This election cycle has been undeniably tense. There are many topics on the forefront of voters minds: the economy, women's rights, gun violence prevention, the deficit... the list goes on. Most recently, the topic of "eating cats and dogs" has even surfaced due to the viral claim that Haitian migrants are eating pets in Springfield, Ohio.
With so much misinformation and obfuscation in the mainstream media, finding well-sourced information on the platforms of Donald Trump and Kamala Harris can be difficult. Here, we have a non-partisan analysis for better understanding the positions of the candidates on key issues of animal welfare.
Former President Donald J. Trump's Record on Animal Welfare
Trump's record on animal welfare is mixed. We had some good moments for animals under Trump's presidency, such as the signing of the PACT Act. However, he also rolled back protections for endangered species, farm animals, and the environment.
Let's start on a positive note:
In 2018, Trump signed the bipartisan PACT Act. This act amended an Obama era act criminalizing many acts of animal cruelty to include the production and distribution of video depicting animal cruelty, and designated animal cruelty as a federal crime and a felony.
In 2018, as part of the Farm Bill, he signed the Dog and Cat Meat Trade Prohibition Act. This act made it a federal crime to knowingly slaughter dogs and cats for human consumption, or to transport their meat. Also included in this bill was the expansion of bans on dog-fighting and cock-fighting to US territories beyond the 50 states.
Also part of the Farm Bill was the PAWs Act: The Pets and Women Safety Act. This act provides several protections for women fleeing domestic violence with their pets. It broadened the definition of "stalking"to include explicit or implicit threats to a survivor's pet. It also obligates offenders of domestic violence to pay their victim back for any vet bills incurred as a result of violence, and urges the Department of Agriculture to provide grants to programs and women's shelters that support victims with pets.
Unfortunately, he also rolled back many protections for animals.
Shortly after taking office, public data and information regarding animal welfare was purged from the USDA website under the new leadership appointed by Trump. Included in the purge was inspection reports for zoos, research labs, commercial pet breeders, factory farms, and other facilities. It also removed records and reports of the Animal Welfare Act violations committed by hundreds of corporations and organizations.
Transparency is crucial in a democratic society. These documents were routinely used by journalists and animal rights watchdog groups to monitor the behavior of these entities and hold them accountable for animal rights violations. The secrecy allows these entities to commit heinous animal rights violations with no oversight or public consequence.
Trump's Department of Interior delisted and downlisted many species of endangered predators such as wolves and bears from the Endangered Species Act. By delisting these species, they lost many of their legal protections.
The administration claimed that the choice to delist the wolves was made because wolves were no longer endangered, but provided no credible sources to support this. Wolves and bears still occupy only a small fraction of their historic range, and their populations are still highly endangered. This decision was not based on science, but rather was a handout to trophy hunters and poachers, who now could kill these endangered species if they claimed the predators posed a threat to livestock.
Shockingly, Trump's administration legalized the killing of baby bears and wolves in their dens within Alaska's National Parks. It also legalizes many other unethical and controversial practices, such as using human food to lure bears into traps, killing hibernating bears, and shooting caribous from motorboats while they are swimming.
Under Trump, the Department of Interior lifted a ban on the import of "trophies" (body parts) of endangered species hunted abroad. Trump's administration handed out licenses to import trophies from lions, black rhinos, and elephants.
Under Trump, the USDA repealed regulations on organic farming. These regulations set a standard of living for the animals involved in organic food processing. Repealing them resulted in an even poorer quality of life for these animals, and heightened the risk of food-bourne illnesses to people.
Finally, let's discuss Trump's viral claim that Haitian migrants are eating the pet cats and dogs of the residents of Springfield, Ohio. This claim has no factual basis (fact check linked here). Local officials (police department and city manager) have confirmed that there have been no reports of animal abuse or cruelty committed by members of the migrant community. In response to the city's public denial of the claim, President Trump has shared a police body camera footage of a woman who appears to be eating a dead cat. However, this woman is not from Springfield, and she is not an immigrant. She is an American citizen and a long-time Ohio resident with a history of criminal behavior and mental health problems.
While the origins of this rumor are unclear, it is possible that the "cat eating" claim is a campaign strategy designed to generate pro-animal press for the Trump-Vance campaign after Vance made a comment about "cat ladies" that many perceived to be offensive.
To summarize Trump's animal welfare record, he started on a high note with the 2018 Farm Bill and the PAWs Act. Both of these actions expanded protections for owned pets. However, beyond that, Trump's presidency was characterized by the removal of protections for endangered animals, and prioritized the desires of big-game trophy hunters over the right to existence for endangered animals.
Vice President Kamala Harris' Record on Animal Welfare
The Vice President's record on animal welfare is also mixed. During her time as a U.S. Senator, she supported and cosponsored many bills defending animal welfare and protecting the rights of animals, and she successfully defended many animal welfare state laws as California's Attorney General. It is worth noting that both the PAWs Act and the Farm Bills signed by Trump were originally cosponsored by Kamala Harris. However, as Vice President to Joe Biden, we were disappointed in administration's overall lack of progress.
To begin on a positive note, here are some highlights during her time as Vice President to Joe Biden:
Biden-Harris administration reinstated the the regulations on organics that Trump had repealed (as described above). In doing so, corporations advertising animal meat as "organic" had to meet standards for outdoor access, natural movement, and other criteria for quality of life. It is estimated that these regulations improve the lives of over 50 million farm animals.
Under the Biden-Harris administration, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has taken crucial steps toward the banning of "predator control": a barbaric practice of killing native predators such as bears, coyotes, cougars, foxes, and bobcats just for existing.
Rules against the import of African elephant parts or "trophies" were finalized.
The USDA extended the protections of the Animal Welfare Act to include birds.
Also included in the extended protections of the Animal Welfare Act was stricter regulations on commercial animal breeders.
The Department of Justice ruled on a settlement which fined Inotiv- a company which bred dogs for the purpose of animal testing- $11 million dollars. As a result of the federal investigation, over 4,000 dogs were rescued from the inhumane laboratories. This ruling also banned the company from ever breeding or selling dogs again.
It is also worth noting that the issue of animal welfare is tightly intertwined with the issue of environmental justice and climate change, a topic in which the Biden-Harris has had the upper hand.
Here are some of the low points of the Biden-Harris administration:
The Department of Justice supported the position of several factory farm coalitions to curb mandates that farm animals must have the space to stand up, turn around, or spread their wings.
Biden-appointed Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack pandered to factory farm lobbyists to continue the use of metal cages so small that gestating pigs cannot turn around or move more than a few inches for months at a time.
The administration denied a petition to give Rocky Mountain wolves protections as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act.
Prior to her Vice Presidency, Harris had an impressive record as California State Senator Here are some of the many pro-animal welfare bills Kamala Harris cosponsored during her time in the Senate (click the link above for the full list of bills):
PAWs Act (Pet and Women Safety Act): Expanded federal domestic violence protections to include the pets of victims and survivors. It also authorized grant money for programs and safe-houses which welcomed survivors fleeing violence with their pets.
PACE Act (Parity in Animal Cruelty Enforcement): Part of the 2018 Farm Bill, this expanded federal prohibitions on animal fighting to include US territories outside of the 50 states.
SAFE Act (Safeguard American Food Exports): Outlaws the transport and export of horses for slaughter or human consumption.
Shark Fin Trade Elimination Act: This act strengthened federal bans against "shark finning": the act of slicing off the fins of sharks to sell them, and then tossing the animal back into the ocean to die.
She sponsored HEART Act (Help Extract Animals from Red Tape): Legislation to help remove dogs from the custody of dog-fighting rings and place them in adoptive homes. This bill would have also shifted the financial responsibility of care for these seized dogs from the taxpayers to the dog fighters. It was unfortunately killed in committee.
As California's Attorney General, Harris successfully defended and enforced a variety of state laws which protect the freedoms and rights of animals:
In 2006, the San Fransisco city council mandated that all pit bulls must be sterilized in San Fransisco city limits. Enforced by Harris, this ordinance reduced the shelter intakes (and euthanasia) of pit bulls by 66% in just 2 years.
She defended California State law on the sale of battery cage eggs, and outlawed the import of battery cage eggs produced in other states. A battery cage is a type of wire confine that houses many hens in a small amount of space, stacked on top of one another, where the feces and urine and other waste from hens caged above drip down onto the hens and eggs caged below.
She defended California's ban on the possession and sale of shark fins.
She defended California's ban on the sale of foie gras (a delicacy made by force feeding ducks a grotesque and cruel amount of food).
She defeated several challenges to California's law requiring that breeding pigs, sheep, and hens must have enough space to turn around, stand up, lie down, and extend their limbs.
It is safe to say that both candidates have room for improvement. However, when evaluating the actual records of the candidates- not just the verbally stated values and opinions, but their actions- one candidate comes out with a clear lead: Kamala Harris has consistently ruled on the side of animal rights. For this reason, I know who has my vote!
That said, Kamala Harris still has much to prove. I hope that in the coming weeks and months before the election, she makes her stances clear on key animal welfare issues such as stray animal population control, invasive species, and laboratory animal testing.
Your choice is yours to make! Please make the effort to seek out nonpartisan sources on the topics that matter most to you, keeping in mind that misinformation campaigns are rampant. Most importantly, make sure you are registered to vote. You can check your registration by clicking here.
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