Connemara society should make ‘profound shift’ in way it regards animals

A new site dedicated to animals should serve notice to the American Connemara Pony Society that bullying behavior in the form of inspections to force horses to look a certain way will not stand the test of time. The world is changing, and the society must evolve to survive. Animals are not objects to be manipulated.

The new site, called The Dodo, is dedicated to looking at animals as intelligent, emotional, social beings. It launched the week of Jan. 13, 2014.

This is not a whim that someone created during some free time. Those backing The Dodo have some impressive credentials. Kerry Lauerman is the chief executive officer and editor in chief. He previously worked for the Salon, where he was the editor in chief from late 2010 to mid-2013. A principal financial backer is Ken Lerer, current chairman of BuzzFeed and a founder of the Huffington Post. This site is expecting to be huge.

Lauerman explains on The Dodo: “We’re witnessing a profound shift in the way people regard animals. They matter more to us now. We think of them less as objects at our disposal, as science increasingly reveals them to be intelligent, emotional, social beings that are not as different from us as we used to think they were. We’re increasingly committed to learning about them, more interested in understanding and improving our relationships with them, and more passionate about protecting them. The Dodo will channel this shift every day by covering the most important and fascinating stories including photos, videos, Vines, etc.

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Helping drive the shift in people’s attitude toward animals is the fact that social media is shining an ever brighter light on animal abuse, and animal lovers are growing more disgusted, resulting in them taking action. Society can’t ignore what is happening to animals anymore, whether the animals are part of the food chain, clothing industry or entertainment world or are someone’s pet. Any injustice toward an animal creates a huge backlash around the world.

In fact, USEF took note of this in June 2013 when it held its live webcast announcing that the organization would be focusing on the welfare of the horse going forward. USEF officials said members should behave as if a camera is always watching them (because it is).

In that spirit, Connemara officials who gather around the country to hold inspections and sit in judgment of whether a Connemara is “Connemara enough” should ask themselves how well that practice would go over on YouTube. How would the online audience accept the footage of three women holding clipboards and doing a quick walk around a horse to decide whether it’s a “premium” animal and should be bred?

And, now, beyond YouTube, there’s The Dodo, which already is live streaming animal abuse half a world away.

Judgment day is here, but not for horses. It’s for people insisting on inflicting their opinions on animals.

The Dodo explains why it chose the name: “We’re resurrecting the dodo — a mysterious bird we drove into extinction nearly 400 years ago — to remind us of just how great our impact on animals is, and to inspire us to get it right this time.”

The Connemara society should get it right, as well.