͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌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]]

​[link removed] [[link removed]]Monthly Accomplishments and Update
Animal Wellness Action
August 2024

Summary

*
Colorado
officials
announced
that
our
anti-trophy-hunting
ballot
measure—under
the
coalition
name
of
Cats
Aren’t
Trophies,
which
submitted
188,000
signatures
in
support
of
its
qualification—will
appear
on
the
November
ballot
for
a
vote
of
the
people.
The
measure
would
halt
human
assaults
on
mountain
lions,
bobcats,
and
Canada
lynxes,
and
it
is
the
nation’s
most
consequential
anti-trophy
hunting
ballot
measure
ever
launched.
*
A
U.S.
District
Court
judge
determined
that
a
key
farm
animal
protection
law—Question
3,
passed
by
Massachusetts
voters
in
2016—is
not
preempted
by
federal
law.
Animal
Wellness
Action
filed
briefs
in
the
case
as
amicus
curiae
to
protect
one
of
the
nation’s
two
most
important
anti-confinement
farm
animal
protection
measures.
*
There
was
a
new
surge
in
busts
of
animal
fighting
rings,
as
our
Animal
Fighting
Is
the
Pits
[[link removed]]
campaign
spurs
enforcement
actions
across
the
nation.
And
now,
655
agencies
and
groups
have
endorsed
the
FIGHT
Act
in
Congress
to
create,
among
other
provisions,
the
first-ever
“private
right
of
action”
in
any
federal
anti-cruelty
law.
*
After
Cody
Roberts
brought
to
light
the
legal
use
of
a
snowmobile
to
run
down
and
crush
a
wolf
in
Wyoming,
Animal
Wellness
Action
filed
a
federal
lawsuit
challenging
the
U.S.
Fish
and
Wildlife
Service’s
decision
to
ignore
widespread
wolf
abuses
and
killing
in
Northern
Rockies
states.
*
The
FDA
Modernization
Act
2.0
continues
to
attract
tremendous
enthusiasm
from
scientists
and
drug
developers
(680
stories
on
the
subject),
but
the
FDA
is
not
implementing
the
law.
A
key
U.S.
House
Committee
rebuked
the
agency,
and
our
new
authorizing
legislation,
the
FDA
Modernization
Act
3.0,
continues
to
attract
bipartisan
support.

HALTING TROPHY HUNTING
Anti-trophy hunting measure officially qualifies for November ballot
Cats Aren’t Trophies (CATs), a political committee that Animal Wellness Action helped form in Colorado, has officially qualified [[link removed]] a ballot measure to ban trophy hunting of mountain lions and commercial trapping of native bobcats. That measure is the most important election fight against trophy hunting in at least 30 years [[link removed]] . We’ll face a multi-million-dollar campaign from the Safari Club International and other trophy hunting organizations. Trophy hunters and commercial trappers slay as many as 2,000 bobcats and 600 lions a year, most of them in “guaranteed kill” hound hunts led and executed by hunting guides who charge $8,000 for a trophy cat. Jim Keen, D.V.M., Ph.D., the senior veterinarian for the Center for a Humane Economy, issued a report [[link removed]] underscoring that lion populations are self-regulating [[link removed]] and also noting that trophy hunting creates social chaos among surviving lions and increases the proportion of lions less skilled at killing traditional prey.

If you support our work, please consider making a contribution to Animal Wellness Action so we can continue to fight for animals. [[link removed]]

DONATE [[link removed]]

CAGE-FREE FUTURE
Yet one more federal court says Massachusetts farm animal law is constitutional
A U.S. District Court rejected claims from Missouri-based Triumph Foods [[link removed]] and other factory farming interests that a voter-approved statewide farm animal protection law in Massachusetts is preempted by federal law. Federal Judge William G. Young stated that the state law, known as Question 3, “seeks to prevent the sale of pork raised in inhumane conditions … not because it is considered unhealthy [which is determined by federal regulators], but because the policy preferences of the Massachusetts voters demand it not be eligible for sale.”

Almost 80% of Massachusetts voters said no to extreme confinement on Question 3 nearly eight years ago. The pork companies’ defeat is just the latest in a string of losses. In May 2023, the Supreme Court of the United States upheld a nearly identical measure [[link removed]] , California Proposition 12, as constitutional and a proper exercise of state authority.

ANIMAL FIGHTING IS THE PITS
More busts throughout the nation as momentum builds for FIGHT
The pace of animal-fighting busts, mostly at the local level, was robust again in July, with major raids in Granville County [[link removed]] , N.C.; Adams County [[link removed]] , Colo.; Santa Cruz County [[link removed]] , Calif.; and Marathon County, Wisc. The bust in Granville County exposed a criminal network [[link removed]] that includes operators of a massive gamecock farm in Wilkes County, perhaps the biggest in North Carolina, that sells fighting birds throughout the United States and into Mexico. Animal Wellness Action has been investigating this farm, and a trailer from that farm was found at the crime scene—with the farm likely connected to drug cartels in Mexico. Our investigations in the Tarheel State began in earnest in 2020 when we determined it was among the top five point-of-origin states for illegally shipped fighting birds sent to Guam.

Meanwhile, the FIGHT Act, which provides a provision to create a private cause of action to allow private citizens to bring animal fighters to court, has now attracted 655 endorsing agencies and organizations, building on the prior endorsements from the National Sheriffs’ Association [[link removed]] and the National District Attorneys’ Association.

PROTECTING WOLVES
Lawsuit filed to restore protections for wolves in the Northern Rockies
Following an earlier Notice of Intent to Sue [[link removed]] , Animal Wellness Action led a coalition of organizations [[link removed]] in filing a lawsuit [[link removed]] against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for its refusal to give Endangered Species Act protections to the gray wolves in the West, in violation of the ESA and the Administrative Procedure Act. Despite the FWS’ initial finding that listing the Western gray wolf under the ESA “may be warranted,” the agency inexplicably reversed course more than two years later when it decided that the Western gray wolf is not entitled to ESA protection. Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming have gone wild in setting virtually no limits on killing wolves, including allowing the animals to be run over by snowmobiles [[link removed]] , caught in neck snares, and even chased and attacked by packs of dogs. In large parts of these states, wolves can be killed any day of the year and in any number. FWS is continuing to allow decades of wolf recovery to unravel and is failing not just the wolves of the Northern Rockies, but wildlife and wildlands that benefit from healthy and abundant wolf populations.

MODERNIZE TESTING
House Committee rebukes FDA on animal testing
At the close of 2022, Animal Wellness achieved perhaps the biggest federal policy gain ever in Congress on animal testing with the passage of the FDA Modernization Act 2.0. Led by Rand Paul and Cory Booker in the Senate, and Vern Buchanan in the House, the legislation eliminated an animal-testing mandate in new drug development. Perhaps three quarters of animals used in testing are for drug screening. The FDA has done little to implement the law, and that’s why we’ve advocated for new legislation—the FDA Modernization Act 3.0—to push FDA to act and to set up a system for qualifying non-animal tests.

As a further prod to FDA, the House Appropriations Committee included this language in its Fiscal Year 2025 spending bill: “The Committee urges the continued implementation of the FDA Modernization Act 2.0, designed to modernize the drug development process and empower free market competition. Significant delays may sow confusion among drug sponsors and stifle free-market innovation in new drug development. The Committee requests a briefing 120 days after the enactment of this Act providing an update on implementation and timeline of future activities.” More than 680 news outlets have written about the FDA Modernization Act 2.0 since its passage, many of which noted the paradigm shift it augurs in drug testing not only in the United States but throughout the world.

UPDATES ON ITEMS FROM PRIOR REPORTS

*
PROTECTING
ALL
FOREST
OWLS.
In
response
to
the
U.S.
Fish
and
Wildlife
Service
announcing
plans
[[link removed]]
to
kill
450,000
barred
owls
over
the
coming
30
years
to
reduce
competition
with
spotted
owls
in
the
Pacific
Northwest,
we
are
readying
a
lawsuit
to
stop
it.
This
final
decision
by
the
agency
again
commanded
international
headlines
[[link removed]]
because
it
would
be
the
largest
raptor
slaughter
in
the
world.
Our
legal
team
is
developing
plans
to
sue
the
agency,
and
we
are
also
preparing
to
lobby
Congress
to
defund
the
mass-killing
plan.
The
quarter-of-a-billion-dollar
plan
is
doomed
to
fail,
with
the
agency
suggesting
that
mass
killing
of
owls
across
roadless
areas
in
17
national
forests
and
six
national
parks
is
both
acceptable
and
workable.
Our
coalition
opposing
the
owl
slaughter
consists
of
more
than
150
groups.
*
RESCUING
DOGS.
We
are
fighting
a
separate
government
plan—this
one
by
the
Centers
for
Disease
Control
and
Prevention
and
taking
effect
August
1st—to
adopt
onerous
import
standards
for
pet
owners.
The
new
standards
would
impact
U.S.
military
and
Foreign
Service
personnel,
as
well
as
international
dog
rescue
groups,
and
their
ability
to
bring
dogs
back
into
the
United
States
from
abroad.


The
CDC
now
“requires
for
all
dog
imports:
a
microchip,
six-month
minimum
age
requirement
for
admission,
and
importer
submission
of
a
CDC
import
form.”
While
this
policy
brings
a
major
benefit—a
practical
ban
on
the
import
of
puppy
mill
dogs
from
foreign
nations—it
also
makes
it
very
difficult
for
any
pet
owners
or
Foreign
Service
or
military
personnel
to
return
with
a
dog
to
the
United
States.
It
also
imposes
substantial
burdens
on
charities
[[link removed]]
doing
international
dog
rescue
and
seeking
a
new
chance
for
dogs
in
this
country.
With
this
rulemaking,
the
CDC
has
made
a
haywire
risk
assessment
[[link removed]]
,
taking
a
hyper-protective
approach
to
the
low
risk
of
imports
of
rabies-infected
animals
while
doing
virtually
nothing
to
address
actual
and
acute
domestic
risks
from
U.S.-based
mink
farms
and
illegal
cockfighting
farms.


Many
airlines,
including
Lufthansa
[[link removed]]
,
Finnair
[[link removed]]
,
Swiss
International
Air
Lines
[[link removed]]
,
and
Austrian
Airlines
[[link removed]]
,
have
already
announced
the
policies
are
too
burdensome
and
are
stopping
transports
in
the
cabin
or
in
cargo,
confirming
our
fears.



Wayne Pacelle [[link removed]] Wayne Pacelle
President
Animal Wellness Action
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