͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌To prevent cruelty to animals, we promote enacting and enforcing good public policies. To enact good laws, we must elect good lawmakers, and that’s why we remind voters which candidates care about our issues and which ones don’t. If you’d like to unsubscribe, click here. [[link removed]]

​# [#]

THE NLEC IS A GROUP OF CURRENT AND FORMER LOCAL AND STATE PROSECUTORS, ATTORNEYS GENERAL, AND OTHER LAW ENFORCEMENT PROFESSIONALS
Putting law enforcement professionals in the forefront of the nation's work to combat animal cruelty, the NLEC is chaired by former Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson and former Clatsop County (Ore.) District Attorney Josh Marquis and has 29 members.

Our mission: *
Fortifying
the
legal
framework
against
animal
cruelty
*
Ensuring
that
all
of
our
animal
welfare
laws
are
robustly
enforced
at
all
levels
of
government

High Court Ruling Shows Pork Industry Complaints Are Hogwash
In a much welcomed and long-awaited 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court in mid-May upheld California’s Proposition 12, affirming that states may place limits on commercial exploitation of animals, including animals raised for food.

Prop 12 is the voter-approved 2018 ballot measure that took aim at gestation crates for mother pigs and battery cages for laying hens—confinement systems so severe and restrictive that the animals, standing shoulder to shoulder or wing to wing, cannot even turn around.

Justices rightly swatted away the pork industry’s persistent and overwrought complaints that Prop 12 would devastate them economically. Had the industry prevailed, it would have had a dire impact on similar state animal-welfare initiatives, as well as laws passed by state Legislatures across the country.

Go here to read more. [[link removed]]

Keeping the Pressure on adidas, after Nike, Puma Halt Sale of Kangaroo Parts
The Center for a Humane Economy in May announced results of a statewide investigation revealing that retailers in California continue to sell soccer cleats from adidas—despite repeated warnings about the violations of the law that forbid this commerce. The Center, having already filed three lawsuits against soccer shops for violating the state’s Unfair Competition Law, sent notices of intent to sue to two more retailers unless they respond with written assurances that the shops would immediately cease sales of the illicit products. The companies are Soccer Pro, Inc., and Asby Sports.

Complete story. [[link removed]]

Cracking Down on Cockfighting and Demanding Stronger Enforcement
In May, Animal Wellness Action and its partner, Showing Animals Respect and Kindness (SHARK) [[link removed]] , called on Delaware law enforcement to follow through with an investigation into illegal cockfighting after SHARK droned a fighting derby in progress in Felton, Delaware that had attracted more than 70 participants. It was the biggest cockfighting event in recent memory in this state.

Not a single person was apprehended at the fighting venue in Kent County after Delaware State Police failed to respond with appropriate personnel to make arrests. SHARK’s exclusive drone footage of the event shows kids in attendance, mutilated birds, and a rapid break-up of the fight after a single officer from Delaware Animal Services showed up.

Cockfighting and associated activities (e.g., possessing fighting animals or cockfighting paraphernalia and attending a cockfight) are felony offenses under state law. It is also a federal felony to operate a cockfighting venue, to possess fighting animals, to bring a minor to a fight, and to participate in animal fighting activities.

More about our work to end animal fighting. [[link removed]]

Zero Tolerance for Race Horse Deaths, in Training and On the Track
In May following the death of multiple Thoroughbreds in the 10 days leading up to the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs and one horse at Pimlico, Animal Wellness Action and the Center called on industry leaders to embrace the goal of “no young, healthy horses dying on tracks in training or competition.”

The sport’s new national governing body—The Horseracing Safety and Integrity Authority (Authority)—begins implementation of a national race-day antidoping regulatory plan May 22. That plan will bring long-needed uniformity to a patchwork system of regulatory control built around the work of 38 distinct state horse racing commissions. The Authority also has broad authority to institute changes to improve horse safety at Thoroughbred tracks.

Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy [[link removed]] are calling for a culture change within the industry and specific actions by the Authority to reduce on-track deaths of otherwise healthy horses with *
Robust
enforcement
of
the
race-day
doping
prohibitions,
with
meaningful
national
suspensions
and
other
penalties
for
violators
of
the
rules.
*
Banning
the
use
of
the
whip
in
American
racing.
*
Developing
a
plan
to
hold
trainers
and
owners
accountable
to
reduce
death
rates
for
racing
horses
to
levels
approaching
zero,
with
appropriate
national
suspensions
for
trainers
whose
horses
die
at
the
tracks.


Animal Wellness Action is conducting an educational seminar on racing-related horse deaths Thursday, June 8, at 8 p.m. Seats are still available. Learn more and register here [[link removed]] . If you miss the event, it will be available on our YouTube channel [[link removed]] by the end of the day Friday, June 9.

Why this is an issue for us. [[link removed]]

Stopping Trade in Bear Bile to Crack Down on Global Poaching Rings
Along with several organizations and even some U.S. lawmakers, we have introduced legislation to protect the world’s eight species of bears from poaching and wildlife trafficking rings.

The Bear Poaching Elimination Act, by forbidding any interstate transport or foreign sales of gallbladders and bile, seeks to eliminate the killing of bears for trafficking of a single body part of the animals. It’s similar in intent to U.S. policies that seek to halt trade in rhino horns, ivory, and shark fins.

In addition to seeking gallbladders from bears poached in the wild, China has long operated “bear farms,” with the animals kept in pits and abused, to drain bile from their bladders with no pain-killing agents or antiseptic treatments. The end use of the bile from poached or “farmed” bears is employed as a palliative or treatment in Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Read more about bears here. [[link removed]]

Domestic Violence with its Links to Animal Abuse is Affecting Our Children
Domestic violence cases are serious and can be potentially lethal. They are a top priority in the 20th Judicial District, as writers Michael Dougherty, DA Boulder County, and his co-authors say.

Domestic violence offenders expertly manipulate and control their victims, sometimes using physical violence, but more frequently, through other acts of coercive methods. Often, offenders use threats and consequences of future violence toward their intimate partners — and toward the victim’s children and pets in the home.

When children are exposed to intimate partner violence in the home, they may then present with difficulty developing empathy or display a lack of empathy towards others, including animals. Therefore, when children are exposed to domestic violence in the home, they are more likely to commit future animal abuse. Children may also become desensitized to violence, thereby causing a belief that violence is normal or acceptable.

Read our guest piece here. [[link removed]]
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