Dear friend,

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., is not one to get weak in the knees. He told Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum he’s not backing down. The leading animal-welfare Republican in the U.S. Senate, Kennedy is the author of the resolution to nullify a billion-dollar Interior Department scheme to massacre North American barred owls.

This week, Secretary Burgum tried to strong-arm Kennedy and convince him to bury his owl protection resolution. Last week, Kennedy gathered signatures from 30 Senate colleagues to sign a petition to bring the measure to the floor for a vote of all 100 senators.

“They can’t stop me,” Sen. Kennedy told E&E News. “He wants to kill the barred owl — he loves it like the devil loves sin. And I told him to have at it and go out there and explain to the American people why he wants to turn the federal government loose and kill 470,000 baby owl chicks.”

Sen. Kennedy has long been a hero to animal protection advocates. He’s the co-leader of the FIGHT Act to combat dogfighting and cockfighting. He’s the co-leader of the FISCAL Act to stop the government from giving millions of lactose-intolerant kids milk that makes them sick — resulting in 177 million gallons of milk tossed in the trash and squandering the labors of cows. He’s a cosponsor of the bill to ban horse slaughter, and he was a past leader of the Animal Cruelty Enforcement Act to create a prosecutors unit at the Department of Justice to focus on animal cruelty.

He's not the type to back down from a fight. And if he’s not backing down, we’re not either. We’re shoulder to shoulder with him.

And please remember: the government’s plan to spend a billion dollars to kill barred owls is just the beginning. This plan also unlocks massive killing of spotted owls. This is a barred and spotted owl kill plan, and I wrote about that on Tuesday.

Sen. Kennedy said the debate and the vote on his resolution will come up next week. I guess we’ll see what senator wants to stand in the well and defend shooting 470,000 barred owls and leaving countless owlets orphaned.

It’s time to renew your communications to your senators with the vote fast approaching. And we are having a special webinar tonight to plan for the battle and to remind everyone what’s at stake. If you haven’t signed up, please do so by going here and then join us. We are in a battle and we need you.

For barred and spotted owls,

Wayne Pacelle President Animal Wellness Action