AWI Commends Inclusion of Animal Welfare Provisions in HR 3055

Washington, DC—The US House of Representatives passed HR 3055, an appropriations “minibus” that covers the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Housing and Urban Development, and the Interior, as well as other departments and agencies. The bill includes several significant animal welfare provisions and, in response, the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) issued the following statement:

“This bill is another indication that there is strong support in Congress for a number of animal welfare measures, such as preventing horse slaughter and expecting vigorous enforcement of animal protection laws, while expressing a commitment to science-based decision-making,” stated Cathy Liss, president of AWI.

Among other provisions, HR 3055 does the following:

• Directs the USDA’s Animal Care program to cite all noncompliances by regulated entities and instructs the USDA to restore all Animal Welfare Act and Horse Protection Act inspection and enforcement records to its website.
• Prevents horse slaughter facilities from opening and operating in the United States and prohibits the slaughter of wild horses.
• Prohibits Class B dealers from selling dogs and cats for use in research.
• Provides funding for emergency and transitional housing for domestic violence survivors with pets and other animals.
• Directs the Food and Drug Administration to report to Congress on its strategy for reducing and replacing nonhuman primates in FDA intramural research with alternatives and on its plans for relocating primates to sanctuaries.
• Provides funding for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for research and monitoring of the North Atlantic right whale.
• Provides funding for sea turtle stranding and rehabilitation programs and for research on methods to reduce sea turtle bycatch.
• Prohibits import permits for elephant and lion trophies from Tanzania, Zimbabwe, and Zambia.
• Directs the US Fish and Wildlife Service to ensure that state management plans include adequate protections and enforcement mechanisms for any species it proposes to delist. These are critical considerations as the agency moves to delist gray wolves across the contiguous 48 states.
• Blocks the commercial destruction of wild horses under the authorities of both the Bureau of Land Management and the US Forest Service.

“We are grateful to the members of the House Appropriations Committee for addressing so many animal welfare issues in the bill they sent to the House floor, and to the members of the House who approved amendments strengthening the bill and defeated amendments that would have weakened it,” said Nancy Blaney, AWI director of government affairs.

Click here for further details on these and other provisions: http://bit.ly/HR_3055.