WASHINGTON - The Humane
Society of the United States (HSUS) today urged members of the House
and Senate to oppose the conference report on H.R. 2646, the Farm
Security Act, commonly known as the Farm Bill. The HSUS, the
nation’s largest animal protection organization with seven million
members and constituents, denounced the bill as a major retreat on
public policies relating to animal protection.
“In the dim light of the conference committee, a small number of
Representatives and Senators rewrote this legislation at the behest
of cockfighters, factory farmers, puppy mill operators, and other
animal-use industries,” stated Wayne Pacelle, a senior vice
president for The Humane Society of the United States. “We strongly
urge Members of Congress to oppose it.”
In October, the House passed four animal protection amendments,
dealing with animal fighting, “downed animals” (livestock too sick
or injured to walk), and humane slaughter of livestock. In February,
the Senate passed those same amendments, and added amendments to
combat abuses of dogs at puppy mills and to address the poaching of
bears for their internal parts.
Conferees are only supposed to address issues where the House and
Senate are in disagreement, yet they weakened the penalty provisions
of the animal fighting language and they gutted the downed animal
protection provisions. Conferees completely removed the language to
protect dogs and bears.
Conferees also accepted a Senate-passed amendment offered by
Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC) to permanently exclude birds, mice, and
rats from minimal care standards called for in the Animal Welfare
Act, even though respected scientists and industry giants Procter
& Gamble and Colgate Palmolive had urged that these animals be
provided with animal welfare protections. Conferees also passed a
measure to require airlines to carry baby chicks as ordinary mail,
rather than as live animals deserving modest protections.
The HSUS also expressed disappointment that the conference
committee provided billions of dollars in new subsidies to
large-scale factory farms for manure management. This provision will
subsidize the expansion of Confined Animal Feeding Operations
(CAFOs), notorious for their inhumane treatment of animals and
environmental damage.
“The conference committee apparently does not recognize that
Americans want to see animals humanely treated,” added Pacelle. “We
will do our best to revisit these measures until they are addressed
in a satisfactory way in the Congress.”
The HSUS did express satisfaction that a ban on any interstate
shipment or exports of fighting birds and dogs was approved, as was
a resolution calling on the U.S. Department of Agriculture to begin
properly enforcing the Humane Slaughter Act.
 |
| Rachel Querry: (301)
258-8255 | | |
