breakthrough for bobcats, bears

8 HUMANE ACTIVIST NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2012

2100 L Street, NWSuite 310

Washington, DC 20037

Address service requested

THE AYES HAVE IT

sentenced confessed dogfighter Collin Rand Jr. to six months in jail and more than $12,000 in fines, restitution, and court costs, the maximum punishment the law allowed. She also banned him from owning a dog. Sutula warned Rand that she would send him to prison for more than 12 years if he violated his sentence, add-ing “If I had the freedom and discretion, you’d be serving … 27 years. A year for each dog.”

Speaking at a city council meeting, the city manager of Hermiston, Ore., made it clear that he is adamantly against a proposal to build a horse slaughter plant there. “I do not believe that project is anything but detrimen-tal to the long-term development and image of this community,” said Ed BrookshiEr. “I believe it has very significant land use prob-lems associated with it.” Local newspaper East OrEgOnian lauded Brookshier for his stand, writing that the cost of blocking the facility “will be worth every penny if it pre-vents Hermiston from becoming known as the Eastern Oregon city that’s home to a horse slaughter plant.” An ensuing report by the city’s land use attorney found that the potential plant site does not have water rights and is pro-hibited under current zoning ordinances.

Rubbing elbows with a rhinoceros at a sanctuary in Kenya, retired NBA superstar Yao Ming likened the experience to guarding Shaquille O’Neal. “These are immense and powerful creatures. But this power is meaningless in the face of a poacher’s bullet or wire snare.” Yao visited Africa with advocacy group WildAid to film a documentary on the plight of rhinos and elephants poached for their horns and tusks. He hopes raising awareness among his Chinese countrymen will decrease the demand for ivory and horn products.

ThE California fish and gaME CoMMission unanimously voted to remove Dan Richards as president in August, six months after he ignited a firestorm by proudly posing for a photograph with a dead mountain lion after hounds chased the animal up a tree at an Idaho ranch. Hunting mountain lions is legal in Idaho but banned in California; Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom had urged Richards to resign, writing, “While not in California at the time, your actions call into ques-tion whether you can live up to the calling of your office.”

ohio JudgE kaThlEEn ann suTula received a standing ovation from courtroom observ-ers after calling for stronger laws against animal fighting in the state. The comment came as Sutula TH

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NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2012

IN thIs IssuEsORE WINNERsHouse bill targets cruel horse soring

COOkINg WIth COMpassION HSLF national council member looks back on founding Field Roast

REguLatORY REVIEW A look at steps forward, setbacks from the Obama administration

HUMANE ACTIVIST

Breakthrough for Bobcats, BearsCalifornians rally against hound hunting

There was a Time, deep in California’s central Sierra Nevada Mountains, when Jake Sinclair looked forward to seeing black bears on his early morn-ing outings. The San Francisco Bay-area pediatrician liked to watch along-side his wife and three children as the animals ambled across the landscape near their cabin. As he wrote in a letter to state legislators: “The dogs would bark, the bears [would] rumble off into the woods, and neither of us bothered each other.”

hslf.org

ConTinued on page 3

� e Humane Society LegislativeFund is a social welfare organizationincorporated under section 501(c)(4)of the Internal Revenue Code andformed in 2004 as a separate lobbyinga� liate of � e Humane Society ofthe United States. HSLF works to passanimal protection laws at the stateand federal levels, to educate the publicabout animal protection issues, andto support humane candidates foro� ce. On the web at hslf.org. Contributions or gi� s to HSLFare not tax deductible. Your donation may be used for lobbying to pass lawsto protect animals, as well as forpolitical purposes, such as supporting or opposing candidates.

sTaff: President, michael markarian; Executive Vice President,

Wayne Pacelle; Executive director, Sara amundson; Political director,

dane Waters; Senior Federal Policy advisor, Connie Harriman-Whitfi eld;

Philanthropy director, Steve ann Chambers; Program manager,

Colleen Crinion; online Communications manager, Scott Tucker.

HSuS Publications: Editor-in-Chief, nancy Lawson; Creative director,

Jennifer Cork; managing Editor, angela moxley; deputy director,

Elizabeth mcnulty; assistant managing Editor, michael Sharp;

Graphic designer: Shaina Lieberman.

Humane Activist (ISSN 1524-5233) is published fi ve times a year by the Humane Society Legislative Fund. To subscribe to Humane Activist and to receive our annual Humane Scorecard, send a donation of $10 or more to the Humane Society Legislative Fund at 2100 L St., NW, Suite 310, Washington, D.C. 20037, or contact us at 202-676-2314 or [email protected].

No permission is required for the reproduction of text from HumaneActivist, provided that 1) it is not altered, 2) the context does not contradict its spirit and intent, and 3) credit is given as follows: Reprinted from Humane Activist/Humane Society Legislative Fund. For information on the reproduction of photographs or other graphics, email [email protected].

Printed on recycled paper, elemental chlorine-free, with soy-based ink.

©2012 Humane Society Legislative Fund. All rights reserved.

Dear Friends,

Congress recessed in September for the election without reaching any agreement on defi cit-reduction legislation. Th is failure to act may trigger sequestration cuts of $1.2 trillion in government spend-ing over the next nine years, beginning in January 2013.

Animal advocates are wondering what sequestration may mean for government programs that aff ect animal welfare. While it is un-clear exactly which programs would be cut, the cuts will apply across the board to both mandatory and discretionary programs. Here are some of the ways sequestration could impact animals:

horsEs Fewer funds for immunocontraception, meaning more wild horses could be inhumanely rounded up each year for long-term warehousing / Less money for enforcement of the Horse Protection Act to prevent soring of show horses

dogs Cuts to inspections of and enforcement actions against puppy mill dealers / Less money for detecting dangerous toxins in dog food and treats

laBoraTorY aniMals Less money for ensuring the humane treatment of animals used in research, for � nding alternative models, and for setting up permanent sanctuaries for chimpanzees retired from invasive biomedical research

farM aniMals Cuts to enforcement of humane handling laws at slaughterhouses / Less funding for the � rst humane handling ombudsman, to whom employees and stakeholders can report concerns regarding inhumane treatment

Of course, while there are valuable government programs that need adequate funding to enforce our nation’s laws on animal welfare, there are also wasteful programs that harm ani-mals with profl igate spending. We have a number of suggestions for congressional cuts:

Th e Bureau of Land Management would save more than $16 million over the next year by using immunocontraception to manage wild horses and burros rather than rounding them up and keeping them in costly holding facilities.

Ending the use of chimpanzees in federally funded invasive research would save as much as $25 million annually. Th e animals have already proven unnecessary for biomedical research.

Congress should cut $10 billion in agriculture programs. Exorbitant subsidies that go to a small number of large-scale wealthy producers encourage massive factory farm development.

USDA should cut $11 million from its inhumane and ineff ective lethal predator control budget, which oft en kills nontargeted animals, including beloved pets and members of threatened and endangered species.

Th e government-run National Toxicology Program should stop using animal testing to as-sess the safety of chemicals and drugs in favor of far less costly and more humane alternatives. Evaluating the cancer-causing potential of a single chemical in a conventional rodent test takes up to fi ve years, 800 animals, and $4 million.

Let your members of Congress know that there are savings to be had by cutting wasteful programs that harm animals, and that targeted defi cit-reduction that takes aim at these ter-rible programs is more eff ective than across-the-board cuts.

PrESIDENT’S LETTER

Sincerely,

Michael MarkarianPresidentHumane Society Legislative Fund

To kEEP TaBs on the 2012 elections, and what the results mean for animals, check hslf.org.

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ConTinued From CoVer

Back then, only traditional hunters visited during bear season—and the animals remained plentiful. But four years ago, hound hunt-ers discovered the peaceful valley. They arrived four and fi ve truck-loads at a time, using packs of 20 to 30 dogs to chase down and tree the bears before showing up and shooting the exhausted animals. “The fi rst year they killed a mother and one of her cubs,” Sinclair wrote legislators. “Over the next two years we don’t know how many they killed. But we never see bears anymore.”

Before writing that letter, Sinclair hadn’t known where to turn for help. He’d talked to sympathetic forest rangers, donated money to animal-friendly legislators, and even thought about riding a mo-torcycle around to scare off the bears during hunt-ing season. Then he received an email alert about a proposition in the California legislature that would ban bear and bobcat hounding in the state.

The result of a grassroots eff ort, S.B. 1221 was in-troduced in April 2012—after then-president of the California Fish and Game Commission Dan Richards hounded and killed a mountain lion in Idaho. Though legal in Idaho, hunting mountain lions was banned in the Golden State in 1990. The scandal shocked Californians and brought awareness that bear and bobcat hounding was still legal in the state. A rallying cry rang through the air.

Staff from shelters in hunting regions wrote letters to legislators in support, noting rail-thin strays with gashed sides and raw pads, and the near impossibility of adopting these single-minded hounds. One shelter had discovered a dead dog lying on his master’s shirt, awaiting his return.

Mill Valley resident and animal advocate Carol Misseldine thought S.B. 1221 was a slam dunk since bear hounding is prohibited in 14

other states and 83 percent of California voters oppose the practice. Working alongside animal welfare leaders in the eff ort, she began posting Facebook messages and contacting her legislators for sup-port. But when opposition began to materialize, backed by extreme groups like the NRA, she stepped up her game. She wrote a letter to the editor calling out an opposing senator (who later changed her vote), convinced her county to adopt a resolution supporting the bill, and talked to key legislators at local events.

As the bill advanced through legislative hear-ings, supporters joined the cause. More than 100 California veterinarians spoke in support of the resolution, and advocates packed the hearings. HSLF board member Cheri Shankar worked closely with the Los Angeles City Council, which adopted a resolution supporting the bill.

In July, Sinclair and his children attended a com-mittee hearing with other advocates. By then, the bill had made one successful run through the Senate before being amended. Encouraged, he went home

and wrote his letter, which his family then hand-delivered to legislative offi ces. “People listen to kids more,” says Sinclair. “They are seeing adult lobbyists all day, so it’s like, ‘Wow, I’m going to pay attention!’ ”

By late August, S.B. 1221 had passed both chambers. “All these trickles … grow into a really powerful river of action,” Misseldine says, “and that’s why it passed both the Assembly and Senate twice.” The Sinclairs made one fi nal trip to the legislative offi ces in Sacramento, delivering 65 plates of chocolate chip cookies as thanks.

In late September, Gov. Jerry Brown listened to the collective voice of voters and supporters and signed S.B. 1221 into law. Responding to the news, Sinclair emailed: “After a few whoops, I broke down and just started crying. … I am so, so happy right now.”

“ALL THESE TRICKLES …

GROW INTO A REALLY POWERFUL

RIVER OF ACTION.” — ADVOCATE CAROL MISSELDINE

HUMANE ACTIVIST 3

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The following is a sample of HSLF-supported animal protection bills before the U.S. Congress. It’s vital that you call, email, or write your leg-islators to let them know your views on these bills. To fi nd out who your legislators are and how to reach them directly, go to hslf.org/leglookup or call 202-676-2314. When you call a legislator’s offi ce, ask to speak with the staff person handling animal protection issues. Give the bill number (if available) and

the name of the bill or issue. Be polite, brief, and to the point. If you plan to visit Washington, D.C., make an appointment to meet with your legislators or their staff to discuss animal issues. We can help you with background information and may be able to accompany you on your visits.

please note: Due to security procedures on Capitol Hill, regular mail to members of Con gress may be signifi cantly delayed. Telephone calls and emails are the best ways to contact your legislators about pending bills.

FARM ANIMALS

To create a uniform national standard for the housing and treatment of egg-laying hens, phased in over a period of 15–18 years, that will signifi cantly improve animal welfare and provide a stable future for egg farmers. Sponsors: reps. Schrader, d-ore.; Gallegly, r-Calif.; Farr, d-Calif.; denham, r-Calif. / Sen. Feinstein, d-Calif.

To phase out routine nontherapeutic use of antibiotics in farm animals—a common practice to promote growth and compensate for overcrowded, stressful, unsanitary conditions on factory farms—in order to maintain the eff ectiveness of these medicines for treating sick people and animals. Sponsors: rep. Slaughter, d-n.Y. / Sens. Feinstein, d-Calif.; Collins, r-maine

Egg Products inspectionact amendments H.r. 3798 / S. 3239

Preservation of antibiotics for Medical Treatment act H.r. 965 / S. 1211

To prohibit the use of live animals such as goats and pigs for training membersof the armed forces in the treatment of combat injuries. Sponsor: rep. Filner, d-Calif.

To phase out the use of chimpanzees in invasive research, retire the approximately 500 federally owned chimpanzees to sanctuary, and codify the NIH ban on breeding chimpanzees for invasive research. Sponsors: reps. Bartlett, r-md.; Israel, d-n.Y.; reichert, r-Wash.; Langevin, d-r.I.; Towns, d-n.Y. / Sens. Cantwell, d-Wash.; Collins, r-maine; Sanders, I-Vt.

BEsT Practices actH.r. 1417

great ape Protectionand Cost savings actH.r. 1513 / S. 810: Passed Senate committee by voice vote

american horseslaughter Prevention actH.r. 2966 / S. 1176

horse Protection act amendmentsH.r. 6388

horse Transportation safety actS. 128

interstate horseracingimprovement actH.r. 1733 / S. 886

To prohibit the knowing and intentional possession, shipment, transport, purchase, sale, delivery, or receipt of a horse for slaughter for human consumption. Sponsors: reps. Burton, r-Ind.; Schakowsky, d-Ill. / Sens. Landrieu, d-La.; Graham, r-S.C.

To strengthen enforcement of the Horse Protection Act against soring of Tennessee walking horses by eliminating the failed system of industry self-policing, banning use of certain devices, stiff ening penalties, and making other needed reforms. Sponsors: reps. Whitfi eld, r-Ky.; Cohen, d-Tenn.; Schakowsky, d-Ill.; moran, d-Va.

To prohibit the interstate transportation of horses in a motor vehicle containingtwo or more levels, regardless of the destination. Sponsors: Sens. Kirk, r-Ill.; Lautenberg, d-n.J.

To prohibit the use of performance-enhancing drugs in horse racing, whichjeopardizes the health and safety of horses and jockeys. Sponsors: rep. Whitfi eld, r-Ky. / Sen. udall, d-n.m.

EQUINES

lEGISlATIVE LINEUP

ANIMALS IN RESEARCH


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PETS AND CRUELTY

WILDLIFE

animal fighting spectator Prohibition actH.r. 2492 / S. 1947: related amendments to farm bill passed House committee and full Senate

Canine Members of the armed forces actH.r. 4103: related language passed House in defense reauthorization bill / S. 2134

Puppy uniformProtection and safety actH.r. 835 / S. 707

To establish misdemeanor penalties for knowingly attending an organized animal fi ght and felony penalties for bringing a minor to such a fi ght. Sponsors: reps. marino, r-Pa.; Sutton, d-ohio / Sens. Blumenthal, d-Conn.; Kirk, r-Ill.; Cantwell, d-Wash.; Brown, r-mass.

To provide for the retirement, adoption, care, and recognition of military working dogs as canine members of the armed forces and end their classifi cation as equipment. Sponsors: rep. Jones, r-n.C. / Sen. Blumenthal, d-Conn.

To establish licensing and inspection requirements for breeders who sell 50 or more puppies per year directly to consumers online or by other means, and to require that breeding dogs at commercial breeding facilities be allowed to ex-ercise daily. Sponsors: reps. Gerlach, r-Pa.; Farr, d-Calif.; Young, r-Fla.; Capps, d-Calif. Sens. durbin, d-Ill.; Vitter, r-La.

To prohibit interstate and foreign commerce in nonhuman primatesfor the pet trade. Sponsors: reps. Fitzpatrick, r-Pa.; Blumenauer, d-ore. / Sens. Boxer, d-Calif.; Vitter, r-La.; Blumenthal, d-Conn.

To prohibit importation of certain injurious species of constrictor snakes. Sponsor: rep. rooney, r-Fla.

Captive Primate safety actH.r. 4306 / S. 1324: Passed Senate committee by voice vote

Constrictor snakesH.r. 511: Passed committee

Suffering, for Sport

over seven weeks last year, an undercover HSUS investigation cap-tured gruesome evidence of trainers soring Tennessee walking hors-es. The animals were smashed in the face with wooden poles, even shocked with a cattle prod; painful, caustic chemicals were applied to their pasterns. Several horses lay in their stalls in audible pain.

This summer, a court-ordered videotaped interview conducted by The HSUS with a former trainer—one who had just served jail time for violating the Horse Protection Act—off ered a revealing take on the scope of the problem: “You’re not going to win if you don’t sore.”

Now, a new bill in the U.S. House of Representatives aims to crack down further on the practice, in which trainers intentionally infl ict pain on horses’ legs or hooves in an eff ort to exaggerate their high-stepping gait in competitions.

The Horse Protection Act Amendments of 2012 (H.R. 6388) seeks to give the USDA, rather than horse industry organizations, the pow-er to license, train, assign, and oversee the inspectors charged with policing Tennessee walking horse shows. The bill would also estab-lish felony penalties and ban devices commonly associated with sor-

ing, like chains that painfully slide up and down a horse’s sored legs.It would also update the Horse Protection Act so that soring it-

self—not just showing a horse who’s been sored—is illegal.“Left to its own, the Tennessee walking horse has a magnifi -

cent, graceful gait,” says Connie Harriman-Whitfi eld, HSLF senior federal policy advisor. “But competitive humans have interfered and demanded that the step be artifi cially higher, and this has led to a culture of competition that breeds winning at any cost, including ex-treme intentional cruelty.”


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The usda proposed closing a loophole in puppy mill regulations (left). more work is needed to help endangered right whales and to find alternatives to usda’s inhumane and ineffective lethal predator control program (below).

an older shih tzu—nearly blind, with an untreated broken leg—cowers in the corner of her pen, trying to escape the Mississippi sun. Inside, on that same property, young puppies and their mother are confined to a crate that’s crawling with roaches.

For these dogs and so many others suffering in puppy mills, 2012 offered a breakthrough.

In May, the USDA proposed a rule requiring that large-scale commercial breeders who sell directly to the public—sight unseen—adhere to the same care standards as those selling puppies to pet stores. The rule aims to close a loophole in Animal Welfare Act regulations that has allowed these operations to escape federal licensing and inspections, particularly when selling over the Internet.

Animal advocates collected some 350,000 letters and signatures in support of the rule, which could help tens of thousands of dogs at currently unlicensed breeding operations, like the 74 dogs rescued from a Mississippi puppy mill earlier this year.

“Even though USDA has had the authority to take action on this issue dating from when we first communicated with them in 1989,” says HSLF executive director Sara Amundson, “it is telling that this administration has moved so ex-peditiously to propose the rule, finalize the com-ment period, and hopefully issue a final rule be-fore the end of the year.”

The proposal marked a critical step forward for the Obama administra-tion in a year of regulatory strides and shortcomings for animal protection. The signs of progress included a proposal to better protect companion animals transported via commercial airline, as the U.S. Department of Transportation in July proposed raising from 15 to 36 the number of airlines that must re-port companion animal losses, injuries, and deaths in cargo holds. The carriers would also be required to report the total number of animals transported each year. The changes should increase transparency for travelers and accountability

from the airlines, and Amundson hopes the final rule is tweaked to cover more animals like baby chicks as well.

Among the year’s setbacks, The USDA continues to use ineffective and in-humane methods to kill coyotes and other predators, including controversial poisons like Compound 1080 and sodium cyanide, which have claimed the lives of family pets and endangered animals.

And when it comes to downer calves, the administration has failed to take final action on a rule to protect calves too sick, too injured, or too young to walk by keeping them out of the food supply.

Likewise, the National Marine Fisheries Service has yet to move forward for endangered North Atlantic right whales, even though fewer than 500

remain. In response to a petition to expand the whales’ critical habitat—which federal agencies must ensure will not be adversely modified or de-stroyed by their actions—the fisheries service had previously promised to address the situation by the end of 2011, but no action has been taken.

In June, several groups also petitioned the agen-cy to delay expiration of speed limits off the Atlan-tic Coast and expand the area in which they apply. Regina Asmutis-Silvia, executive director of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, says it’s important to address ship strikes and other threats

such as fishing gear entanglement because right whales “are a viable popula-tion. They can recover. … We have to stop having human impacts kill them so that they have that time to recover. We’re not looking at something that’s going extinct just hopelessly.”

For a complete look at how the Obama administration has fared on animal welfare issues this year, check hslf.org/obamareportcard.

“It Is tellIng that this administration

has moved so expeditiously...”— Sara amundSon, HSLF executive

director, on tHe new puppy miLL ruLe

Right Whales

Puppy Mills

S t r i d e S and ShortcomingSobama administration takes key steps for animals in 2012, but work remains

Coyotes


Hot from the HeartField Roast founder talks cooking, compassion

seattle chef david lee has always used compassion as a guidepost for his career. In the late 1980s, he left the world of fine dining to dedicate himself to helping people in need, founding a nonprofit organization to provide food for homeless shelters, feed AIDs patients, and train homeless men and women in the culinary arts. His desire to alleviate the suffering of factory farm animals led Lee to develop Field Roast, a grain-based meat produced with techniques created by Buddhist monks in the seventh century. In 2011, Lee’s longtime work on behalf of humans and animals earned him the James Beard Foundation’s Humanitarian of the Year Award and Farm Sanctuary’s Corporate Leader in Compassion Award. A member of HSLF’s national council, Lee discusses his advocacy in this edited interview.

What was the inspiration for creating field roast? I was work-ing for a vegetarian company and was developing a vegan teriyaki wrap. I was looking for a vegan pro-tein to put inside. I wanted some-thing firmer that could take on the flavor of the flame and could be marinated. I looked at the category and saw all these heavily processed fake animal meats. I knew that peo-ple wanted something better than that. That’s what led me to Field Roast. I set out to create something that was not fake, but real, because I think people like real food.

do you have a personal favorite field roast product? They’re all my children! I’ve been doing this for over 15 years.

Yes, but parents always have favorites. It’s always the latest thing. I love the wild mushroom

slices, the smoked tomato, the franks—our most recent product.

anything new coming up? We see a lot of opportunity right now. There’s a major shift happening in our society, moving away from animal proteins to plant-based proteins. That growth is driven not so much by people be-coming vegetarian or vegan but just by eating compassionately and eating fewer animal prod-ucts. We have an artisan hand-formed burger that we’re selling to some baseball parks around the country.

That’s a huge departure from typical ball-park fare. What other change have you seen over the last 10 years or so? I was sit-ting in an upscale vegan restaurant last night. I commented that when I started Field Roast 15 years ago there was nothing like this. Vegan was very niche and very “other” in society.

Veganism is a more compassionate way of eating, and it’s certainly becoming more main-stream, with President Clinton and Oprah and Ellen DeGeneres. I was at Whole Foods the other day speaking to someone who manages the dairy section, where the vegetarian meats are located. She’s really noticed the upswing in people asking about these products—ours as well as others in the category. That bodes well.

witnessed the whole process, from slaughter to cutting up into pieces. That obviously affected me and my view of animal farming. I saw the suffering those animals go through.

What issue most interests you? Supporting the elimination of gestation crates and battery cages. That’s really what motivates me to do the work I do. My activism is about making the best possible replacement for animal products that I can make.

how did your concern for animal welfare evolve? I think it comes from a platform of empathy that I think I’ve always had. There was this slaughterhouse in the central part of Seattle [in the 80s]. I’d often go for Sunday bicycle rides, and they would park these containers full of chickens waiting to be slaughtered out where people could see them. I remember being really affected by that and watching them. Using my credentials as a chef and my relationship to that poultry company, I actually went on a tour and

Chef david Lee (right) and his son malcolm alongside racks of vegan sausages.

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breakthrough for bobcats, bears

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