A reader took issue with my statement last week that the various animal rights/animal welfare factions should be able to agree that “we need tougher animal protection laws.” We don’t need “tougher” laws,” the reader said, we need “better” laws. It’s hard to argue with that. Better does means improvement, after all, and everyone should be striving to make tomorrow better than todayÑfor ourselves, for each other, and for our animals.

It’s also difficult to argue with the suggestion that tougher animal protection laws are meaningless until officials start enforcing the laws that already are on the books. Enacting tough laws is an exercise in futility, meaningless if the people who are charged with enforcing the laws are either unable or unwilling to do so