Animal Welfare Measures in the 117th Congress

The 117th Congress got underway in January, and a number of AWI-supported animal welfare bills were reintroduced within the first few weeks. Among them are the Preventing Future Pandemics Act, which would prohibit the import, export, and interstate trade of live wildlife for human consumption in the United States and support diplomatic measures to curb live wildlife trade and consumption abroad. The Big Cat Public Safety Act (HR 263) would prohibit private individuals from possessing lions, tigers, leopards, cheetahs, jaguars, cougars, or any hybrid of these species as pets, and prohibit public petting, playing with, feeding, and photo ops with cubs. Finally, the Horse Transportation Safety Act (HR 921) would prohibit the use of unsafe double-deck trailers—designed for much shorter animals such as cattle and pigs—to haul horses in interstate commerce.