HSUS' Wayne Pacelle no longer speaking at Cat Writers Association Annual Conference

http://www.petconnection.com/blog/2007/08/03/hsus-speaker-out/
HSUS speaker outAugust 3, 2007
As Gina blogged last week, the board of the Dog Writers Association of America voted to back out of its participation in the Cat Writers Association annual conference because CWA had lined up the HSUS' Wayne Pacelle as its keynote speaker — and quite a folks in CWA weren't too happy about it, either. Many of the members of both organizations are responsible breeders or exhibitors of dogs and cats. Given that the event is being held in California and HSUS had recently spearheaded the campaign for AB 1634, a California mandatory spay/neuter law that many felt targeted responsible breeders while doing nothing to reduce puppy mills, unethical breeders, or shelter death rates, this was probably not the best year for Pacelle to be on the podium. Today, CWA president Nancy Peterson announced that Pacelle would no longer be addressing the members, and that there would be, this year, no speaker at the annual banquet. I had planned on being there either way. Despite the fact that I don't agree with HSUS on this issue and, in fact, quite a few others, I don't think a speaker being controversial is a reason not to attend their speech. I've been known to enjoy a good catfight. Still, I hope it's a chance for the dogs and cats to kiss and make up, and that DWAA will vote to restore its support of the event, which is in November.