John – Before we enter the New Year, we wanted to share some of the landmark victories we’ve won on behalf of animals.
Just this month alone, we’ve had a series of HUGE legislative victories. We passed the FDA Modernization Act, the Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act, and the Big Cat Public Safety Act. We also revived the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act to ban race-day doping of horses.
Our strategic victories have convinced a major donor to come through with a $25,000 match. But to fully unlock it, we need to raise $25,000 by DEC 31st AT MIDNIGHT.
Will you make a FULLY MATCHED contribution of $10 or even $25 to help us hit this vital goal?
Thank you, and please read on below for a full note from Wayne Pacelle!
A message from Wayne Pacelle, President of Animal Wellness Action:
When you support Animal Wellness Action, you want to know that your contributions and advocacy are translated into tangible protections for animals. You want to know that there is a yield on your investment.
I am here to tell you that’s exactly what’s happening. That yield is unparalleled in our field because our team includes the most experienced and strategic set of fighters for animals in our movement.
Just take a look at what happened in December alone.
During this month, we secured vital new national policies for animals – where we worked to reduce animal testing, to protect wildlife from mutilation for the pot, and to stop the reckless breeding of tigers and other big cats for use as pets or, in roadside zoos, as props.
VICTORY on The FDA Modernization Act. This landmark legislation eliminates the requirement for animal testing for all new drug development programs. There are millions of animals used for screening experimental drugs, yet those tests yield little for patients in the form of safety assurances or new treatments or cures.
With this new law, that all changes. This new law will usher in a new era of 21st-century testing methods that do not rely on breeding dogs or capturing primates from the wild, enclosing them in isolation in cages, and subjecting them to painful and often lethal tests.
As a related but separate action, we convinced Congress to allocate $5 million in new funding to develop even better and more reliable alternative test methods, so that we can more quickly wind down the era of needless and painful tests on animals.
VICTORY on the Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act. This bill would halt the trade-in fins for soup, requiring the capture of a shark and hacking off the fins to sell them in commerce. It is estimated that more than 70 million sharks are maimed and killed a year for their fins. It’s hard to believe, but the United States is still a substantial market for shark fin soup. Thanks to this work, shark fin soup is off the menu in the United States.
VICTORY on the Big Cat Public Safety Act. This measure bans breeding of big cats, mainly African lions and tigers, for use in the pet trade and as showpieces at roadside zoos. This bill closes the door on this sort of tawdry exploitation of animals and allows us to focus on protecting the endangered big cats in their native habitats.
More broadly, those gains are just a few of the examples of what your support allows.
We have remade the national agenda for animals by working to introduce 10 new major reforms for animals.
We are working to enforce our laws, by investigating dogfighters and cockfighters and getting illegal animal fighters prosecuted and locked up. Filing lawsuits and investigating stores to see that California’s law to ban the sale of kangaroo parts (used by Nike to make soccer cleats) is obeyed. Securing record levels of funding for enforcement of the Horse Protection Act to halt horse soring, so this deliberate injuring of horses will be stopped.
We even helped defeat a U.S. Senate candidate who conducted inhumane animal tests and wouldn’t renounce that unacceptable use of dogs and other animals in labs.
We are fighting for all animals. And we are working to strengthen our laws and enforce those laws.
You can see what your support has enabled. But there is so much more work to do.
To allow us to continue this life-saving work, I hope you will give generously. No other investment in animal protection can yield so much. You are putting your faith in us, and we aim to deliver. Again and again.
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For the animals,
Wayne Pacelle
President
