law’s requirement that the government err on the side of overprotection of marine mammals, and do everything practicable to protect these animals from dangerous activities undertaken by people.
While security is and must be a national priority, the federal government cannot look at planning and research from a single angle, and must find ways to advance our national priorities without causing so much collateral harm to animals.
That last part, “security is and must be a national priority,” is often cited as justification for countless animal atrocities.
Decisions like this convince me that the world is becoming a better place (even if it sometimes isn’t).