Great news: The U.S. House and Senate both passed the FY2016 Appropriations bill today. The language blocking funding for domestic horse slaughter inspections and addressing lax animal-welfare oversight at the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center—both high-priority issues for the ASPCA—was retained in the final version. The bill was delivered to President Obama, who signed it this afternoon.
This post was originally published on December 16, 2015.
Earlier this week, the ASPCA visited USDA’s U.S. Meat Animal Research Center (USMARC) in Nebraska—the subject of a stunning front page exposé in the New York Times that revealed a culture of cruelty and indifference toward animal suffering. Animal protection organizations met with USDA staff at USMARC for a frank conversation about the imperative to direct agriculture and agricultural research toward reducing animal pain and suffering, not just increasing profits for meat producers.
In a pivotal decision, a federal judge in Idaho has ruled that an ag-gag law violates the first and fourteenth amendments of the U.S. Constitution, striking this terrible law from the books. This is the first time a court has ruled on the constitutionality of an ag-gag law, and the ASPCA is hopeful that this decision will mark the beginning of the end of these dangerous laws.
