As the 2008 Summer Olympics approach in Beijing, it’s hard to imagine that cockfighting will ever be up there with gymnastics and swimming. But one state lawmaker is imploring the United Nations to “officially commemorate cockfighting as a global sport.” Hawaii Rep.
After the Humane Society Legislative Fund published its new Humane Scorecard a couple weeks ago, bloggers ranging from the Baltimore Sun’s Mutts to Dogster’s For the Love of Dog Blog have commented on this resource that rates members of Congress on animal
I visited Buffalo, N.Y., last August for my niece’s first birthday party, and during the outdoor festivities (yes, you can go outside in Buffalo during the summer) I found a baby squirrel who was stranded on the sidewalk and had fallen from a tree. He was chirping, a sign of hunger, but was unable to climb on his own. After I put him back in the tree to wait for his mom to come feed him, it became obvious that there were no adult squirrels in the vicinity.
One of our principles at the Humane Society Legislative Fund is community engagement. We know we can’t accomplish legislative or electoral reforms just by having a professional staff in Washington, D.C.—we need the active participation of thousands of people who care about animals all over the country. That’s why we created our Party Animals program, and I hope you will join me as we party to support farm animal welfare on April 27!
The USDA’s misnamed “Wildlife Services” agency killed 1.6 million animals in 2006—including 41 kit foxes, 287 wolves, 346 mountain lions, more than 2,500 bobcats, and more than 87,000 coyotes. It’s a fleecing of American taxpayers as the federal government continues to spend millions of dollars each year on this subsidy to private ranchers, and it’s especially at odds with the political climate of cutting government waste.
The Humane Society Legislative Fund today posted its 2007 Humane Scorecard, and you can read it here. The scorecard, which is published annually, provides the records of U.S. Senators and U.S. Representatives on major animal welfare policies. This most recent report card covers the first session of the 110th Congress.
Voting is in the air this season.
If there’s one thing we’ve learned from the investigation into the torture of crippled cows and the largest recall of beef in U.S. history, it’s that the agribusiness industry can’t be trusted to regulate itself. Left to its own devices without proper government inspections and enforcement of laws and regulations related to animals and the environment, some in the sector will not exhibit self-restraint, but instead will stoop to any low just to squeeze out a few extra pennies of profit.
The San Bernardino County District Attorney filed criminal charges Friday against two slaughter plant workers who abused cows too sick or injured to stand up, as revealed in recent weeks by a shocking undercover investigation by The Humane Society of the United States.
