“I am in favor of animal rights as well as human rights. That is the way of a whole human being.”

Such words, spoken by no less a figure than the revered President Abraham Lincoln, gives cause to wonder how a species allegedly created in “God’s Own Image” fails to heed such profound words. Or how too many fail to pay proper moral homage to the Biblical quote from Genesis 1:26: “And God said, ‘Let us make Man in Our Image after Our Likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish in the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the Earth.’”

Humane humans will agree the reference to “dominion” does not mean to exploit, abuse, or torment. History, however, validates how our species often excels in such deplorable ways, not only toward animals but toward one another.

Advocates for a more humane treatment of sentient beings that walk, fly, swim and crawl upon this planet must contend with habitual offenders on a daily basis while striving for justice on behalf of those lacking a legal voice, until now. Montville resident Christine Kiernan, a former certified nurse’s assistant until a belligerent patient caused a career-ending injury, found meaningful work instead as a justice advocate for abused animals.

It might be fair to say that the pain she endured as a victim of Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Syndrome is on a figurative par with the atrocities she contends with daily in the spectrum of animal abuse.

“It was a change that impacted my whole life,” said Kiernan, ever-grateful to Dr. James Sullivan of Mystic and Dr. Christopher Carlson.

“Those two men rescued me from a dreadful progressive disease that travels from one limb to another, carrying excruciating pain,” she explained.

Hampered by the debilitating effects of an impaired nervous system, Kiernan found herself virtually unemployable and all but confined to staying at home. Her one fleeting hope and joy was in the company of a tiny Shelton sheep dog named Chi.

“I had basically been deemed ‘disabled and chair-bound.’ Chi turned out to be my ‘therapy dog’ long before such a thing was ever heard of,” Kiernan said. “He got me up from that chair and into taking walks ... very short ones at first, then gradually up to three miles.”

It was there in the late 1990s that another defining moment took place when Kiernan had a chance to help out the Meriden Humane Society and began hearing about state Rep. Diana Urban, D-North Stonington, who she said was doing wonderful work in helping abused animals.

“So I called her to thank her for all she was doing,” Kiernan said. “This woman inspired me immensely and had a major effect on what was to become a new career for me: seeking justice for living beings needing an advocate.”

While with the Meriden Humane Society, she learned about a terrible case of a pit bull mix named Desmond who had been abused horribly by a man, Alex Wullaert, who adopted the dog with the intention of mistreating him. Kiernan explained how Wullaert had known the dog previously through a girlfriend he had victimized. It was her pet, but she could no longer keep Desmond, so she released him to a shelter in the west end of the state.

“He actually tracked this dog down,” Kiernan said. “And since enough wasn’t done in the line of background checks, he was able to deceive that other shelter into thinking he’d be a suitable owner.”

What Kiernan described regarding the horrors suffered by the dog Desmond is not fit for print. But it did set her on a pointed course for life in the name of “justice for living sentient beings, not to be abused or treated as commodities... a practice too readily accepted by courts,”

Kiernan describes a flimsy justice system that failed to take animal abuse seriously, much akin to complaints expressed for years by women who have been victims of domestic violence.

“For all the terrible things done to poor Desmond, his abuser wound up with ‘Accelerated Rehabilitation,’ which holds nothing in the line of accountability for the heinous treatment of an animal that wanted nothing more than a loving home,” she said. “The State of Connecticut claimed it could not afford jail time for these kind of social deviants, due to a ‘lack of funding.’”

As a result, animal abusers were treated lightly by the courts. But Kiernan cites laws put into effect by the likes of Rep. Urban, who scored a triumph with the passage of one proving a direct link between animal abusers and child abusers.

“That was a major victory,” said Kiernan.

And it was an inspiration to the former nurse’s assistant in the founding of Desmond’s Army. Along with co-founder Robin Cannamela, Kiernan has made Desmond’s Army into a potent legal force on behalf of domestic animals being regarded legally as sentient beings deserving of humane treatment. They helped push Desmond’s Law, passed last year with the assistance of Urban.

“It’s been well established and documented,” Cannamela said, “that people who treat animals well also treat fellow human beings well.”

The law now allows for animal advocates (volunteer lawyers) to act as pro bono attorneys in the prosecution and punishment of animal abusers. Jessica Rubin, law professor for the University of Connecticut, has been a leading proponent of this and the law is making a significant difference in these cases.

“It costs the state nothing and saves resources as we do all the work, including the obtaining of arrest warrants,” she said. “This law is going national and it’s making a difference.”

From the days of painful rehabilitative walks with her little Shelty, and volunteering at the Meriden Humane Society — when the steps for Desmond’s Army were inadvertently set in motion — Christine Kiernan, Robin Cannamela, and key legislators like Diana Urban are gradually helping the world recognize the wisdom of Gandhi: “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”