Action Alerts From HSUS Concerning Farm and Domestic Animals

Protecting Our Pets: When disasters like Hurricane Katrina strike, many people are forced to leave their pets behind. Following recent Congressional action on the Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards (PETS) Act, S. 2548 and H.R. 3858, President Bush signed the historic legislation into law, ensuring Americans are not faced with this terrible choice again. The PETS Act requires state and local agencies to include pets in their disaster plans. The Antifreeze Bittering Act, S. 1110 and H.R. 2567, would add a bittering agent to engine coolant and antifreeze to prevent children and animals from being poisoned. The Pet Safety and Protection Act, S. 451 and H.R. 5229, would stop shady "Class B" dealers from stealing pets and acquiring them from "free to a good home" ads to be sold to animal research facilities. The Pet Animal Welfare Statute of 2005  (PAWS), S. 1139 and H.R. 2669, will provide oversight and better care for animals in "puppy mills"—mass-breeding operations—and will ban imports of puppy mill dogs into the United States.

Ridding America of Animal Fighting: We're working to pass the Animal Fighting Prohibition Enforcement Act, S. 382 and H.R. 817, creates felony-level penalties for animal fighting activities and has passed the U.S. Senate unanimously. We are also working to secure funding for proper enforcement of these provisions.

Protecting Wildlife and People: The Captive Primate Safety Act, S. 1509 and H.R. 1329, prohibits interstate and foreign commerce in nonhuman primates for the pettrade. Some 15,000 primates are in private hands, and recent high-profile attacks, as well as disease threats, underscore the need for this legislation. The Truth in Fur Labeling Act, H.R. 4904, requires important product information for consumers who purchase fur-trimmed garments, so they are not left in the dark as to whether the trim on their collars or cuffs came from wild animals who were caught in steel-jawed leghold traps, from intensively confined animals on factory farms, or even from dogs or cats.

Putting the Lid on Canned Hunts and Internet Hunting: The Sportsmanship in Hunting Act, S. 304 and H.R 1688, seeks to halt the interstate transport of exotic animals for use in canned hunts. We are also backing legislation, H.R. 1558, to put an end to an associated activity—Internet hunting—in which a hunter can click a computer mouse to bag a trophy at a canned hunt facility. And we worked with Senate leaders to end a tax scam in which trophy hunters write off their killing sprees by donating their mounts to pseudo-museums.

Ensuring the Humane Treatment of Farm Animals: The Downed Animal Protection Act, S. 1779 and H.R. 3931 establishes a permanent ban on the slaughter of downed livestock—animals too sick or injured to stand are walk on their own. Poultry represent 95% of animals slaughtered in the United States, but they're not covered by the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act. The law should be amended to assure that poultry are rendered insensible to pain prior to being killed. And we are supporting the Farm Animal Stewardship Purchasing Act, H.R. 5557, which would require that the federal government lead by example and purchase meat, dairy, and eggs from producers who raise farm animals more humanely.