In Remembrance of Congressman Bruce Vento
(1940-2000)

The State of Minnesota, the United States House of Representatives, and wildlife across the globe lost a determined advocate when Democratic Congressman Bruce F. Vento succumbed to a rare form of lung cancer on October 10, 2000.

First elected to Congress in 1976, Congressman Vento supported animal protection efforts throughout his tenure in the House. In the 106th Congress, he voted to reduce funding for government-sponsored lethal predator control, to prohibit commercial and recreational trapping on national wildlife refuges, and for a bill banning sale of pornographic videos showing women in spiked heels crushing defenseless little animals to death, dubbed “crush” videos. He cosponsored bills to prohibit dragging debilitated livestock to slaughter, to prohibit interstate transportation of birds for brutal cockfights, to end the use of steel-jaw leghold traps in the United States, and to provide money to start a conservation fund to protect great apes. He expressed outrage over the barbaric practice of shark finning which he called “ethically and morally wrong.” A strong advocate of endangered species protection, Congressman Vento concluded: “We have no greater duty as citizens of this great nation – this global community - than to understand, nurture, protect and be inspired by the biosphere balance that sustains life.”

Former Vice President Al Gore said of Congressman Vento, “Bruce championed the preservation and expansion of national parks, wilderness areas, wildlife refuges and other environmental treasures. His conservation legacy will endure for many generations to come.”