SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (July 30, 2024)—Today, the Humane Society Legislative Fund released its 2024 Illinois Humane Scorecard, which grades Illinois state representatives on their efforts to promote animal welfare during the 2024 session.
HSLF is a nonpartisan organization that evaluates candidates based only on a single criterion, where they stand on animal protection. HSLF does not judge candidates based on party affiliation or any other issue.
“As November draws close, elected officials up and down the ballot are hoping to earn your vote. Where they stand on protecting animals tells a lot about their candidacy, their values, and their future votes on animal welfare bills,” said Marc Ayers, Illinois state director of the Humane Society Legislative Fund. “Illinois is a leader in passing animal welfare legislation and our scorecard continues to hold elected officials accountable for their votes to protect animals.”
The following bills passed the Illinois House, and their corresponding actions are scored in the 2024 Illinois Humane Scorecard:
- Ownership of Dangerous Wild Animals: A ✓ indicates a vote in favor of HB 4446, which prohibits the private possession of certain dangerous wild animals including servals, caracals, kangaroos, wallabies and hybrids thereof. Escaped wild animals are a danger to the public and to law enforcement officials, and often result in a serious injury or death for the animal, like the tragedy last year in a Chicago suburb when an African serval cat escaped.
- Wildlife Killing Contests Ban: A ✓ indicates a vote in favor of HB 2900, which prohibits wildlife killing contests in the state of Illinois. Killing contests are organized events in which participants compete for prizes—typically cash and guns—for killing the most, the smallest, or the largest animals within a certain time. The Humane Society of the United States went undercover last year at an Illinois wildlife killing contest.
As the nation’s leading political advocacy organization for animal protection, HSLF has published a Congressional Humane Scorecard since 2006 to track the relevant votes, co-sponsorships and other actions of federal lawmakers. This resource effectively records which members of Congress are animal champions and which fail to denounce cruelty. Now, the Humane Society Legislative Fund is increasing its release of state-level scorecards, to build on the progress made in animal protection at the state level and hold members of state legislatures accountable to animal advocates.
Voters in Illinois are encouraged to use this scorecard to make humane choices in 2024 at the ballot box and in future elections.
Read more in our blog.
Media Contact:
Emily Ehrhorn | eehrhorn@hslf.org
