Category: Politics

How Arizona ranchers won a partial exemption from cruelty laws

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  June 2012:

How Arizona ranchers won a partial exemption from cruelty laws
by Debra J. White

Under the headline “Legislation in the cowboy states,”  the May 2012 edition of ANIMAL PEOPLE reported that Arizona Governor Jan Brewer in mid-April endorsed into law a bill by state representative Peggy Judd (R-Wilcox),  HB 2780,  which exempts dogs used in ranching and herding from anti-cruelty laws.  Judd introduced the bill after one of her constituents,  a Cochise County rancher,  was charged for leaving two dogs in a horse trailer for two days without food or water.  Three others were left tied without clean water. Read more

Dog-eating surfaces as U.S. presidential campaign issue

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  May 2012:

Dog-eating surfaces as U.S. presidential campaign issue

       WASHINGTON D.C.— “What’s the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull?”  U.S. President Barack Obama asked at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on April 28,  2012,  citing metaphors used by 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin to describe herself.
“A pit bull is delicious,”  Obama answered himself.
The joke was Obama’s response to an April 19,  2012 gibe from 2008 Republican presidential candidate John McCain,  who posted a photo of his son Jimmy’s bulldog Apollo on Twitter with the caption, “I’m sorry Mr. President,  he’s not on the menu!” Read more

Political intervention weakens new puppy mill legislation in four states

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  May 2012:

Political intervention weakens new puppy mill legislation in four states

AUSTIN,  HARRISBURG,  OKLAHOMA CITY,  SPRINGFIELD–Recently passed laws meant to curb puppy mills appear to have been crippled by political intervention in four states.
The Pennsylvania Dog Law Advisory Board on April 25,  2012 met for the first time since Republican Governor Tom Corbett took office in January 2011.  Among other duties,  the board is charged with enforcing an anti-puppy mill law introduced in 2008 by previous governor Ed Rendell,  a Democrat. Read more

Minister boasts of tough law while "Lizard King" walks

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  April 2012:

    PUTRAJAYA,  Malaysia— Wildlife trafficking prosecutions have dropped by more than 80% since the Malaysian Wildlife Conservation Act 2010 came into force,  boasted Natural Resources & Environment minister Seri Douglas Uggah Embas to Joseph Sipalan of the Malaysia Star on March 15,  2012.
“I’m very happy to note that the Act has had an effect. We’ve learned from the previous Act that one main ingredient is deterrent penalties,”  Embas said,  noting that only 464 wildlife trafficking cases were recorded in 2011, down from an average of 3,500 cases a year in 2007-2010.
But Anson Wong,  54,  the first prominent trafficker convicted under the 2010 law, walked free on February 22,  2012 after the Malay Court of Appeal cut his jail sentence from five years to 17 months and 15 days.  Wong was identified by Bryan Christy in his 2008 exposé book The Lizard King as “the most important person in the international reptile business.” Read more

Chicago mayor Emanuel replaces pit bull-friendly animal control director Cherie Travis

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  April 2012:

    CHICAGO–Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel on March 21,  2012 abruptly appointed two-time Chicago Animal Care & Control acting director Sandra Alfred to replace incumbent executive director Cherie Travis,  effective immediately.
Travis,  appointed by previous mayor Richard Daley,  had headed Chicago Animal Care & Control since November 2009.  Alfred had been deputy director of Chicago Animal Care & Control since 2001,  after spending 12 years with the Chicago Department of Health.  Emanuel,  formerly chief of staff for U.S. President Barack Obama, praised Alfred as “a champion for animal rights and advocate for animal care,”  who “knows every facet of the department and is a natural choice to lead the department’s efforts.”  Emanuel did not explain why the change was made.  “We simply decided to go in another direction with the leadership,”  mayor’s office spokesperson Sarah Hamilton told media. Read more

U.S. Supreme Court overturns California law requiring downers to be euthanized

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  March 2012:

U.S. Supreme Court overturns California law requiring downers to be euthanized

WASHINGTON D.C.— The U.S. Supreme Court on January 23,  2012 unanimously overturned a 2008 California law requiring slaughterhouses to immediately euthanize non-ambulatory livestock.

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Focused on the issue of federal primacy over state legislation,  the legal reasoning behind the 9-0 verdict signaled that the Supreme Court is likely to favor uniform national standards for livestock handling in any situation where state and federal law are perceived to be in conflict.  This could mean any situation in which states have adopted supplementary humane standards meant to address gaps in federal laws which were last updated by Congress several decades ago. Read more

Federal laying hen standards bill goes before Congress

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  March 2012:

Federal laying hen standards bill goes before Congress

WASHINGTON D.C.–Awaited for seven months,  a proposed federal law governing the care of laying hens was on January 23,  2012 introduced by Oregon Member of the House of Representatives Kurt Schrader.  Assigned bill number HR 3798,  the draft legislation results from a July 2011 pact between the Humane Society of the U.S. and United Egg Producers,  the largest trade association representing U.S. egg farmers.  Under the agreement,  HSUS withdrew ballot initiative campaigns seeking laying hen standards in Washington and Oregon,  in exchange for UEP collaboration in pursuit of a weaker federal standard which would govern the entire U.S. laying hen industry.

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Dutch ritual slaughter ban referred for study

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  January/February 2012:

DEN HAAG, The Netherlands— A proposed ban on slaughtering
animals without pre-stunning that cleared the Dutch House of
Representatives 116-30 in June 2011 was on December 20,  2011 amended
in the Senate into a pledge that undersecretary for agriculture Henk
Bleker’s office will draft standards to ensure that halal and kosher
slaughter,  practiced by Muslims and Jews,  are done in a manner that
minimizes animal suffering.  Pre-stunning has traditionally been
interpreted by most Judaic and Islamic religious  authorities–though
some differ–as a violation of the requirements of Mosaic and Islamic
religious law that animals be conscious when their throats are
swiftly cut with a sharp blade.

Proposed by the Party for the Animals,  which holds two seats
in the House and one in the Senate,  and is a part of the coalition
government,  the ban on slaughter without pre-stunning gained
momentum after being endorsed by the far right Party for Freedom,
whose focal issue is discouraging Islamic immigration.  About one
million of the Dutch population of 16 million are immigrants from
Islamic nations.

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