The film 'Dogs are People Too: A Four-Legged Civil Rights Movement', comes as legislation is introduced in Michigan to address the topic of animal rights. House Bill 6024 looks to create a Courtroom Animal Advocate Program in Michigan, similar to initiatives in Connecticut and Maine. The bill proposes that in a criminal case involving animal mistreatment, an advocate is present to speak on behalf of the animal. Law professor Jessica Rubin, who is featured in the film, said the idea of granting personhood rights to animals creates 'a forced reckoning with our use of animals'.
JAMIE L. LAREAU: A new documentary film addresses the idea of giving dogs “non-human personhood” under the law. It asks the provocative question: Should dogs be viewed as humans, not as mere property? If so, where does the idea of “non-human personhood” end?
The documentary, called “Dogs are People Too: A Four-Legged Civil Rights Movement,” takes a hard look at some cases in Detroit and metro Detroit in which police officers killed family dogs. It then examines the important place dogs occupy in society and asks what rights humans should give them. It is sponsored by two animal law groups.
The film comes just as legislation was introduced in Michigan earlier this month to address the topic of animal rights. House Bill 6024 looks to create a Courtroom Animal Advocate Program in Michigan, similar to initiatives in Connecticut and Maine. The bill proposes that in a criminal case involving animal mistreatment, an advocate is present to speak on behalf of the animal.
The film doesn’t take a position on the topic. Instead, it provides various viewpoints for or against extended personhood rights to dogs and other animals. It notes that in 2014 in Argentina, an orangutan named Sandra won recognition as the country’s first “nonhuman person, with the right to liberty” after a judge found that Sandra was illegally detained in a zoo that closed amid reports of abuse. In 2021, the United Kingdom’s government legally recognized lobsters, crabs and octopuses as sentient beings.
“This film made me think,” said Chris Olson, managing partner of Olson law firm in Royal Oak. He is featured prominently in the film along with three of his clients whose dogs were killed by police. “I went to the screening in Prague at the One World Film Festival in March, then in the Brooklyn Film Festival in June. It got people all up in it and interested and excited about it. People in the Q&A afterwards were thoroughly engaged and emotional about it”…
The film is the brainchild of Hendrik Faller, who directed it and is the head of film at London-based creative agency TCOL, and Tom Miller, who produced it. The pair are based in the United Kingdom and had worked together on non-documentary films in the past. They got the idea for this film about five years ago at a dinner party at Faller’s home in London.
“Hendrik was a vegan and he had a vegan dinner party with about 10 people there,” Miller told the Detroit Free Press. “Coming from a non-vegan and dairy farming background, I started to ask the question of ‘Why are you vegan?’ It sparked a conversation at the table which lasted until the wee hours of the morning. People were talking about animals in a way that I never witnessed before and that was the spark where we thought we should be telling a story about this.” The two wanted to focus on dogs because their popularity would make them relatable to most people…
The film… features University of Connecticut School of Law professor Jessica Rubin and former Connecticut legislator Diana Urban, who conceived and passed into law a program allowing attorneys and law students to represent the interests of animals in court… Rubin said the idea of granting personhood rights to animals creates “a forced reckoning with our use of animals”…
“That’s what initially caught our attention,” said Erin Klug, chair of the Animal Law Section of the State Bar of Michigan and member of Attorneys for Animals. Both organizations are co-sponsoring the screening. “We came for the law but stayed for the captivating and moving stories about dogs. That’s when we decided to sponsor a screening in Michigan.”
Then there is Rutgers University Professor Gary Francione, who has written several books on animal rights. In the documentary, he argues if people regard animals as sentient creatures with moral value, then people are obligated to stop eating them, wearing them or using them for anything. He advocates ending the domestication of all dogs…
The documentary’s screened… at the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor. After that, the film goes to Warsaw in November. Next year, Miller said he is setting up screenings in New Mexico, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Maine, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Indiana and Boston. He is also selling it to a distributor early next year, hoping it will make it to streaming services. SOURCE…
RELATED VIDEOS: