Former U.S. Senator Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, who died in a plane crash last week, is well-known for his 40 years of service to the state of Alaska and for his record as the longest serving Republican senator. At the Humane Society Legislative Fund, we are deeply saddened by the loss, and that will surprise many a person. While we disagreed with him on many issues through the years, including drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the use of steel-jawed leghold traps, he became demonstrably more sympathetic and active on animal welfare issues later in his life. We will remember Senator Stevens for the qualities that are perhaps lesser known to the general public and to his constituents: his compassion for animals and his determined leadership on some critical animal welfare policy reforms.
When Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast in 2005, many citizens put themselves in danger as they refused to evacuate their flooded and destroyed homes because they didn’t want to abandon their pets. Many people were forced to leave without their pets, adding tremendous anguish for these hurricane victims who had already lost everything. According to a Zogby International Poll conducted in the aftermath of Katrina, 61 percent of pet owners would refuse to evacuate ahead of a disaster if they could not take their pets with them.
Ted Stevens saw the absence of a national policy to provide for animals in disasters, and he promptly took action. He introduced a bill with Senator Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., the Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards (PETS) Act, to require local and state disaster plans to include provisions for household pets and service animals in the event of a major disaster or emergency. The Senate and House both passed the bill unanimously, and it was signed into law by President Bush—who said that if he had to evacuate the White House and could take only one thing with him, it would be his dog, Barney.
Thanks to Senator Stevens’ active championing of this important legislation, the federal government took an important step in ensuring that Americans will never again be forced to make an impossibly difficult choice: leave their animal behind while they flee a disaster or take their chances by staying in a disaster-stricken area with their pet. Stevens’ fellow Republican from the Alaska delegation, Rep. Don Young, then-chairman of the important Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, also cosponsored the legislation and helped to shepherd it through the House. Thanks to their work and that of other policymakers, we now have a law on the books to keep people and pets together next time disaster strikes.
And it wasn’t the only time in his long career that Ted Stevens stood up for animals. He joined Senators Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., in introducing legislation to ban the slaughter of “downer” livestock—animals too sick and injured to walk on their own—and strengthen the penalties for violations of the downer ban and humane slaughter law. He voted to de-fund horse slaughter plants in the United States, and he cosponsored the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act to bar the transport of horses to slaughter. He cosponsored the Pet Safety and Protection Act to stop the trafficking of stolen pets to “random source” dealers for research. As chairman of the powerful Appropriations Committee, he supported adequate funding for the enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act, the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act, the federal animal fighting law, and other animal welfare programs. When he later chaired the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, he helped to pass the Engine Coolant and Antifreeze Bittering Agent Act, to prevent the poisoning of pets and children, through that committee. And in a victory for both animals and taxpayers, he voted for a successful amendment to kill a $2 million annual subsidy for the luxury mink coat industry.
Ted Stevens had good instincts when it came to celebrating the human-animal bond and putting a stop to cruelty and abuse. We thank him for his work to make life better for God’s creatures, and we urge others to help celebrate his legacy by implementing the important animal welfare policies he championed: developing disaster plans for pets, stopping the abuse of pets, farm animals and horses, and enforcing the federal laws to safeguard the most helpless among us.
