Friday, March 20, 2009

Just before the November elections, the Humane Society
Legislative Fund released
a special preview
of the 2008 Humane Scorecard. The final copy of
the publication is now available, and it charts the progress that we made for
animal protection during the 110th Congress, on issues ranging from
animal fighting to puppy mills to pet food safety. You can download a copy
and read it here
.

Capitol
I hope you will study the Humane Scorecard and see
how your federal lawmakers rated when it came to common-sense animal protection
policies. If they received high marks, please be sure to thank them for their
support. And if they did poorly, let them know you are watching and want them
to do better.

Thirty-nine senators and 109 representatives, representing
42 states and two U.S. territories, scored a perfect 100 percent, led as prime sponsors of animal protection legislation, or did both. We will honor this
group of leaders
at a special awards ceremony next week on Capitol Hill,
and we thank them for going the extra mile to protect animals from cruelty and
abuse.

We are already well on our way to making meaningful advances
for animals in the 111th Congress, with the long-awaited ban on slaughter of downer cattle now final, and progress on other fronts—so as we look back, we are also
looking forward. Let the previous session be a guide, where we started down the
path toward passing laws to require labeling of fur-trimmed apparel, ban the
trade in pet primates, stop the export of horses for slaughter, and much more.

Please pass on the Humane
Scorecard
to friends and others who care about animals, and urge them to get
involved by writing their lawmakers. And let’s do our best to assure that
lawmakers know animal advocates are watching, so that they will strive to do
even better as the next scorecard reviews their performance for 2009.