Protecting “Man’s Best Friend” and Animal Rights

By Jody Brumage
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Over the past weekend, the Byrd Center’s home town, Shepherdstown, marked its third annual Dog Fest, a celebration of dog owners and the proper care and rescue of animals in the community. We were inspired to take a look into the archives and see how animals, especially dogs, were important to Senator Byrd.

Senator Byrd’s family, including “Billy”

Throughout much of his life, Senator Byrd had at least one family dog. An early family photograph which Senator Byrd often sent to constituents and used on campaign postcards shows his wife Erma, two daughters, and the family dog, a cocker spaniel named “Billy.” In his autobiography, Child of the Appalachian Coalfields, Senator Byrd remembered a letter he received from a thirteen-year-old boy from West Virginia in 1960 asking if he could have the Senator’s dog which he had seen in the photograph. Senator Byrd replied “Billy is a member of our family. It would be like sending one of my children to you if I were to send Billy.” The Senator’s love of his pets continued even into his last decade in the Senate when Mrs. Byrd often brought another family dog, a Maltese named “Trouble” to the office to visit with Senator Byrd.

Senator and Mrs. Byrd with “Trouble” in the Senate Appropriations Committee Chamber

Senator Byrd’s love of dogs went beyond just keeping family pets. He became an ardent supporter of animal rights legislation throughout his career. In 2001, Senator Byrd called out the U.S. Department of Agriculture for the lack of enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act of 1966, a measure which the Senator had voted for during the 89th Congress. On July 9, 2001, Senator Byrd delivered a speech decrying animal cruelty on the floor of the Senate and added $3 million to a supplemental appropriations bill to provide for adequate enforcement of laws to protect animal rights. In 2007, Senator Byrd gave a impassioned speech on the Senate floor against dog fighting, calling the act “barbaric” in response to the filing of charges against pro-football player Michael Vick for his role in managing a dog fighting operation.

Among the last of his weekly newspaper columns, the “Byrd’s Eye View” to be published before his passing in 2010, an issue dated February 24 entitled “Pet Adoption” called for Americans to “look for your next pet at homeless animal shelters, and spay or neuter your animals to keep the population in the shelters and euthanasia down.” Indeed, animals and their protection were important to Senator Byrd throughout his life and career.
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You can read the full newspaper column below: