By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block
The federal government has filed a brief strongly defending a law that would expand the ban on cockfighting in the United States to Puerto Rico, Guam and other U.S. territories.
By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block
Today, the U.S. Congress once again provides good news for animals. The Senate Appropriations Committee approved two Fiscal Year 2020 bills that cover funding for the Department of the Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Department of Commerce—including federal agencies whose activities and programs have enormous consequences for animals.
Rabbits are docile, loveable animals who we view as companions. Unfortunately, they, along with guinea pigs, mice, and rats, are still used for cosmetics testing for products like lipstick, toothpaste, lotion, and shampoo. In fact, approximately 500,000 animals suffer and die worldwide every year due to cosmetic testing where substances are forced down animals’ throats, dripped into their eyes, or smeared onto their skin, and they are left to suffer for days or weeks without pain relief.
By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block
Today, 17 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and New York City filed a lawsuit to block the Trump administration from making harmful changes to how the Endangered Species Act, the bedrock law that protects endangered and threatened animal species and their habitats, is implemented by the federal government.
As part of our fundamental mission, we encourage our members and supporters to advocate for animal protection by contacting elected officials about pending legislation and related matters. But we also ask you to stand up for animals by casting your ballot in elections at the federal, state, and local levels. We know, and we’ve tried to show you, that it really counts when animal welfare is on the line.
The Protect America’s Wildlife and Fish In Need of Conservation Act, (H.R. 4348)—also known as the PAW and FIN Conservation Act—introduced by Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and 23 colleagues, received an important hearing in the House Natural Resources Committee today. This critical bill would stop the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) from implementing irresponsible and dangerous rules designed to gut the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and decimate federal protections for our world’s most imperiled species.
A House committee today approved four key pieces of animal protection and conservation legislation to alleviate threats faced by some of the world’s most iconic and at-risk species, including a bill that would end harmful public contact activities with big cats, another that would crack down on the shark fin trade in the United States, one that would continue a critical conservation funding source, and a bill that would restrict the import of the body parts of endangered and threatened large animals killed overseas by trophy hunters.
By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block
Slaughterhouses in the United States are already allowed to kill pigs at a lightning speed of up to 1,106 animals per hour. Under a new federal rule announced today, some of these facilities can dial up those speeds even further, with no limit whatsoever, creating an animal welfare and worker safety nightmare as never before.
