The Animal Legal Defense Fund’s 2024 Animal Protection State Laws Ranking Report is out. The report assesses the strength of each state and territory’s animal protection laws.
You can see at a glance below, see how your state ranks below, from green (good) to brown (bad). NGPR operates in in three of the worst states—Alabama, Kentucky and Mississippi.
The five top states for animal protection laws are:
– Oregon
– Massachusetts
– Maine
– Illinois
– Colorado
The five worst states or animal protection laws are:
– North Dakota
– Alabama (see below)
– Idaho
– Kentucky (see below)
– Mississippi (see below)
NGPR rescuers encounter situations with abandoned and abused animals in three of the worst states—Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, on a frequent basis. We see these poor animals on social media posts and receive messages and emails about helping them. Unfortunately, this is hard to do without local volunteers to pull and foster the dogs. Not only do the animals suffer, but if they end up in shelters, they have a good chance of being euthanized.
As valuable as the ALDF rankings are, even if a state’s laws are more attuned to animal welfare, there can still be many circumstances where inhumane treatment exists. Tennessee ranks #23, in the upper half of ALDR rankings, which you would think might make the treatment of animals there better than in most states. But with shelters overflowing in Tennessee, we have been told in more than one case that animals would be shot by local law enforcement if they were not removed by a rescue. The ALDF report makes it clear that “The Rankings Report analyzes enacted laws only and does not review the separate issue of how these laws are enforced”.
You can learn more about your state rankings or read the report here.
