Back in August, a new animal rights group calling itself the Center for Animal Protection announced its formation in a press release posted to animal rights mailing lists. Apparently formed largely over the opposition to plans by the United States Department of Agriculture to kill about 2,700 geese in New Jersey, the press release took a number of swipes at other, unnamed, animal rights groups,
And we intend on setting definite standards for actual achievement.
Taking on the opposition means tightening standards at home. This includes encouraging those who support animal work with their efforts and funds to become more discriminating and demanding. In the corporate world, non-producers don’t last long. No CEO would long suffer an executive who talked about making sales, even presumed to instruct others how to do it, but never closed a deal. Among non-profits and in volunteer settings animal work sets few measurable markers. The result can be an unsettling admixture of smoke, mirrors, coattail riding — and stasis. (This in no way reflects on some remarkable work going on around the country: remarkable work is still the exception.)
Animals can’t hire us, and they sure as hell can’t fire us. In a vacuum or at the state level they are vulnerable to the self-satisfied: cruisers, well-funded sinecures, bloviators, experts without portfolios or the simply ineffective.
Hmm, I wonder who that was referring to (and if the group wants to set serious measures for success, they might consider fixing all of the broken links on the front page of their web site a bit more frequently).
Source:
Introducing: The Center for Animal Protection. Press Release, Center for Animal Protection, August 2003.