DawnWatch — Wall Street Journal asks “How Much Is Your Dog’s Life Worth?” 4/26/07
April 30th, 2007 11:53 am by Kelly Garbato———- Forwarded message ———-
From: DawnWatch – news [at] dawnwatch.com
Date: Apr 27, 2007 10:16 PM
Subject: DawnWatch — Wall Street Journal asks “How Much Is Your Dog’s Life Worth?” 4/26/07
Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal, Thursday, April 26 Wall, included a lead story (page D1) headed, “How Much Is Your Dog’s Life Worth?; Flurry of Pet-Food Suits Spurs Effort to Boost Legal Value Of Animal Companions.”
The article, by Sara Schaefer, opens:
“Most people consider their pet priceless. But in civil law, at least, pets are usually seen as property — akin to a toaster or TV set — worth only their market value. Now, amid the incidences of tainted pet food tied to animal deaths and the subsequent rash of lawsuits against pet-food makers, there’s a push to put a higher value on a pet’s life.
“Lawyers, animal-rights activists and pet owners are arguing that most state laws dealing with pets are outmoded and fail to consider that pets play the role of companions in today’s society. They say pet owners whose animal is injured or killed should receive compensation not only for vet bills and a replacement animal — but for emotional distress as well. While legal experts say big payouts for emotional damages are unlikely in the pet-food cases, the lawsuits and large number of pets affected could accelerate a growing trend to give pets more recognition under the law.”
We read:
“Animal-rights groups say that most animal law is based on a long-ago era when pets didn’t have the vaunted role they now enjoy in many households — and when Americans didn’t spend nearly as much money on them.”
We read that “except in the case of extreme cruelty or malice, owners who have lost a pet through some type of negligence usually recover little more than the animal’s market value in civil suits.” The piece continues, “The market value ranges anywhere from $10 to several hundred dollars, depending on the animal’s breed, training and other factors. This doesn’t adequately reflect the emotional value pets have for people, says Joyce Tischler, founding director of the Animal League Defense Fund, an advocacy group in Cotati, Calif.”
We read about a class action suit brought by several hundred pet owners against Menu Foods, which, according to lead counsel and Chicago attorney Jay Edelson, “alleges, among other things, fraud and negligence, and seeks economic and punitive damages as well as damages for emotional suffering.”
The article ends with:
“While animal-rights advocates and pet owners say the law shouldn’t put animals on par with humans, they are calling for some middle ground.
“‘Pets are not the equivalent of a child — I understand that,’ says Ben DeLong, who says his cat suffered kidney problems due to tainted pet food and died last month. ‘But there is a significant emotional investment my wife and I have in our animals.’”
You’ll find the whole article on line at tinyurl.com/2ng6p4.
The article should be available to non-subscribers of the Online Journal for up to seven days after it is e-mailed.
The Wall Street Journal has run many animal friendly articles in the last year or so. Demonstrable reader interest in them will encourage even more. Yesterday’s article on the value of our pets opens the door for letters on any aspect of the way human society treats other animals — you might write about abandonment, adoption, factory farming or compassionate diets.
The Wall Street Journal takes letters at wsj.ltrs [at] wsj.com.
Always include your full name, address, and daytime phone number when sending a letter to the editor. Shorter letters are more likely to be published.
Yours and the animals’,
Karen Dawn
(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at www.DawnWatch.com. You may forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts if you do so unedited — leave DawnWatch in the title and include this parenthesized tag line. If somebody forwards DawnWatch alerts to you, which you enjoy, please help the list grow by signing up. It is free.)
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