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Issue
183 - February 20, 2002
| Farm Bill Moves to Conference
Committee |
| The passage last week of the Senate Farm Bill
included one major disappointment: the attachment of the Helms
amendment to exclude birds, rats and mice from the protections
of the federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA). The amendment is a
cynical attempt by Senator Helms (R-NC) to undo a recent,
hard-won federal court order compelling the USDA to begin
granting AWA protections to these long-suffering animals, who
comprise more than 95% of all animals used in laboratory
research. While the Senate version of the Farm bill included
the Helms amendment, the House version did not. This gives us
one final opportunity to see the amendment stripped from the
Farm bill before it is finished. A House-Senate Conference
committee will meet to reconcile the different versions of the
bill, at which time we hope to convince them to drop the Helms
amendment from the final version.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Contact the following key members of
the Senate-House Conference Committee and urge them to "drop
the Helms research amendment from the final version of the
Farm Bill." Please call:
- Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA): 202-224-6901
- Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN): 202-224-2035
- Representative Larry Combest (R-TX): 202-225-2171
- Representative Charles Stenholm (D-TX):
202-225-0317
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| Washington State Trapping Ban in
Trouble |
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In 2000, the citizens of Washington state voted to pass
I-713, an initiative that generally banned the use of
steel-jawed leghold traps, conibear traps (body-gripping
traps), snares, and two types of cruel poisons: sodium cyanide
and Compound 1080. On Monday, (02/18), in an unexpected and
outrageous legislative maneuver, the Washington state senate
passed ESB 5831, a bill that completely overturns I-713. This
bill has now moved to the House of Representatives' Natural
Resource Committee and could move to the House floor for a
vote at any time. If passed by the House, it will completely
overturn I-713 and reinstate the use of cruel traps and
poisons to kill wildlife throughout the state.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
If you are a Washington state resident,
your action to stop ESB 5831 is crucial:
- Please call your two state Representatives and ask them
to oppose ESB 5831 or any other bill that has
anything to do with I-713. Express your outrage that the
Senate has chosen to flout the will of the voters by passing
ESB 5831. Let them know that you do not want the House to do
the same. To find out the names and numbers of your
Washington state (not federal) representatives, call the
Toll-Free Legislative Hotline at 1-800-562-6000 and give the
operator your address or go to the Washington State
Legislative District Lookup site at: http://dfind.leg.wa.gov/
- Contact Governor Locke and urge him to oppose any
efforts to undo I-713. Call 360-902-4111 or send him an
e-mail through his web site: http://www.governor.wa.gov/contact/govemail.htm
For more details or talking points, contact the HSUS's
Pacific Northwest Regional Office at pnro@hsus.org |
| Bill to Ban Horse Slaughter Introduced in
Congress |
| U.S. Representative Connie Morella (R-MD) has
introduced HR 3781, the American Horse Slaughter Prevention
Act, to ban the trade in horsemeat and live horses for human
consumption. While horsemeat is not commonly consumed in the
U.S., there is a growing industry in which horses are killed
in U.S. slaughterhouses and shipped overseas. "More than
55,000 horses were slaughtered in America last year to satisfy
consumer demand overseas," said Congresswoman Morella.
"Thousands more were shipped live to Canada and Mexico for
slaughter there.... When told that our horses are being
slaughtered for dinner in Europe, the vast majority of
Americans are horrified and want the practice banned."
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Contact your U.S. Representative and
ask that s/he sign on as a cosponsor of HR 3781, the American
Horse Slaughter Prevention Act. To find the name of your U.S.
Representative, go to http://www.house.gov/writerep
or call The HSUS at 202-955-3666. To read a copy of HR 3781,
go to http://thomas.loc.gov/ and
type "HR 3781" into the search
box. |
| Support Reform of New Jersey's Farming
Laws |
| In 1996, the New Jersey legislature passed
unique legislation mandating that the New Jersey Department of
Agriculture (NJDA) establish and enforce standards of humane
treatment of farm animals. The law provides an opportunity to
see such inhumane devices as veal crates, battery cages, and
sow gestation crates banned from the state. Unfortunately,
several years after the law's enactment, the NJDA has failed
to produce the humane standards mandated under state law, and
inhumane factory farming practices persist in New Jersey as
they do nationwide. The "Factory Farming Forum and Rally," to
be held in Trenton on April 7th and 8th, seeks to remedy the
situation, by providing activists an opportunity to explore
various options to effect change, including pressuring the
NJDA to begin drafting standards for the humane treatment of
farm animals. For more information on the Factory Farming
Forum and Rally, see www.njfarms.org/njrally.htm
and visit http://www.njfarms.org/ to
read about the overall effort to improve the lives of New
Jersey's farm animals. | |
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