Michael Markarian: Animals & Politics

Obstructionist Lawmakers Harm Animals and the Economy

The U.S. House of Representatives this morning passed H.R. 1018, the Restore Our American Mustangs Act, by a vote of 239-185. This legislation championed by House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) and Representatives Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.) seeks to put a stop to the commercial slaughter of wild horses, and to encourage more humane and fiscally responsible management of mustangs on the range through fertility control and adoption. It would save millions of tax dollars each year, and would create a better framework than the current system, which relies on costly round-ups and the keeping of captive horses in federal holding pens where they essentially live on the government dole.

The U.S. House of Representatives approved the Restoring
Our American Mustangs Act today by a vote of 239-185.

But the debate on the House floor this morning underscored that there is a small cabal of out-of-touch lawmakers who take every opportunity to belittle and bemoan animal welfare issues, no matter how moderate and sensible. House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) is the worst offender, and he spoke against the bill today along with Representatives Steve King (R-Iowa) and Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), who said she’s a big animal lover but has a record that reflects quite the opposite stance. Boehner and King are the House’s worst two members on animal welfare and they routinely defend the nation’s worst forms of animal abuse, including horse slaughter and animal fighting. Boehner today called the wild horse protection bill “an insult” to the American people, and said we should spend our time on national priorities other than mustangs.

It was déjà vu from this February when the House approved a public safety and animal welfare bill by Representatives Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) and Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) to ban the trade in primates as pets, after a pet chimpanzee viciously attacked a Connecticut woman and left her severely disfigured. Representative Rob Bishop (R-Utah) mocked that bill on the House floor, and said the work of Congress is too important to spend time on “monkey bites.” Tell that to Charla Nash, whose face and hands were bitten off. We provided similar warnings on keeping large constricting snakes, and now sure enough, there was a two-year-old girl killed in her home two weeks ago after a pet Burmese python escaped from its enclosure. You can be sure Boehner and King will oppose legislation introduced by Representative Kendrick Meek (D-Fla.) to crack down on the trade in pythons as exotic pets, no matter the human toll.

A similar scene is now playing out on the opposite coast in California, where California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is using YouTube and Twitter to mock an animal cruelty bill. S.B. 135, introduced by Senate Majority Leader and Food & Agriculture Committee Chairman Dean Florez (D-Shafter), would ban the tail docking of dairy cows. The policy of stopping this painful and unnecessary mutilation is backed by animal welfare groups, veterinarians, and even the California Farm Bureau, and it passed the Senate by an overwhelming margin. But Schwarzenegger dismisses the discussion of “cow’s tails” while there’s a budget crisis in the state.

We all know there’s a budget crisis, and government priorities like creating jobs and fixing the economy. But legislators should be able to walk and chew gum at the same time. While they sort out the big subjects, and allow themselves to get locked into partisan battles day after day instead of solving these big problems, they can’t ignore the quotidian responsibilities of lawmaking. Animal welfare is just one of the many issues that is important to mainstream Americans, and our elected officials can spend just a little bit of time moving the ball forward for these creatures, as they can do for other important but lower-profile issues. It’s not an either-or proposition between animals and jobs, and they can’t just expect to pass one bill each week and spend the rest of the time tanning or playing the back nine.

If they were truly concerned about the economy, self-described fiscal conservatives like Boehner, Bishop, and King should have been the first to line up today in support of the mustang legislation. The current program is a fiscal disaster, with the Bureau of Land Management stuck on a treadmill spending millions of tax dollars essentially running captive horse shelters. The Rahall bill maps out a better pathway, and will save American taxpayers at least $6 million each year just by keeping the population numbers in check through fertility control on the range, as an alternative to costly round-ups and long-term horse care.

Saving horses and saving tax dollars shouldn’t be a partisan issue. Thirty-three Republicans voted in favor of the bill today, including many fiscal conservatives like Representatives Dan Burton (R-Ind.), John Campbell (R-Calif.), and Thad McCotter (R-Mich.), and we thank them for their support of a more humane and more fiscally responsible policy. Other Republicans, like Representatives Whitfield and Elton Gallegly (R-Calif), are stalwart animal advocates. But the obstinate ones just don’t see the big picture, and they will gladly stand in the way of any modest animal welfare reform—even if it means they must continue fleecing the American taxpayers to do it and allowing cruelty to occur without intervention.

Putting a Hold on Compassion

The confirmation process for federal appointments can be a long row to hoe, as we are now seeing with the Supreme Court nomination hearings for Sonia Sotomayor. But the agriculture metaphor is even more relevant for Cass Sunstein, the Harvard Law School professor and constitutional scholar who is President Obama’s pick to be regulatory czar, or more technically the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA).

President Obama's pick for Administrator of
the Office of Information and Regulatory
Affairs, Cass Sunstein.

Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) put a hold on Sunstein’s confirmation—apparently at the urging of some agribusiness groups—because Sunstein’s long and distinguished legal career has included some writings about animal protection issues. He is the co-editor, for example, of Animal Rights: Current Debates and New Directions, which examines the emerging field of animal law through a variety of perspectives (including articles from authors who argue vehemently both for and against animal protection reforms).

It’s an odd reason to hold up an important agency appointment, particularly because OIRA is not charged with developing regulations itself and it’s not the views of the OIRA Administrator that will drive public policy. OIRA doesn’t determine if regulations will be harsh or lenient, and it is not designed to perform a major ideological function, though of course there are political considerations that do come into play. Its job is to review what other agencies do—essentially, to perform a quality control function—making sure proper regulatory procedures are followed, cost-benefit analysis is done, and other steps are taken. 

If approved, Sunstein won’t be in a policy position governing farm animals, the environment, or anything else. It will be the Departments of Agriculture, Interior, and others that issue regulations on animal welfare issues, and then OIRA will make sure they went through the appropriate process. If Chambliss has a goal of making things harder for animal welfare advocates or easier for agribusiness interests, he’s picked the wrong nomination to block.

But more importantly, caring about animals, or having thoughtful opinions about regulating their use and treatment in various contexts, should not disqualify someone from holding federal office. Politicians should consider a compassionate concern for animals to be a personal and even political asset for candidates for major executive offices. Compassion and kindness to other creatures are mainstream values held by the best of all people, and it’s exactly what we should want to see in our public servants. Big Ag thinks it’s fine when its lobbyists and executives get agency posts, but just let one fellow who has said something serious on animal welfare be nominated and the artillery rolls out.

In the past, Chambliss has been helpful on animal welfare issues. For example, as Ranking Member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, he supported several provisions in last year’s Farm Bill that strengthened the federal law to combat animal fighting, barred the imports of puppies from foreign puppy mills, and upgraded the penalties for violations of the Animal Welfare Act. We thank him for that support. These kinds of legal changes are precisely why Americans need a regulatory czar like Cass Sunstein in charge of OIRA—to make sure the federal agencies properly implement regulations to enforce these new laws.

Strong Federal Law Brings the Hammer Down on Dogfighters

Yesterday’s coordinated dogfighting raids across eight states vividly demonstrate why we worked so vigorously and for so long to pass a federal law making animal fighting a felony crime.

The largest one-day string of raids in U.S. history
occurred yesterday across eight states.

Dogfighting is an offense without borders. And that means federal law enforcement leadership is needed to cut this sickness out of our society. Starting before dawn yesterday, that’s just what we got—the largest one-day string of raids in U.S. history.

The whole brutal subculture of organized dogfighting was stunned when federal agents and task forces of state and local authorities, backed by experts from The Humane Society of the United States, Humane Society of Missouri, and other concerned organizations, swept through Texas, Oklahoma, Illinois, Arkansas, Iowa, Mississippi, Nebraska and—at the very heart of things—Missouri.

Dogs—more than 450—who were destined to fight to the death in the bloody pit were saved and taken to emergency shelters. The flagrant disregard that dogfighters routinely show for society’s norms was replaced by the snap of handcuffs and the slap of 30 or so arrest warrants. And, a jolt of fear was sent coursing through the remainder of this sordid underground of organized crime. The Texas indictment that led to nine of the arrests was stark and ringing in its language. It charged the defendants with: “conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States.”

If you know much about dogfighting, as I do, you understand that its devotees rely upon a well-developed communications network. Yesterday, the urgent message that pulsed from one fighting kennel to another was as plain as the glint of a G-man’s badge: “Dogfighters, your days are numbered.”

So, let me say thanks. Thanks to all of you who supported the Humane Society Legislative Fund in our campaign to pass the 2007 bill that made these raids possible—and the 2008 follow-up that means dogfighters face a well deserved five years in the lock-up. A tip of my hat to each of you. Your phone calls, your emails, your letters, your door-to-door lobbying efforts paid off big time. Thanks, too, to U.S. Senators Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), John Ensign (R-Nev.), and John Kerry (D-Mass.); Representatives Elton Gallegly (R-Calif.), Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), Roscoe Bartlett (R-Md.), and Betty Sutton (D-Ohio); and Senate and House Judiciary Chairmen Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and John Conyers (D-Mich.); all of whom championed this fight in Congress and worked with their colleagues and leadership to get the job done.

Thanks to all who have supported our efforts
to crack down on dogfighting.

Thanks to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Office of Inspector General whose agents led the raids. Thanks to the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service, and the state and local officers who joined in making ours a better country yesterday. Thanks to the U.S. attorneys, who were willing to make this series of raids a priority because they know what a wellspring of horror dogfighting is for animals, people, and entire communities. Thanks to our colleagues at the Humane Society of Missouri whose investigation set off the chain of events. They led the way yesterday for a constellation of humane organizations that committed resources, expertise, volunteers and energy—including United Animal Nations, the ASPCA, and PetSmart Charities. The HSUS acted as lead animal welfare agency in the rescues in Texas and Oklahoma and assisted the HSMO with the rescues conducted in Missouri and Illinois. But there is plenty of credit to share.

Let’s not forget one important group. After all, humane organizations don’t get taxpayers to cover the tens of thousands of dollars expended and weeks of planning that went into yesterday’s raids. That means that millions of rank-and-file Americans who send donations to HSLF and other animal welfare groups deserve, as much as any of us, the nation’s gratitude. And when you donate to HSLF, you help make sure the nation’s animal protection laws have teeth. Friends, please take a bow.

Thanks to all of you, there are dogs who sleep tonight in safer places.

And for those suffering animals still trapped in the grim clutch of the dogfighters, we’ll get there as soon as we can and we won’t rest along the way.

Legislation to Ensure Bird Killers Become Jailbirds

It was one of the most shocking and sickening scourges of bird-related crime since Congress passed the Migratory Bird Treaty Act in 1918. A 14-month undercover investigation by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s law enforcement division revealed that thousands of peregrine falcons, Cooper’s hawks, and red-tailed hawks were deliberately killed in California, Oregon, and Washington. The culprits were members of “roller pigeon clubs”—enthusiasts of domestic pigeons specially bred for their seizure-like ability to do rapid backward somersaults while flying. To protect their aerial acrobats from any chance encounter with a predator, these callous club members killed the protected birds of prey by shooting, trapping, poisoning, clubbing, baiting birds into glass panels, and even baiting birds with pigeons rigged with fishing hooks.

Thousands of birds have been tortured and killed 
in California, Oregon and Washington.

Ted Williams cataloged in Audubon Magazine some of the particularly ghastly and gleeful quotes from roller pigeon club members bragging about killing the birds. One individual told an undercover agent that after he catches hawks, at the rate of about one per week, he “pummels them with a stick” and that it is a “great thing…you’ll see, you get a lot of frustration out.” Another advised: “Just put some draino liquid on some of your weaker birds and let them take them and bye bye baby. Make sure you rub it on the back of their necks.”

Four of the peregrine falcons had hatched from eggs that had been rescued by the Audubon Society of Portland from a bridge under construction. The fledglings were raised with great care until they could be released into the wild on the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge. A roller pigeon fan shot them across the street from the refuge, and then recounted the tale: “I laughed and laughed when I heard this story because of all the pain staking measures they took to get these birds to adolescence and than to have somone take them out simply was bliss!!”

Despite the premeditated and rampant nature of these illegal killings, the men involved were sentenced with modest fines, community service, and probation. Unlike the raptors themselves, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act simply has no teeth. Convicted bird killers routinely escape with little more than a slap on the wrist, since the federal penalty for killing a protected bird is only a Class B misdemeanor. You face the same penalty for killing a falcon or hawk as you would for the unauthorized use of the Forest Service’s “Woodsy Owl” and “Smokey Bear” characters.

As we have seen with dogfighters and cockfighters, people who intentionally break the law will not be deterred by anemic penalties, which they consider simply the cost of doing business. It’s only now that all 50 states have felony penalties for dogfighting, 39 states have felony penalties for cockfighting, and we have a strong national policy making animal fighting a federal felony, that we have begun to see a major dismantling of organized animal fighting rings. (The cockfighters, too, are repeat offenders when it comes to killing migratory birds. They leave fighting roosters tied up outside in yards, and use “catch poles” mounted with steel-jawed leghold traps and baited with meat to kill hawks, eagles, and owls who descend toward the gamefowl.)

In response to this problem, U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) has introduced H.R. 2062, the Migratory Bird Treaty Penalty and Enforcement Act, which would provide a much-needed upgrade to one of the nation’s most important conservation laws. The bill would give federal prosecutors the option of pursuing felony-level penalties for the intentional killing of raptors, and would finally provide a meaningful deterrent of prison time and hefty fines.

“Like the recent horrific practice of dog fighting and the subsequent congressional response, it is time that Congress act to give the federal government expanded authority to prosecute and punish violations of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which protects raptors and birds of prey like the peregrine falcon,” said DeFazio. “Even the most egregious violations have resulting in nothing more than slaps on the wrist.”

The Migratory Bird Treaty Act was passed nearly a century ago, with the goal of protecting the winged creatures in our skies from needless killing. By passing Rep. DeFazio’s important conservation and anti-crime legislation, Congress can now make sure the law has teeth—and the bird killers become jailbirds.

Talk Back: Wildlife Abuse, Fur and Turtle Safety

Today I’d like to share some of your responses to past blog posts. I recently wrote about the Sportsmanship in Hunting Act, which would ban the remote shooting of live animals over the Internet and the trophy shooting of exotic mammals held captive inside fenced enclosures:

I am sickened to read that people actually consider it a sport to shoot and kill an animal that is held captive in a pen. How could a person take pleasure and pride in killing something they were too lazy to chase? I'm also shocked at the cowardice and cruelty of those who use remote-controlled weapons for sport. This is just not acceptable.—Leigh

The polar bear was recently listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. But Rep. Don Young (R-AK) has introduced a pair of bills that would undermine this listing and allow for the importation of sport-hunted polar trophies from Canada:

What are the names of the bills introduced by Congressman Don Young, regarding allowing polar bear trophy hunters to bring bear parts into the US? All HSLF members need to know so we can contact our own Congress reps.—Susan

Thanks for writing, Susan. It's important for legislators to hear from constituents who want to make a difference for animals. I encourage all readers to contact their U.S. Representative to urge opposition to these bills.

The Lake Jackson Ecopassage, a community-based project in Florida, would help turtles and other animals cross a busy and deadly stretch of U.S. Highway 27 in Tallahassee:

It's a nice change to see someone actually report the facts. Why does the media keep parroting Coburn's misinformation? Finally, we have someone who accurately reports about the project. Kudos to you - let's hope the rest of the media will actually do some leg work and report what the project is really about. After all, there's a reason the ecopassage has 13 million supporters. It's a great project! Read more by going to the project's web site. www.lakejacksonturtles.org.—Bob

We've also received feedback in response to yesterday's posting on the approval of the fur labeling bill in New Jersey:

Great news. I live in NJ and noticed this practice is flagrant. I brought the false advertising to the attention of the salesperson when I was shopping at Chicos. She was very reasonable and agreed to pass along my complaint.—Georgette

Thank you all for submitting these comments, and please keep the feedback coming. If you have a question or comment and would like to join the conversation, please send me an email. Thanks for all you do for animals.

Down Fur the Count

The New Jersey state legislature last week gave final approval to a bill requiring the labeling of all animal fur garments, making it the fifth state—after Delaware, Massachusetts, New York, and Wisconsin—to better protect consumers from fraudulent fur selling. It’s a major step forward for policymaking on the fur issue, after leading retailers and designers were exposed for advertising “faux” fur-trimmed jackets that actually contained real animal fur, even dog fur imported from China. We are grateful to New Jersey state Senator Jeff Van Drew (D-Cape May) and Assemblymember Nilsa Cruz-Perez (D-Camden) for carrying this important reform through to passage, and we hope Governor Jon Corzine will quickly sign it into law.

New Jersey is poised to become the fifth state to pass
legislation on fur labeling.

It’s not only in the public policy arena, but also in the marketplace, where we are seeing major progress on the fur issue. The Federal Trade Commission estimates that 3.5 million animal fur garments and accessories were sold in 2005, and today that number has dropped to just more than 1 million annually—a dramatic decline of more than 70 percent. The struggling economy has had an impact, for sure, on an industry that is peddling an unnecessary luxury product. But it’s much more than that, and also reflects a broader shift in consumer attitudes and corporate behavior.

Since 2005, a number of major retailers and designers—like BCBG Max Azria, Calvin Klein, Ed Hardy, Foot Locker, JCPenney, Kenneth Cole, Overstock.com, and Tommy Hilfiger—have stopped selling animal fur after discussions with HSUS. Others like Andrew Marc, Donna Karan, Michael Kors, Rocawear, and Sean John have pledged to stop using raccoon dog fur, curbing the cruel killing of a wild dog species whose faces are remarkably raccoon-like. And still others like Burlington Coat Factory have dramatically reduced the amount of fur they sell, removing up to 80 percent of fur garments from their stores.

The label on this garment lists nothing about the animal fur (visible on the left) trimming the hood.

These corporate policy reforms have taken a great deal of fur off the market. JCPenney alone had imported more than 1.1 million fur items over the past decade, so the reduction by each individual company is quite significant. There are so many warm and fashionable alternatives to animal fur, and consumers who are increasingly seeking out those options can shop with greater confidence when retailers and designers adopt strong fur-free policies.

The marketplace is moving in the right direction, but until the day that all fur is faux, we need to ensure that consumers know what they’re getting and have the opportunity to make informed purchasing decisions. It’s time for the U.S. Congress to pass the Truth in Fur Labeling Act, S. 1076 by Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and H.R. 2480 by Representatives Jim Moran (D-Va.) and Mary Bono Mack (R-Calif.). Please watch this video and then ask your federal lawmakers to support the Truth in Fur Labeling Act—fur might be more scarce, but we need a national policy that sets an accurate and consistent labeling standard for all the animal fur garments still found on the racks.

Whitewashing the Polar Bear Trophy Imports

The House of Representatives passed a major climate change bill last week by an ice-thin margin, and it may be the first definitive step by the United States to do its fair share to stem the tide of global warming and shrinking ice floes. One animal who has become an iconic species for the climate change debate is the polar bear, who is now facing an additional threat in Congress. Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska)—who has never been a friend of polar bears, and who in fact displays a Kodiak bear hide as a trophy in his Capitol Hill office—has introduced a pair of bills to allow American trophy hunters to bring their sport-hunted polar bear trophies back from Canada.

Polar bears are listed as a threatened species under the
Endangered Species Act.

The polar bear had been listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act for just nine days last year, when the Safari Club International and other trophy hunting groups filed a federal lawsuit aiming to reopen American borders to the commercial trade in sport-hunted polar bear trophies. But after the Bush Administration and a federal court in California shot down their arguments in a related case, the Safari Club has reloaded for bear and set its sights on Congress.

The trophy hunters, in fact, have gone back to their playbook with the same formation that worked for them fifteen years ago. The Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 originally barred the imports of all marine mammal parts, including polar bears—the same law that prohibits you from bringing whale meat back from Japan or seal fur back from Canada. But the Safari Club and its congressional allies successfully punched a gaping loophole through the law in 1994, and opened the door to polar bear heads and hides.

And they made the same arguments back then that they’re making now. Law-abiding hunters shot their polar bears legally in Canada, they said, and the trophies were just sitting in storage, so it wouldn’t hurt just to let them transport those already-dead bears across the border. The problem was that this policy change opened the floodgates to more and more American trophy hunters trekking north to get the prized bear—many of them competing for the Safari Club’s “Bears of the World” award—and in that decade and a half, more than 900 polar bear trophies were imported from Canada.

Now that the polar bear has been listed as a threatened species, the ban on imports has been restored. But Young is making the same tired argument that trophy hunters made in 1994, claiming now “there are between 38 and 41 hunters that legally hunted a polar bear that now cannot import their trophy due to the ESA listing…These dead bears provide no conservation value sitting in a cold-storage warehouse in Canada.” His bills are being cast as private relief measures to help a few hunters bring in a handful of personal trophies, but in reality they would roll back a federal policy and provide even more incentive for the American trophy hunters to stream into Canada and shoot more bears and make the same personal appeal over and over again.

In fact, the Safari Club already made this argument last year during the litigation over the ESA listing, and requested that the court allow hunters to import trophies of bears killed prior to the date of their threatened status. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, under the Bush Administration, responded that allowing importation would severely undermine current MMPA provisions. The MMPA specifically prohibits the importation of any “depleted” animal, regardless of when the animal was taken.

Further, although the MMPA generally prohibits the importation of depleted species, the law provides specific procedures for importing these animals. A depleted species may be imported if the importation is likely to “enhance” the species’ survival by “contribut[ing] significantly to…increasing distribution” of animals. Congress crafted only this narrow exception to ensure that only importations that actually benefit species are permitted. If trophy hunters are allowed to circumvent this process, Congress’s carefully limited exceptions are rendered meaningless. And the Orwellian argument that we must kill polar bears to save them just doesn’t fly.

The trophy hunters who claim they were harmed by the threatened listing also had sufficient warning that

Two bills are pending in Congress that would allow for the
importation of sport-hunted polar bear trophies from Canada.

the polar bear might be listed and that their trophies import applications might be denied. The agency proposed to list the polar bear in January 2007 and was under court order to finalize the listing by January 2008—and the entire process was highly publicized. During the case, Judge Claudia Wilken of the federal court in northern California specifically found that hunters had fair warning and “assumed the risk…they would be unable to import their trophies” by continuing with their hunts.

Judge Wilken refused to order importation of trophies taken before the listing, and the issue has now been appealed to the Ninth Circuit. A second Safari Club case arguing for the legalization of polar bear trophies is now pending in Washington, D.C. Congress should resist the temptation to interfere with the ongoing legal cases the trophy hunters themselves chose to initiate, and should reject this same pattern of behavior that was used to amend the MMPA in 1994 and allow the slaughter of hundreds of polar bears for trophies. Allowing imports, driven by personal stories, has always been the tack of the trophy hunting groups and it’s precisely what has allowed all of this killing by Americans to occur.

We wouldn’t allow the import of walrus tusks or dolphin meat, just because it’s stockpiled in a warehouse and the animals have already been killed. And we shouldn’t allow the import of polar bear trophies either. For the threatened listing to have any meaning, it’s the Young bills—not the polar bears—that should be stuffed and mounted.

Saving Chimps and Tax Dollars

I attended a briefing this morning on Capitol Hill with legislative leaders and animal advocates to make a push for H.R. 1326, the Great Ape Protection Act, a bill seeking to phase out invasive research on chimpanzees and retire government-owned chimps to sanctuaries. HSUS president and CEO Wayne Pacelle led off the event by showing video footage from the nine-month HSUS investigation into the New Iberia Research Center in southwestern Louisiana, one of the world’s largest primate laboratories. 

Approximately 1,000 chimps are languishing  
in laboratories across the United States.

The Hill staffers and others in the packed room were jarred by the scenes showing primates engaging in self-mutilation by tearing gaping wounds into their arms and legs, infant monkeys screaming as they are forcibly removed from their mothers, and a researcher hitting a monkey three times in the teeth with a pipe. Some of the elderly chimpanzees at NIRC have been warehoused in laboratories for decades—including Karen, who was caught in the wild as a baby in 1958 and has been confined in a barren lab since the Eisenhower Administration.

Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-Md.), a scientist who previously worked with chimps and a lead sponsor of the bill, spoke about the inefficiency of using these highly intelligent and social creatures in research, and the innovation and ingenuity of scientists that can get us beyond the status quo. Dr. Theo Capaldo, president of Project R&R, added that chimps have not proven to be useful models for diseases such as AIDS, and that she has seen symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder in chimps who have been in long-term isolation housing in labs.

At a time when our country is acutely aware of an economic crisis, taxpayers are footing the bill for $20-25 million each year just warehousing chimps in barren laboratory cages, many of whom are not even being used in active experiments. There are about 1,000 chimps remaining in U.S. labs—half of them federally owned—and despite the inhumane treatment of animals and the fleecing of taxpayers they are just stuck on a bureaucratic treadmill. It’s less costly to retire these animals to sanctuaries, and it’s a step not only for animal welfare but also for fiscal responsibility. Dr. Linda Brent, director of Chimp Haven, estimates that moving the 500 government-owned chimps to sanctuaries would save taxpayers $173 million over the entire lifespans of the current population of the animals.

She also spoke about how former research chimps thrive in a sanctuary setting: even after decades of laboratory confinement, these long-lived animals can finally have peace and dignity in their remaining years. And there was hardly a dry eye in the house when Gloria Grow, founder and director of the Fauna Foundation, showed a moving video of Tom, a former lab chimp, climbing a tree and enjoying his new sanctuary life.

It’s time for Congress to take action on this legislation, which not only protects chimps but also stops government waste. Please watch this video, and then ask your U.S. Representative to support the Great Ape Protection Act.

Florida Turtle Tunnel Protects Motorists Too

Here in Washington, there’s a small group of out-of-touch lawmakers who make a habit of trivializing and mocking animal issues, such as when Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah) made light of legislation to halt the trade in primates as pets—even though a woman in Connecticut had just been horribly disfigured by a pet chimpanzee. Senator Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) is now holding up that bill in the Senate, and he’s targeted yet another project included in the federal stimulus package: a $3.4 million tunnel for turtles.

But when you look under the shell, the Florida highway project dubbed the Lake Jackson Ecopassage, which will help turtles and other animals cross a busy and deadly stretch of U.S. Highway 27 in Tallahassee, is not a fleecing of taxpayers. It’s a wise solution to a pressing problem that makes the highway unsafe for drivers and a slaughter ground for wildlife. The community-based project is supported by local citizens, public officials, and the state Department of Transportation. It has been 10 years in the making and now, thanks to federal stimulus money, has the potential to not only help animals, but also save human lives.

Here’s how the story really began: Ten years ago, a Florida State University graduate student named Matt Aresco noticed a proliferation of dead turtles—some weighing 20 pounds—littering the side of Highway 27.

When he got out of the car to take a look, he picked up 90 dead turtles in a third of a mile stretch of highway. Through painstaking research, he documented the highest rate of turtle mortality on any road in North America—more than 2,000 turtles per mile per year. Ninety-eight percent of the turtles who try to cross, Aresco found, get killed.

Highway 27 was constructed before there were rules about protecting wetlands, and it sliced Lake Jackson, a state aquatic preserve, into two. The turtles—and alligators—follow the same route they’ve traveled for thousands of years, but now it’s a death sentence. Sixty-two species of reptiles, amphibians, and mammals have been found attempting to cross Highway 27.

“I got sort of callous finding the dead turtles,” Aresco told the St. Petersburg Times. “But it's the live ones you see die right in front of you that get to you. In seconds, they are in pieces. Some of these turtles are 30 years old.”

Aresco was the first person who ever tried to do anything about the problem. He started a citizens’ group to advocate for the Lake Jackson Ecopassage. Joined by scores of local schoolchildren, the citizens brought the problem to the local county commission, which agreed immediately to do something to ensure traffic safety and wildlife protection. The county commission brought it to the regional transportation planning agency, which brought it to the Florida Department of Transportation, and after a decade of discussing, voting, planning, and designing, the project is ready to go. In federal stimulus-speak, it is “shovel ready.” A private donor purchased the additional right-of-way needed for the project for $370,000 and donated the land to the state—a perfect example of a public-private partnership that benefits the entire community.

Who would second-guess a community’s very deliberative and measured solution to a problem that has gone on far too long? And who would want to hit a 400-pound alligator, or a turtle the size of a cinder block, at night while speeding down the highway?

In a state like Florida where development is rampant, people and wildlife are being pushed closer together. In Florida alone, there were 46 human fatalities when motor vehicles crashed into wildlife between 1994 and 2003. In one case, in 2005, a 6-year-old girl was killed by a car when she darted onto a Florida highway to help a crossing turtle.

The ecopassage can’t come too soon for people or animals. It will be a series of carefully engineered tunnels to connect the lake underneath the roadway, and a one-mile barrier wall to funnel wildlife safely underneath. Wildlife will be able to safely cross, reducing the danger to themselves and to motorists.

Similar projects already have a proven track record of reducing wildlife mortality, and helping to preserve imperiled species like the Florida panther and black bear. In Gainesville, an ecopassage under a highway that bisects the 18,000-acre Paynes Prairie wetland has been a huge success. Road kill there “has dropped to a dribble,” according to wildlife biologist David O’Neill.

What we have here isn’t a government boondoggle, and shouldn’t be subject to Washington demagoguery. It’s a community-based project that balances wildlife protection with modern life. And the return on our investment will be the lives saved—both human and animal.

California Dreamin' Becoming Reality

When California voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition 2 last November, banning the extreme confinement of animals on industrial factory farms, they sent the message loud and clear that all animals deserve humane treatment—including animals raised for food.

Seven months later, that vote is having ripple effects around the country, as retailers adopt corporate policies to curb factory farm abuses, and other states consider similar reforms. (Maine just passed a law becoming the sixth state to phase out confinement practices.) But it is having a much more home-grown effect in California, where state lawmakers have taken notice of the broad and deep support for animal welfare policies across the California electorate.

In an era of budget crises and partisanship, animal protection can be one of the only issues most lawmakers agree on. Prop 2, for example, won a majority of votes in 47 of 58 counties, appealing to core groups in urban and rural regions, Democratic and Republican strongholds, and in the heart of agriculture country. More than 8.2 million people checked the box for “yes”—more than any other citizen’s initiative in history—and the final vote was a landslide 63.5 to 36.5 percent.

As Senate Majority Leader Dean Florez (D-Shafter) said, Prop 2 was "the equivalent of the earthquake that shook the legislature." Florez reorganized the Senate Agriculture Committee to become the Senate Food & Agriculture Committee, which is placing greater emphasis on food safety, animal welfare, and sustainability. Florez added, “Big Ag has always ruled, and they don’t lose much. I want to take advantage of Prop 2’s momentum and strike a balance.”

Midway through the 2009 legislative session, that momentum has led to eleven animal protection bills on a wide range of issues already having passed either the Assembly or the Senate and now making their way through the other chamber. Another has already been enacted into law. Here’s some of what California lawmakers have achieved for animals so far this session:

• Assemblyman Pedro Nava (D-Santa Barbara), a tremendous champion for animals who in 2007 successfully carried the bill banning the use of toxic lead ammo in California condor habitat, this year has introduced a package of three bills to crack down on puppy mills, dogfighting, and animal cruelty. A.B. 241 limits the number of dogs (and cats) who can be confined in large-scale production facilities, where they receive no exercise, socialization, or human interaction, and it passed the Assembly by a vote of 60 to 14. Demonstrating broad and bipartisan support, two Republicans, Assemblymen Cameron Smyth (R-Santa Clarita) and Anthony Adams (R-Hesperia), both rose to speak passionately in favor of the bill on the Assembly floor. Another bill by Nava, A.B. 242, strengthens the penalty for dogfighting spectators, the people who fuel this criminal industry with their admission fees and gambling wagers, and passed the Assembly unanimously. And A.B. 243, which prohibits convicted animal abusers from owning more animals in the future, passed the Assembly by a vote of 65 to 12.
• Senator Ron Calderon (D-Montebello) has introduced another bill to further help law enforcement crack down on dogfighters. S.B. 318 would allow the seizure and forfeiture of assets acquired from dogfighting. It has passed the Senate by a vote of 36 to 2.
• Assemblyman Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) is championing two bills: A.B. 1437, which bans the sale of eggs from caged hens, passed the Assembly by a vote of 65 to 12, and has just this week passed the Senate Food & Agriculture Committee. And A.B. 708 would increase the penalties for illegal poaching of wildlife. It passed the Assembly unanimously, and will help provide a greater deterrent to poachers in a state where game wardens are few and miles of roads and trails are many.
• Assemblyman Smyth introduced A.B. 233 to encourage shelter pet adoption by giving a tax break to adopters. That bill has not been released from the Assembly Appropriations Committee, but Smyth has another measure that has already passed both chambers and been adopted: A.C.R. 19 officially recognizes Spay Day USA and encourages the spaying and neutering of pets in California. 
• On farm animal issues, Senator Florez has advanced S.B. 135, which would ban the tail docking of dairy cows. The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 27 to 12, setting the stage for ending this painful and unnecessary mutilation in the nation’s top dairy state. S.B. 135 will be heard next in the Assembly Public Safety Committee next Tuesday.

These bills still have a ways to go and a Governor’s signature to earn. But animal protection is on the political map in the Golden State. Lawmakers are siding with pets, wildlife, and farm animals by wide margins, and reflecting the mainstream values of Californians who want strong laws to stop cruelty and abuse. Even so, there are setbacks along the way, as California animal shelters are very likely to feel the pain of the current unprecedented budget crisis. 

If you live in California, I hope you will check out the roster of animal protection bills, and ask your lawmakers and Governor Schwarzenegger to support them. I also hope you will help us continue this momentum by becoming a member of the Humane Society Legislative Fund—please join with us to build a powerful political force for California’s animals.