Last evening HSLF and HSUS hosted our annual congressional Humane Awards, where we honored a bipartisan group of legislators who led the way for animals during the last year. Several dozen members of Congress and their staff attended the event in the U.S. Capitol, and we celebrated the federal lawmakers who are using their time and talents to make the world a better place for animals. Click here to view photos from the event.
A journalist goes to prison for broadcasting undercover video footage. A worker is persecuted for blowing the whistle on sexual harassment. It’s not the Middle East—it could happen right here in America.
Woodrow Wilson was in the White House. The Spanish flu pandemic swept the globe. World War I was just ending. A lot has happened since 1918, but one thing has stayed the same for these 93 years: Mourning doves have been protected in Iowa. Sadly, that may change this fall, under a new bill fast-tracked through the capitol this week, with hardly a word of debate. It’s one of the most cynical and underhanded maneuvers of political gamesmanship that I have seen in any state legislature.
Hunting advocate and environmental writer Ted Williams recently wrote a feature story for Audubon magazine, titled “Real Hunters Don’t Shoot Pets,” exploring the so-called “canned hunts” that allow paying customers to shoot tame animals stocked in fenced pens for guaranteed trophies.
Last month, in response to a legal petition filed by The HSUS, the U.S. Department of Agriculture tentatively approved new rules to protect downed calves—those unable even to stand up on their own—from abuse. Under current federal law, slaughter plants have the option of setting aside calves who are too weak or injured to stand—so-called “downer” calves—and slaughtering them later.
At the start of this year’s state legislative season, the Colbert Report singled out a Utah bill by Rep. Curtis Oda, R-Clearfield, for raising the bar on legislative lunacy. Oda’s bill, HB 210, would allow people to kill cats, dogs, and other animals believed to be feral, through shooting, blows to the head, or decapitation.
We are now two full months into 2011, and state legislatures around the country have been active on animal protection issues. We have many defensive battles, such as blocking Missouri politicians from defying the will of the voters and dismantling Proposition B, but we are also advancing our proactive agenda for animal welfare in many state capitols.
The House last weekend passed its version of a “Continuing Resolution” (CR) to fund federal government programs through the end of Fiscal Year 2011 (which runs from October 1, 2010 to September 30, 2011). The government is now operating on a CR passed in December that funds the government through next Friday. The House bill would cut $61 billion from a variety of programs, and it’s not clear yet how the House and Senate will reach agreement in order to prevent a government shutdown.
The U.S. House of Representatives this week is considering the Continuing Resolution (CR) for Fiscal Year 2011—a massive bill to fund the operations of the federal government. With the federal deficit growing, and on the minds of so many lawmakers, it is expected that more than 500 amendments to the bill will be offered to cut federal spending. We are hopeful that some of them will seek to cut spending for federal programs that are harmful to animals.
A handful of Missouri politicians are feverishly trying to repeal or gut Proposition B, the Puppy Mill Cruelty Prevention Act, which voters passed in November. The issue may come up for debate in the state Senate as early as next week, and two of the leaders of the repeal effort who are working hard to dismantle the will of the people are Senators Bill Stouffer, R-21, and Mike Parson, R-28.
