WASHINGTON (October 25, 2016)—The Humane Society Legislative Fund, the nation’s leading political advocacy organization for animal welfare, announces the launch of a new television ad campaign in Wisconsin supporting Russ Feingold for U.S. Senate. The ads, which begin airing in the Milwaukee and Madison media markets on Tuesday, October 25, are aimed at informing voters of Feingold’s established history of support for common-sense animal protection policies.
“Russ Feingold has a consistent, proven record on animal protection and wildlife conservation,” said Sara Amundson, executive director of the HSLF. “Voters in Wisconsin deserve to know that Russ Feingold does what’s right for working families—including our animals.”
The ad can be viewed here.
During his time in the U.S. Senate, Feingold supported a wide range of animal protection and conservation efforts, including:
- Co-sponsoring several measures to crack down on illegal dogfighting and cockfighting, including the Animal Fighting Prohibition Enforcement Act (S. 261, S. 382, S. 736) to create felony-level penalties for animal fighting, and legislation (S. 345) to ban the interstate shipment of birds for the purpose of cockfighting;
- Leading the effort for the Crane Conservation Act (S. 197, S. 1048, S. 943, S. 128, S. 2847) to assist in the conservation of imperiled crane species in Wisconsin and around the world;
- Co-sponsoring the Pet Safety and Protection Act (S. 714) to prohibit unscrupulous “Class B dealers” from funneling random-source dogs and cats, including stolen pets and those obtained fraudulently through “free to good home” ads, into laboratory experiments;
- Co-sponsoring the Puppy Protection Act (S. 1478) to improve the standards of care for breeding dogs in large-scale commercial puppy mills;
- Co-sponsoring a resolution (S. Res. 269) calling on the Canadian government to end its commercial seal hunt, the largest marine mammal slaughter in the world;
- Supporting an amendment to help protect dolphins from being caught and drowning in tuna fishing nets;
- Co-sponsoring the Bear Protection Act (S. 1125, S. 1109) to prohibit the trade in bear viscera (gallbladders and bile) in order to halt the poaching of bears for Asian medicines, cosmetics, and shampoos;
- Co-sponsoring the Truth in Fur Labeling Act (S. 1076) to require accurate labeling of all garments trimmed with animal fur so consumers are not deceived into believing the apparel is faux fur;
- Consistently supporting funding for enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act, Horse Protection Act, Humane Methods of Slaughter Act and federal animal fighting law, as well as for programs to address the needs of animals in disasters and to ease a shortage of veterinarians in rural and inner-city areas and USDA positions through student loan forgiveness;
- Supporting an amendment to bar the use of taxpayer dollars for the slaughter of horses for human consumption;
- As United States Special Representative for the African Great Lakes Region and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, working extensively to protect elephants from poaching and wildlife trafficking.
Senator Ron Johnson has opposed or failed to support a number of animal protection measures, earning a “0” in the most recent version of the Humane Scorecard, published recently. In 2015, Johnson voted to weaken Endangered Species Act protections for the lesser prairie chicken, of which only around 1% of historic populations remain. In 2016, he voted to impede the ability of federal agencies to adopt new rules or strengthen existing regulations, including those to protect animals, and voted to make it more difficult to create national monuments, including those that protect wildlife habitat. Johnson sponsored a bill to delist wolves in the Great Lakes region, seeking to reverse a federal court ruling and to subvert further judicial review of that case. More than 50 leading wolf biologists have called on Congress to reject this legislation and not to delist wolves.
The Humane Society Legislative Fund is the nation’s leading political advocacy organization for animal welfare. HSLF raises its own money and has its own governing structure that is independent of The Humane Society of the United States, which is expressly prohibited from endorsing candidates in elections. What’s more, HSLF is in no way affiliated with the Wisconsin Humane Society or other local organizations, which generally are also expressly prohibited from making candidate endorsements.
Media Contact: John Cleveland, (202) 676-2338, jcleveland@hslf.org
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HSLF is a nonpartisan organization that evaluates candidates based only on a single criterion: where they stand on animal welfare. HSLF does not judge candidates based on party affiliation or any other issue.
The Humane Society Legislative Fund is a social welfare organization incorporated under section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code and formed in 2004 as a separate lobbying affiliate of The Humane Society of the United States. The HSLF works to pass animal protection laws at the state and federal level, to educate the public about animal protection issues, and to support humane candidates for office. Visit us on all our channels: on the web at hslf.org, on our blog at animalsandpolitics.com, on Facebook at facebook.com/humanelegislation and on Twitter at twitter.com/HSLegFund.
Paid for by Humane Society Legislative Fund and not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee. HSLF, 1255 23rd Street, NW, Suite 455, Washington, DC 20037.
