Farm bill opportunity to advance animal welfare reforms

Americans shouldn’t butcher dogs or horses, or enable the activity and then sell the meat for human consumption — and Congress can make that the law of the land as it pieces together the far-flung provisions of a farm bill in the coming months.

Dogs and horses — our companions — have never been raised for food in the United States, and it’s a betrayal of our bond with them to steal, buy or gather up these animals for the pot or the plate.

Lawmakers on the Agriculture committees in Congress are conducting hearings on a wide range of agricultural policy issues as they take steps to ready the federal farm bill — a mish-mash of food and farm issues bundled into a massive package roughly every five years.

Several freestanding animal welfare bills, which already have tremendous bipartisan support in Congress, are ripe for being incorporated into the farm bill. Collectively, they seek to codify our cultural antipathy for killing and eating cats, dogs and horses — and to crack down on other forms of animal cruelty and misuse of funds.

Protecting cats and dogs

The Dog and Cat Meat Trade Prohibition Act (H.R. 1406) would amend the Animal Welfare Act to prohibit the slaughter, trade, import or export of dogs and cats for human consumption.

The bill would prevent the dog and cat meat trade from taking hold in the United States, while strengthening our country’s moral standing to press for reform worldwide at a time when we are asking China, South Korea and other southeast Asian nations to take a stand on the issue.

H.R. 1406 was introduced by U.S. Reps. Alcee Hastings, D-Fla., Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., Dave Trott, R-Mich., and Brendan Boyle, D-Pa.

Protecting horses — and humans

The Safeguard American Food Exports Act (H.R. 113/S. 1706) would protect horses and consumers by prohibiting the transport and export of U.S. horses to slaughter for human consumption.

American horses are not raised for food, and in the normal course of using them for other purposes, their owners give them dozens of drugs over their lifetimes that can be toxic to humans if their meat is ingested.

As with dog meat, there are foreign markets, but thankfully no meaningful domestic consumption.

Yet, in contrast to the dog-meat issue, there are healthy American horses funneled into the slaughter pipeline — more than 100,000 a year.

The House bill — introduced by U.S. Reps. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., Ed Royce, R-Calif., and Michelle Lujan Grisham, D-N.M. — and the Senate bill — introduced by Sens. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., and Susan Collins, R-Maine — have tremendous support, and all it will take to get these bills done is to give them a free and fair vote.

Strengthening the anti-soring ban

The Prevent All Soring Tactics Act (H.R. 1847) would amend the nearly 50-year-old, weak federal law to end the failed system of industry self-policing, ban devices integral to horse soring, strengthen penalties and hold abusers accountable. Soring is the practice of irritating a horse’s forelegs through the injection or application of chemicals or mechanical devices to accentuate its gait. The bill currently has 252 House co-sponsors and the Senate should see introduction of a companion bill soon.

The USDA is the agency responsible for enforcing the Horse Protection Act that H.R. 1847 would amend, so the farm bill is a logical place to consider an upgrade to the law.

The amendment was introduced by U.S. Reps. Ted Yoho, R-Fla. and Kurt Schrader, D-Ore.

Keeping women and their pets safe

The Pet and Women Safety Act (H.R. 909/ S. 322) would protect battered domestic partners and their pets by extending current federal domestic violence protections to include pets, and authorize a small amount of grant money to help domestic violence shelters accommodate pets or arrange for pet sheltering.

The bill has 231 House co-sponsors — including co-leads Reps. Katherine Clark, D-Mass., Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., Rick Nolan, D-Minn., Jeff Denham, R-Calif., Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., and Mimi Walters, R-Calif. The Senate bill has 18 co-sponsors, including co-leads Sens. Gary Peters, D-Mich. and Dean Heller, R-Nev.

Attempts to undermine animal protections

It’s not just bills that would strengthen animal protection that are at stake in the coming months. Traditionally, the farm bill also has been the platform for some lawmakers to try to undermine animal welfare. For instance, U.S. Reps. Steve King, R-Iowa and Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis. have introduced bills that would invalidate state laws that help animals, including those meant to uphold animal welfare and food safety standards.

In short, they are trying to pre-empt the states from taking action on animal welfare issues.

This report is from "A Humane Nation," Wayne Pacelle’s blog. Pacelle is president and CEO of The Humane Society of the United States. The HSUS is the nation’s largest animal protection organization.