Current Actions

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DO YOU BELIEVE ANIMALS DESERVE BASIC LEGAL RIGHTS?

A Petition to the United States Congress
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DO YOU BELIEVE ANIMALS DESERVE BASIC LEGAL RIGHTS?

Deprived of legal protection, animals are defenseless against exploitation and abuse by humans. Through the Animal Bill of Rights, the Animal Legal Defense Fund is working to show Congress a groundswell of support for legislation that protects animals and recognizes that, like all sentient beings, animals are entitled to basic legal rights in our society.

More than a quarter-million Americans have already signed the Animal Legal Defense Fund’s Animal Bill of Rights. Sign on your support and speak out to your lawmakers today!

A Petition to the United States Congress
Take Action to Stop the Horse Meat Industry!

Take action to keep the slaughterhouse doors closed to horses!

Use this form to send an email to the members of the committees currently considering passage of the Safeguard American Food Exports Act. Send a letter to respectfully demand a full hearing on the bill pending in each chamber.

This bill is an excellent safeguard to protect people from the dangers of eating horsemeat, and a way to assure that the law protects horses. Let's keep our laws strong in protecting horses from cruel and inhumane practices.
Take Action to Stop Puppy Mills
ALDF needs your help to support passage of the "PUPS Act" (S. 395). Thousands of dogs are suffering immensely in "puppy mills"—large-scale, unethical commercial dog-breeding facilities—so they can be sold to unsuspecting consumers. Dogs produced in puppy mills not only endure terrible conditions before purchase, but are prone to contagious disease, heart and hip problems, and serious breathing difficulties. Meanwhile, millions of dogs are euthanized in animal shelters every year because they haven't been adopted in forever homes. Watch this special message from pro cyclist Levi Leipheimer about puppy mills, and take action today.

Take Action Now

Write to the sponsors of the bill and to all of the Ag. Committee members, urging them to support the PUPS Act.
Tell Top Ten U.S. Pork Producers to Drop Risky Drug Ractopamine
Ractopamine is a controversial animal feed additive that raises significant animal welfare and food safety concerns for U.S. and international consumers. Ractopamine, a drug that promotes rapid growth in pigs, cattle, and turkeys, is linked with serious animal health and behavioral problems, and is known to cause animals great suffering—including tremors, chronically elevated heart rates, broken limbs, higher risks of hoof lesions, and death in farm animals. Scientists associate the drug with both non-ambulatory ("downer") and over-excited behavior. The effects are no small matter: 60 to 80 percent of U.S. pigs are treated with ractopamine, and the FDA has received over 160,000 reports of pig suffering since the drug was approved in 1999. While human health studies are limited, those that exist also raise serious concerns.

Unlike the U.S., more than 160 countries—including Russia, China, Taiwan, and the 27 members of the European Union—ban or strictly limit the use of ractopamine. While the U.S. has so far refused to join the international community in banning this risky drug in animal feed, the U.S. already has a certified ractopamine-free program for pork exports to the E.U., and some corporate producers are already operating production plants that are 100% ractopamine-free to meet international demand. It is therefore not unreasonable to expect the same for U.S. market as well. In fact, some U.S. companies such as Chipotle restaurants, producer Niman Ranch, and Whole Foods Markets, already avoid meat produced with the feed additive.

Sign our petition to the Top Ten pork producers in the U.S. urging them to stop using ractopamine in pork production!
- Read more information about ractopamine
Protect Animals From Corporate Greed
Animal abuse, food safety violations, and illegal working conditions are rampant on factory farms. To hide these crimes, mega-corporations that control most of our food production are attempting to pass ag gag laws which make it illegal to photograph or videotape at agricultural facilities, or to possess or distribute such evidence. These laws attempt to silence the spread of information, and hide the truth about outrageous violations of the law. Don’t be fooled by rhetoric—the truth is: these laws aim to restrict our ability to collect evidence of criminal misconduct.

Documenting abuse is crucial to providing legal protections for animals on factory farms. Yet ag gag laws are spreading like wildfire. Kansas, Montana, North Dakota, Iowa, Utah, and Missouri already have variations of ag laws already on the books. Between 2011-2012, 10 states introduced ag gag bills, including Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, and Utah. In 2013, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Vermont, and Wyoming successfully introduced ag gag legislation, and many other state legislatures are poised to do the same.

You can help prevent mega-corporations from passing laws that make undercover investigations of animal abuse a crime. We must not allow lawbreakers to determine the laws. Take action today to protect animals from corporate greed.

Sign ALDF’s Petition to Protect Your Food!
Contact Your State Officials
Before contacting your elected officials about improving your state’s animal protection laws, take a look at these resources developed by ALDF:
Many of the authorities who set the tone and carry out the work of animal abuse criminal prosecutions are elected officials–usually through the county government system. There is benefit to approaching these officials proactively, regardless of what animal cruelty case(s) may or may not be making the news.

Contact them in person or by letter, politely letting them know that, as a voting citizen, you expect and appreciate that animal abuse cases receive thorough investigation and vigorous prosecution. Let them know that ALDF’s Criminal Justice Program provides free legal assistance to prosecutors and law enforcement officers who are handling these cases. Try to keep letters to one page, and if you make an appointment to meet with them, please be respectful of their very real time limitations.
Help Secure a Meaningful Sentence for Father of Dog Shooter

Join ALDF in encouraging the Connecticut State’s Attorney to pursue a strong and meaningful sentence for John Lake for the charges against him.

Sign the petition to support the prosecution!

For more information about this ongoing case, visit ALDF.org.
Stop Trapping Silver River Monkeys!
Since 1998, one trapper, Scott Cheslak of Beaufort, South Carolina, has trapped and removed 800 monkeys and sold them to laboratories to be used in experiments—but his permit is now revoked.

Join us in urging the Florida Park Service to consider nonlethal alternatives to the trapping and removal of monkeys, such as sterilization and return to the environment. Otherwise, these sensitive and intelligent animals, once wild and free, will end their lives in the isolation of a laboratory.
Sign the Petition! Model Ordinance for Great Apes

Gorillas, orangutans, and chimpanzees are our closest nonhuman primate cousins, and they are endangered. We must act now to protect them today, or they may not have a tomorrow. Please sign the Animal Legal Defense Fund’s petition, known as the Model Ordinance for Great Apes, today!
Take Action to Put Animals Back in the Animal Welfare Act!

Science has confirmed that animals, including rats, mice, and birds, feel pain, fear, distress, and joy—they feel it for themselves and they feel it for each other. Without coverage by the AWA, these sensitive and sentient animals can be tested upon without any relief from pain. In fact, testing on animals not protected by the AWA is not even required to be reported by research facilities. Nor are researchers required to find alternatives to unnecessary suffering for these animals.

Please contact your legislators now to ask them to co-sponsor HR 6693, Representative Connolly’s bill—and urge them to put animals back in the Animal Welfare Act.
Take Action Against Backyard Slaughter!

Please contact your legislators today to raise awareness of these issues—and urge them to prevent backyard slaughter from spreading to your area.

The dark world of “backyard butchers,” who slaughter and butcher animals on makeshift farms, is spreading across the U.S. every day. Whether a cheap way to skirt the law, or a misguided attempt to join the go-local movement, backyard slaughter involves shocking brutality.

When “backyard slaughter” is tolerated, animals suffer immense cruelty, starvation, botched “live” slaughters, and are kept in disgusting and diseased yards. Humane slaughter laws, which require animals to be rendered senseless before slaughter, are not followed; instead animals are sloppily shot with handguns, and experience excruciating agony from mishandled, amateur, often live butchering.

No governmental inspection protects these animals or the sanitation of the yards. Overwhelmed by the upkeep of running slapdash farms, these butchers starve, mistreat, abuse, neglect, and harm animals to horrific and gruesome degrees. The yards pose immense risk to public health, safety, and well-being. Blood and animal byproducts are often illegally disposed of onsite, jeopardizing local groundwater. Without any kind of regulation, the meat is sold to the general public on the black market.

Recently, ALDF filed a lawsuit in Florida on behalf of Hillsborough County residents—who are alarmed by criminal violations of public health codes and animal slaughter and disposal laws, illegal sale of horse, cow, and pig meat, and horrifying cruelty to animals found in these yards. ALDF’s landmark case marks the first time Florida residents have sued to stop the unspeakable acts of cruelty committed by backyard butchers and the threat to public health and safety they pose. Help ALDF and the animals by stopping the development of backyard slaughter in your neighborhood too.
Petition to StarKist, Bumble Bee, and Chicken of the Sea
Join us in telling StarKist, Bumble Bee, and Chicken of the Sea to stop making deceptive claims to consumers about the dolphin-safety and sustainability of their tuna products! The environmentally devastating practices—including practices that can lead to dolphin mortality—of these companies are not “sustainable” or “dolphin-safe.” These claims are deceptive and constitute false advertising to consumers, who rely on the accuracy of such representations to make informed purchasing decisions.

Bumble Bee and Chicken of the Sea claim to be “100% dolphin-safe,” and all three of the suppliers named in ALDF’s petition state they will not purchase tuna caught in association with dolphins—a significant concern because tuna often swim together with dolphins. Dolphins can be traumatized, netted, injured, and killed by typical tuna fishing practices, including the use of giant “purse seine” nets, which capture dolphins along with tuna. Yet while approximately half of tuna consumers believe the dolphin-safe label means no dolphins died for the tuna in their can, the number of dolphins killed or injured by “certified” dolphin-safe tuna fishing methods in reality could number in the thousands every year.

Meanwhile, on their packaging and their websites, the top three tuna suppliers all outline their commitment to “sustainable” fishing practices—ones that won’t deplete resources or harm the natural cycles of tuna or other marine life. However, the longlines and purse seine nets used to catch approximately 75% of the world’s tuna—including tuna sold by Bumble Bee, Chicken of the Sea, and StarKist—kill millions of non-target marine animals as “bycatch” every year, including sharks, sea turtles, dolphins, whales, and even sea birds. Some of these populations have been so decimated by commercial fishing that they are now critically endangered.

Longline fishing and purse seine fishing are not "sustainable." Tell these companies to stop using greenwashing to deceive well-meaning consumers.

Sign the Petition
Improve the Lives of Egg-Laying Hens
Update: On June 19th the Senate voted to exclude Feinstein's amendment to the Farm Bill.

However, please support these two bills, which would provide same protections for egg-laying hens.

Each bill has broad powers to regulate agricultural activities. Collectively, HR 3798 and S 3239 could impact the lives of over 250 million egg-laying hens.

If passed, these bills would:
- Double the amount of space per bird
- Ban forced starvation molting
- Prohibit excessive levels of ammonia in hen houses
- Require humane euthanasia of spent hens
Please write a brief, polite email to Congress in support of HR 3798 and S 3239 to improve the lives of egg-laying hens.
California: Take a Stand Against Force-Fed Foie Gras

In 2004, California’s legislature passed SB 1520, banning the sale and production of force-fed foie gras effective July 1, 2012. By passing this historic bill, the first state-level ban on force-feeding, California took an important stand against one of the most horrific forms of institutionalized animal cruelty.

But a small group of foie gras vendors and producers are trying to repeal SB 1520 and keep force-feeding legal.

John Burton, SB 1520’s sponsor in the state legislature, wrote a seven-year delay into the force-feeding ban so the foie gras industry could develop alternative methods of production. Instead, foie gras producers have squandered their time clinging to inhumane practices. "I gave them seven years – seven years, and I shouldn't have – and now they're all going, `Oh my God, I just don't know how we're going to survive,'" said Burton. "I'm so infuriated with the bad faith going on here that words cannot describe it."

Opposition to the ban is largely funded by out-of-state foie gras producers and distributors who do not represent Californians’ interests. While Californians have made it clear that they don’t want force-fed foie gras in their state, those who sell this inhumane luxury food have a strong financial incentive to keep the market open. In order to protect the interests of the state, and to help the hundreds of thousands of ducks subjected to force-feeding every year in this country, it is important to hold fast and make sure the ban takes effect as scheduled.

Take Action!
Please contact your state legislators today and urge them to support the SB 1520 ban on force-fed foie gras. California has spoken out against this terrible form of animal cruelty, and a small group of foie gras industry insiders must not be allowed to undermine this groundbreaking piece of legislation.

Speak out against force-feeding ducks and geese today!
Urge the USDA not to renew the license of Jambbas Ranch
Urge the USDA not to renew the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) license of Jambbas Ranch in Fayetteville, N.C. due to its repeated and ongoing animal welfare violations. Ben the Bear is free—but what about all the other animals?

For years, the USDA has cited Jambbas for AWA violations, including unsanitary conditions, hazardous enclosures, failure to provide adequate veterinary care, and failure to supply sufficient quantities of food and potable water. Yet the agency has continued to renew Jambbas' license, despite the fact that the AWA clearly prohibits the licensing of a facility that is not in compliance with the Act.

The Animal Legal Defense Fund, PETA, and two residents of Cumberland County, North Carolina appalled at the living conditions that they've witnessed for Ben and other animals at Jambbas filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture challenging its decision to renew Jambbas' federal Animal Welfare Act license. The lawsuit was successful at freeing “Ben,” a beautiful black bear who had been kept in horrendous, solitary conditions. Numerous bear experts submitted statements to the USDA in opposition to renewing Jambbas' license.

While Ben was recently freed, and now lives at the PAWS Animal Sanctuary in California - other animals being exhibited at Jambbas, including goats, cows, pigs, rabbits, sheep, bison, elk, deer, dogs, and others, are kept in inhumane conditions. These animals are suffering from documented untreated veterinary ailments and are engaging in abnormal behaviors indicative of psychological anguish. Please act now.

Sign ALDF's petition to the USDA, urging them not to renew the Animal Welfare Act license of Jambbas Ranch.
Protect California's Homeless Animals!
In an attempt to reduce California’s deficit, Governor Brown has proposed a substantial weakening of the Hayden Act, including sections that require shelters to care for homeless and lost companion animals for up to six days before euthanizing them. This holding period is crucial to allowing lost dogs and cats to be reunited with their families or adopted when they are unclaimed or abandoned.

While California continues to grapple with serious budget concerns, lifting the Hayden Act’s mandate for humane grace periods before euthanasia would be irresponsible and short-sighted. Nearly 500,000 animals are euthanized in California’s municipal animal shelters annually, and more than twice as many are impounded. Eliminating the holding period would put thousands more animals at risk of being euthanized and prevent many families from being reunited with their lost companion animals.

Please take a moment today to contact Governor Brown and your state legislators by filling out the form to the right. Urge them to oppose any legislation that will remove existing protections for homeless and lost companion animals.

Former State Senator Tom Hayden's message to Governor Jerry Brown urges the Governor to leave intact the law he wrote in 1998.

California’s homeless animals are wholly reliant on us to stand and speak for them. Please speak out today!

This action is available to California residents only.
Help Prevent Cruelty to Farmed Animals
On January 23, the Supreme Court unanimously overturned a 2008 California law that required the humane euthanasia of sick and disabled ("downed") animals at slaughterhouses, ruling that California's law was preempted by federal law. This decision highlights the urgent need for changes in the law at the federal level.

Contact your federal legislators by completing the form to the right. Urge them to support the Downed Animal and Food Safety Protection Act, which would help prevent the cruel mistreatment of downed animals unable to walk to their own slaughter.

The Downed Animal and Food Safety Protection Act (H.R. 3704), sponsored by Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-NY), would permanently prohibit all downed animals from being used for food, and require that these animals be humanely euthanized.

The bipartisan bill would improve upon federal regulations by making the ban on downed animals permanent and apply to all farmed animals -- not just cattle as is currently the case with existing regulations.

Help prevent the cruel mistreatment of sick and disabled farmed animals! Contact your legislators today!
Improve Your State's Animal Protection Laws!
Contact your elected officials about the importance of having strong, comprehensive animal protection laws!

Sizable majorities of all households now include at least one animal, and polls continue to show that the public cares deeply about these companions and their welfare. The Animal Legal Defense Fund’s sixth annual report, 2012 U.S. Animal Protection Laws Rankings—the longest-running and most authoritative report of its kind—is based on a detailed comparative analysis of the animal protection laws of each jurisdiction. The report recognizes the states where animal law has real teeth, and calls out those where animal abusers get off easy.

While many states continue to make positive progress for animals, there are, unfortunately, still many places where the laws are incapable of providing the legal protections that our country’s animals need and deserve. Even in those jurisdictions that have today’s best laws, there remain many opportunities for improvement.

Contact your state legislators now and urge them to see where your state ranks when it comes to protecting animals!
Help Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages in New York City
The plight of New York City’s carriage horses is well documented. Fortunately, the New York Legislature has two bills pending that would put an end to this exploitive industry in the Big Apple.

When passed, S.5013 and A.7748 will ban the use of horse-drawn carriages in New York City and require a humane disposition of “spent horses” to prevent their sale for slaughter. These bills have been languishing in the Cities Committee in both the Assembly and the Senate since May 2011. However, in light of the most recent coverage of this issue by the New York Times, there is renewed hope that these bills will get hearings and then voted out of committee.

Take Action!
Take a moment to speak out for horses! Send a message to Carle Heastie, Chair of Cities Committee in the Assembly, and Andrew Lanza, Chair of the Cities Committee in the Senate, by completing the form to the right. Urge them to give these bills a full hearing so that S.5013 and A.7748 can move to the floor for a full vote in the Senate and Assembly.
It's Time to Ban Research on Chimpanzees
Captive chimpanzees being used in laboratories need our help more than ever!

The U.S. is the only nation in the world that is known to still use chimpanzees for large-scale invasive research. The Great Ape Protection & Cost Savings Act will end this exploitive practice and we need your help now in asking Congress to pass this vital legislation.

Now with over 150 co-sponsors, this ethically, scientifically, and financially responsible bipartisan bill will:

- Phase out the use of chimpanzees in invasive research at private and federally funded facilities
- Release the more than 500 federally-owned chimpanzees to sanctuaries
- Prohibit the breeding of chimpanzees and other great apes for invasive research purposes

Chimpanzees in laboratories suffer physically and psychologically. Many of the chimpanzees used in research are captured in the wild as infants and have spent decades in cages the size of a kitchen table, subject to repeated painful, invasive tests and breeding. Studies have also documented the chronic stress and depression this type of existence causes these great apes.

More than $200 million in tax-payer-dollars was spent on chimpanzee experimentation over the past decade. This research funding would be much better spent on modern, ethical, human-centered testing methods, computer simulations and mathematical modeling, and in vitro testing.

Please contact your federal legislators through ALDF's website and urge them to do all they can to pass the Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act (HR 1513/ S 810). We owe it to the chimpanzees, our closest genetic relatives, to do all we can to stop this unconscionable cruelty.

Thank you for speaking out for chimpanzees!
Stop Horrific Conditions for Chickens at Cal-Maine Egg Production Facility
Some Texas egg producers have created breeding grounds for human health risks and state officials are letting them get away with it.

Every year, about 142,000 Americans contract salmonella from eating eggs. Texas agencies have been giving egg producers like the Cal-Maine egg-producing plant in Waelder, Texas -- the nation's largest egg producer -- an unfair free pass by allowing them to operate in violation of state health and safety laws.

The Cal-Maine facility, where more than one million chickens are crammed into cages so small that the hens cannot even spread their wings, was packed full of live birds in various stages of illness and disease, covered in feces, and caged alongside dead, decaying corpses.

The government can no longer give these operators what amounts to economic subsidies at the cost of public health and safety.

Sign our petition to help stop the horrific conditions for chickens at Cal-Maine's egg production facility.
Stand Up for America's Horses
Please help stop the abuse and slaughter of horses for human consumption!

For the past six years, a provision added to the recurring Agricultural Appropriations bills has prohibited any federal funds from being used to inspect horses prior to slaughter. Without such inspections, it is illegal for horse meat to be later sold for human consumption in the U.S. and slaughterhouses closed. Instead, the industry has been shipping more than 100,000 American horses each year for slaughter in Canada and Mexico.

This year, the House of Representatives voted to again include the provision banning funds for inspections. However, in November, three members of a conference committee assigned to work out differences between the House and Senate versions of the legislation (Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA), Senator Herb Kohl (D-WI), and Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO) removed the ban from the final conference report. The report was subsequently passed by both the Senate and the House and signed into law.

Horse slaughter for human consumption can now re-start in the U.S. and your help is needed more than ever to end this horrific practice once and for all.

Please contact your legislators in Congress by completing the form to the right and ask them to support the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act of 2011 (S. 1176/HR 2966). This legislation – which already has 25 Senate and 100 House co-sponsors – will permanently end the slaughter of horses for human consumption, and the domestic and international transport of live horses or horseflesh for human consumption.
Speak Out Against Foie Gras
The Animal Legal Defense Fund filed a legal petition with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), urging that foie gras—the "fatty liver" of a force-fed duck or goose—bear a consumer warning label stating "NOTICE: Foie gras products are derived from diseased birds." Because the USDA is responsible for ensuring that poultry products are wholesome and for approving only products from healthy animals, stamping foie gras products with the USDA seal without disclosing that those products are derived from diseased birds misleads consumers, contravening the Poultry Products Inspection Act.

Currently, on U.S. foie gras farms ducks are force fed three pounds of mash a day through a pipe shoved down their throats—the equivalent of force-feeding 45 pounds of food to an adult human—inducing liver disease known as hepatic lipidosis that often cripples and poisons the birds. The cruel and unhealthy force-feeding of birds for foie gras production has been banned in over a dozen countries, including the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, and Israel, and a California state ban, passed in 2004, will go into effect on July 1, 2012. Even mainstream retailers like Whole Foods refuse to sell foie gras.

In addition to being diseased, foie gras products may induce disease. A 2007 study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that protein fibers from foie gras enhanced the onset of Secondary Amyloidosis, a disease fatal to humans. In the past, ALDF and other animal protection groups have called on the USDA to ban foie gras outright as unfit for human consumption.

Join the Animal Legal Defense Fund in urging the USDA to place a consumer warning label on foie gras.

Sign the petition to the USDA now!

Images and video courtesy of StopForceFeeding.com, Animal Protection and Rescue League, and Compassion Over Killing.
When Children Witness Animal Cruelty
Where the violence is played out in front of children, the most repugnant of animal abuse crimes becomes all the more disturbing. While certainly not uncommon within families caught up in the web of domestic violence, this affront may also victimize children wholly unrelated to the abuser or his situation.

A recent case in Florida alleges that a woman beat two kittens with a baseball bat at a public park – with her two sons, ages 5 and 8, reportedly participating in the fatal attack. This shocking display of violence was in turn witnessed by children who had gone to the park to play, and instead found themselves not only confronted by horrific animal abuse, but taking a risk to intervene and save one of the kittens from death.

Other recent news reports include:

Madison County, IL – animal cruelty charges are filed against a man for allegedly siccing his dogs on a cat in front of neighborhood children

Boone County, WV – a man allegedly noosed a neighbor’s dog away from the 13 year old who was walking him, slit the dog’s throat and threw him back over the fence

Kandiyohi County, MN – a 7 year old girl was allegedly threatened by a man who shot a litter of puppies in front of her, reportedly telling her he’d shoot her as well if she didn’t get out of his way

While an increasing number of states acknowledge the issue of child witnesses to domestic violence in their criminal codes, only Oregon, Arkansas and Puerto Rico specifically address animal abuse carried out in the presence of minors. Oregon’s anti-cruelty statute, for example, has a provision which enhances a charge of animal abuse from a misdemeanor to a felony where the act was carried out in front of a minor.

Take Action!
1. Contact your state legislators by completing the information to the right and let them know that as a voting constituent you are concerned about animal abuse and domestic violence in your community. Encourage them to consider supporting legislation that addresses the gravity of animal abuse carried out in the presence of and/or as a threat to children. Point them to ALDF’s Model Animal Protection Laws Collection as a resource, and encourage them to contact legislation@aldf.org directly.
2. Find out from your city/county law enforcement officials what communication systems exist between your local animal protection agencies and the area’s domestic violence resources. Volunteer to assist them with those efforts, or – where necessary – work with them toward establishing improved coordination.
3. The Florida case noted above has inspired a state bill called “Dexter’s Law” (SB 618) which seeks to establish an Animal Abuser Registry. Go to www.ExposeAnimalAbusers.org and find out more about the potential these registries have to prevent incidents of animal abuse and save taxpayer dollars.
The mental health community continues to explore and address the issue of children witnessing violence, resource examples on this subject include:

Child Witness to Violence Project
North Carolina Child Response Initiative
National Center for Children Exposed to Violence
Witnessing Violence Fact Sheet from the National Violence Against Women Prevention Research Center

Additional resources:

Animal Protection Laws, state by state
Find Your Elected Officials
ALDF’s Model Animal Protection Laws Collection
Get Political for Animals and Win the Laws They Need, by Julie Lewin
Animal Cruelty and Domestic Violence
The National Link Coalition
Close Loopholes in the Federal Animal Fighting Law

Help make it illegal to attend or bring a minor to animal fights!

Organized animal fighting operations are very difficult for law enforcement to shut down. In order to stop the sadistic animal cruelty associated with both dogfighting and cockfighting, it is important to hold all of the individuals responsible for the ventures accountable. Large operations may involve hundreds of people: sponsors, exhibitors, trainers, and attendees. Attendees fund cruel animal fighting spectacles with money they use for entrance fees and gambling; however, the part of the federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA) that addresses animal fighting, 7 U.S.C. § 2156, does not prohibit a person from attending the events.

To correct this deficiency, a bill was introduced in Congress on January 23, 2013, that, if passed, would make it illegal to knowingly attend or to bring a minor to an animal fighting venture. Bill H.R. 366 entitled the "Animal Fighting Spectator Prohibition Act of 2013" would amend federal law to provide a penalty of up to one year in prison for knowingly attending an animal fighting venture and up to three years in prison for causing a minor to attend an animal fighting venture.

Ask your Congressional Representative to cosponsor H.R. 366 by completing your information to the right. It’s time to close loopholes in the federal animal fighting law and give law enforcement the tools they need to hold animal abusers accountable.
Puppy Killed During Alleged Domestic Violence, Repeat Offender Charged
(Santa Clara County, CA) Due to California’s Three Strikes Law, the felony animal cruelty and misdemeanor battery case currently pending against Bud Wally Ruiz could result in a sentence of 25 years to life in prison.

Recently charged after a May 12, 2011 incident in which he allegedly assaulted his wife and killed her Chihuahua by throwing the puppy across a room, Bud Wally Ruiz reportedly has four previous convictions for assault with a deadly weapon, and is listed in the Megan’s Law online database of registered sex offenders.

The tragic connection between domestic violence and animal abuse plays out over and over again across the country. While law enforcement officials have become increasingly educated on this dynamic over the years, the work of expanding public awareness and accomplishing legislative tools remains imperative.

California Residents:
Please write polite letters to the District Attorney, letting him know of your interest in the Ruiz prosecution, and thanking him and his staff for their understanding of the grave connection between domestic violence and animal abuse.

The Honorable Jeffrey F. Rosen, District Attorney
Santa Clara County
70 West Hedding Street, West Wing
San Jose, CA 95110
Puppy Killed During Alleged Domestic Violence, Repeat Offender Charged
(Santa Clara County, CA) Due to California’s Three Strikes Law, the felony animal cruelty and misdemeanor battery case currently pending against Bud Wally Ruiz could result in a sentence of 25 years to life in prison.

Recently charged after a May 12, 2011 incident in which he allegedly assaulted his wife and killed her Chihuahua by throwing the puppy across a room, Bud Wally Ruiz reportedly has four previous convictions for assault with a deadly weapon, and is listed in the Megan’s Law online database of registered sex offenders.

The tragic connection between domestic violence and animal abuse plays out over and over again across the country. While law enforcement officials have become increasingly educated on this dynamic over the years, the work of expanding public awareness and accomplishing legislative tools remains imperative.

Take Action!

Contact your legislators and urge them to pursue laws which protect humans and animals from acts of violence. Legislative efforts which address this issue include protective orders for companion animals, cross-reporting requirements, animal abuser registries and enhancement provisions for animal abuse committed in the presence of minors.

Related resources:
Animal Cruelty Goes Mobile

Tell Google they should not promote animal cruelty!

In this day of technology, you can find mobile applications (“apps”) for just about anything, from getting weather forecasts to finding shopping bargains. Now, thanks to a new app by Kage Games, you can virtually participate in the sadistic “bloodsport” of dogfighting. The KG Dogfighting app, which sells on Google’s Android Market website, entices gamers to "Feed, water, train and FIGHT your virtual dog against other players…." The logo is a pit bull’s bloody face.

"The game teaches users how to breed, train, fight, medicate and kill virtual dogs," said Paul M. Weber, President of the Los Angeles Police Protective League. According to a news article, the game "allows players to train a virtual pit bull to fight other virtual dogs and build street cred that 'puts money in your pocket and lets you earn more in fights.'"Players have a "gun for police raids and can inject the dog with steroids."

Dogfighting is a violent crime that is a felony in all 50 states, and it is a federal crime if it involves interstate or foreign commerce. Dogfighting victims suffer cruel training methods and often die in fights. Those dogs not killed during fights may be viciously killed by their handlers when they do not win. Family pets are sometimes stolen to be used as "bait" animals. This is not a game – it is animal cruelty.

Take Action!

Tell Google they should not be selling mobile apps that promote animal cruelty or illegal activities. Urge them to remove KG Dogfighting from the Android Market today!
Ban Pigeon Shoots in Pennsylvania!
Update
March 16, 2012: SB 626 has been "laid on the table", but it is not dead. Your calls are needed to persuade senators that the public cares about protecting pigeons from cruelty.

Senate Bill 626, which would ban cruel live pigeon shoots in Pennsylvania, passed the state Senate Judiciary Committee. The bill will now move to the full Senate where your support is needed more than ever to assure its passage.

Pennsylvania is the last state to allow the cruel spectacle of live pigeon shoots in which shooters aim to kill dazed pigeons launched randomly from boxes hoping to kill the most birds within a ring for prizes and money. Each year these grisly competitions take place nearly every weekend in Pennsylvania.

TAKE ACTION
Please make a brief, polite call to your state senator and ask support for Senate Bill 626, to finally ban pigeon shoots. You can follow up your phone call by sending an email through the Animal Legal Defense Fund's website.

Sample script: As your constituent, I urge you to support SB 626, which would ban cruel live pigeon shoots in Pennsylvania. Please vote, YES, on SB 626.

Enter your address and zip code to find your legislator's contact information.
29 Dogs Sadistically Killed in Domestic Violence Case
(Hancock County, WV) Alerted to a potentially violent situation on March 9, 2011, a SWAT team brought an end to Jeffrey Nally, Jr.'s alleged months-long abuse of his ex-girlfriend. Nally allegedly terrorized the woman by sadistically killing twenty-nine dogs – mostly puppies which he reportedly obtained via classified ads – over an approximately two-month period during which he allegedly kept the woman captive at the property.

...Police believe Nally began killing the animals in January.
"Mutilated, skinned, anything you can imagine," said Chief Deputy Todd Murray of the animals.
"[Nally used] everything from a crossbow, to a drill, saws to hammers.
There were several means he used to [mutilate and kill the dogs]."
Murray added that it appeared the suspect used a different tool to kill each dog...
..."After the dogs were killed, he would make her clean up," Murray said...
WTOV TV 9, March 10, 2011

With Nally facing charges of kidnapping, domestic battery and 29 counts of felony animal cruelty, this case provides a disturbing reminder of the link between cruelty to animals and domestic violence and the importance of legislative awareness on this issue. West Virginia, for example, recently passed a provision which allows for the inclusion of animals in domestic violence protective orders.

Take Action!

Send a letter to your legislators through ALDF's website! Let your legislators know that as a voting constituent you are concerned about animal cruelty and its effects on communities – effects which are not only evident in the physical suffering these cases involve, but in the monetary costs which repeat offenders shift onto taxpayers by over-burdening animal shelters and other community agencies.

Does your state enable cross-reporting options between agencies (PDF) such as child protective services and animal control? What, if any, mental health evaluation and treatment requirements are mandated for animal abuse cases? Encourage your legislators to consider ALDF’s annual State Animal Protection Laws rankings report and contact ALDF for information on what legislative improvements are needed to your state’s animal protection laws.

Write a Letter to the Editor!

Educate your local newspapers and community on the dangers associated with “free to a good home” ads for animals by writing a letter to your local newspaper editor through ALDF's website. Encourage newspapers to help educate the public by not accepting “free pet” ads and/or running simple cautionary notices in the “animals” sections of their classifieds.

Resources:
Support Tougher Dogfighting Laws!

Help us put an end to dogfighting and create strong laws for animals so criminals who use animals for fighting receive meaningful sentences! Contact your state legislators today!

Although animal fighting is illegal in all 50 states, the Animal Legal Defense Fund is working to make such crimes easier to prosecute and punishable by stronger penalties. ALDF has drafted a recommended amendment to state laws that would enable prosecutors to charge dogfighters under the respective state’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization (commonly referred to as "RICO") statute. Applied to animal fighting, RICO – which was originally designed to be a weapon against a wide variety of organized criminal efforts, including drug dealing and gambling – would give prosecutors increased muscle in seeking justice for the animals abused and even executed by their owners.

Take action by writing to your state legislators today about enacting or enhancing your state’s RICO law. ALDF can provide our model law that was enacted in Virginia and can also provide your legislators with a detailed legislative analysis of your state’s laws to provide customized solutions for your state.

Send a letter to your state representatives now!
Take a Stand Against the Savage Cruelty of the Dog Sledding Industry

The 2013 Iditarod starts on March 2, 2013.

Please help ALDF speak out for sled dogs. Sponsorship is the biggest source of revenue for the race, so contact the Iditarod’s corporate sponsors and request that they no longer fund this deadly and horrific event.

For more information, visit aldf.org.
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THANKS FOR SIGNING THE ANIMAL BILL OF RIGHTS!
TELL YOUR CONGRESSPERSON!

Thank you for signing the Animal Bill of Rights! Your action will help animals be free from exploitation, cruelty, neglect and abuse.

Tell your congressperson that you’ve just signed on your support to the Animal Bill of Rights and urge them to support legislation that considers the best interest of animals!
Death & Agony: Wild Horse Roundup
Help stop the Bureau of Land Management’s mistreatment of America's wild horses!

Despite the public’s outcry against wild horses being run long distances in high temperatures during the height of summer, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) blazed forward with a plan to roundup 1,400 federally protected wild mustangs from Nevada’s Tuscarora region in Elko County in July 2010. Tragically, the roundup resulted in the death of at least 21 horses and several others being treated for painful colic and brain swelling due to dehydration and exhaustion.

The BLM is planning to repeat wild horse roundups in six westerns states this summer! Help stop this massacre of America’s wild horses! Contact your U.S. Representatives and Senators and urge them to:
1. Call on the Interior Department and President Obama to halt the BLM’s summer roundups; and
2. Use their appropriations authority to strip funding for this abusive practice while the National Academy of Sciences conducts its independent review of the program (to be completed by 2013).
Thousands of additional wild horses and burros are slated for removal in California, Colorado, Oregon, Nevada, Wyoming and Utah, paid for with your tax dollars.

Violating their own protocol of waiting until mid-August (after the foaling season) to begin helicopter roundups, the BLM started the Nevada roundup in July last year and is planning to do the same in 2011. Last year, adults and foals, some only days or weeks old, were chased up to eight miles over dangerously rocky and rugged terrain during the hottest part of the summer. In the winter of 2009, after being run over similar terrain, two foals suffered horrible deaths when their hooves separated from their leg bones.

While there is an ongoing debate around the reason for these summer-time gathers – the BLM claims it’s to protect the horses; wild horse advocates say it’s driven by helicopter availability, using taxpayer money before the end of the fiscal year and making public lands available for cattle ranchers – there is no question that the horses’ best interests should dictate the schedule and size of the roundup. Chasing mothers and their newborn foals across the desert during the hottest months of the year is clearly not protecting these majestic animals.

The BLM’s mismanagement must be stopped before another horse suffers and dies at the agency’s hands. Send a letter to your Representatives and Senators through ALDF’s website, demanding a moratorium on all summer roundups and stripping of all future funding for this abusive practice.
Make Airlines Accountable for All Animals Shipped on Commercial Flights
Recently, seven puppies died after being shipped in the cargo hold from an American Airlines flight from Tulsa to Chicago, causing a surge of public concern about the risky and controversial practice of shipping companion animals and other animals as “cargo” on commercial airlines. Currently, the Department of Transportation only requires airlines to report the deaths or disappearances of animals considered “pets”—meaning that there has been no accurate reporting on in-flight harm to dogs shipped by puppy mills or other animals transported as cargo.

Senators Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) have drafted a joint letter to the Secretary of Transportation, arguing that a “flawed interpretation of laws” has allowed animal death reporting to “slip through the cracks.” The Animal Legal Defense Fund has also filed a petition with the Department of Transportation urging them to oblige air carriers to report on the deaths of any animals in transit, and to identify the shippers and consignees involved in their “shipment.”

Whether an animal is shipped as a pet or as an item of commerce has no bearing whatsoever on that animal’s ability to suffer. Travelers and animal lovers have a right to know exactly how risky it is for animals to be shipped as cargo on commercial airlines.

Please send a letter to your Senators and Representatives and ask them to join Senators Menendez, Durbin, and Lieberman and ALDF in amending this regulation to ensure accurate reporting about the real risks to animals shipped in cargo holds.
Help Stop Elephant Abuse at Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo!

As a result of inadequate facilities, abusive management practices, longstanding intentional neglect, and breeding practices in callous disregard for elephants’ welfare, the elephants Bamboo, Watoto, and Chai at Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo suffer from severe and chronic foot and joint injuries, unexplained physical trauma and bleeding, and sustained psychological harm. Chai’s daughter, Hansa, died in 2007 when she was only six years old as a result of the Zoo’s practices. A fourth Woodland Park Zoo elephant, Sri, who is currently on loan to another zoo’s breeding program, has endured the horror of carrying a full-term deceased fetus in her womb for over four years.

That’s why the Animal Legal Defense Fund is representing two outraged citizens who filed a lawsuit against the City of Seattle, Washington. The lawsuit aims to stop the City’s unlawful use of taxpayer dollars to support the Woodland Park Zoo’s reckless and illegally cruel treatment of its elephants.

Sign the petition today to urge the City of Seattle to stop funding the Woodland Park Zoo's cruel elephant exhibit.
Protect Kentucky's Homeless Animals

Despite passage of the “Humane Shelter Law," many Kentucky counties are treating the animals in their care with reckless disregard for the suffering that they are causing. This misconduct continues because the Humane Shelter Law has no enforcement provision and the state has not stepped in and demanded that the basic standards of care required by the Law be provided to these animals.

Please sign ALDF's petition to Governor Steve Beshear asking him to step in and end the suffering of all innocent animals in Kentucky by pressing the legislature to act and have the state take back responsibility for oversight of these shelters.
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Does an Animal Abuser Live in Your Neighborhood?

Communities have good reason to be concerned about the whereabouts of animal abusers. In story after heartbreaking story, abusers repeat their violent crimes against helpless animals, and often go on to victimize people as well. Keep your animals and your families safe. Sign on to demand that your state require animal abusers register in their communities!
Chained Dog Case Results in Fine
Update
The animal neglect and tethering charges against John Crosby were disposed on March 22, 2010. He was adjudicated guilty and ordered to pay a $385 fine.

(Chatham County, GA) John Crosby’s 64-year-old neighbor says she’d do it all over again. Previously facing theft and trespass charges for entering Crosby’s property in October 2009 and unchaining his dog, Ann Wylene Lam had reportedly informed local authorities of the alleged neglect months earlier. Speaking with reporters in early December, she described her impression of the dog on the day she rescued him: “He’s not eating, he won’t pick his head up out of his bowl, he’s giving up, he’s just quitting.”

John Crosby expressed in a December 2009 news interview that he could not afford to take the dog to a veterinarian, and was unaware of the local prohibition against tethering. The dog was given over to Savannah/Chatham County Animal Control by Ms. Lam, but ultimately did not survive. John Crosby has been charged with tethering and animal neglect.

Neighbor disputes over animal care are all-too-common and the solutions are rarely expedient. When an animal’s life appears to be in immediate danger (due, for example, to temperature extremes and exposure or starvation), calling 911 is appropriate. Complaints to local law enforcement authorities should always be made via a formal written report, and keeping a dated journal of developments is often useful for witnesses. Here are some guidelines for addressing chronic animal neglect in your neighborhood:
- How to Help a Neighbor’s Neglected Animal
- Communicating With Law Enforcement
- Confronting Animal Neglect State by State – an ALDF Report
- 20 Ways to Help a Chained Dog from UnchainYourDog.org
Polite letters may be sent to the District Attorney, thanking him for seeing that all animal cruelty and neglect cases are thoroughly prosecuted, and that meaningful sentences are sought for convicted animal abusers.

Chatham County Courthouse
133 Montgomery Street
Savannah, GA 31401
912-652-7425
Defendant John H. Crosby – case #5138646-01
http://www.chathamcourts.org

Current Actions

DO YOU BELIEVE ANIMALS DESERVE BASIC LEGAL RIGHTS?

A Petition to the United States Congress

DO YOU BELIEVE ANIMALS DESERVE BASIC LEGAL RIGHTS?

Take action to keep the slaughterhouse doors closed to horses!

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Join ALDF in encouraging the Connecticut State’s Attorney to pursue a strong and meaningful sentence for John Lake for the charges against him.

Sign the petition to support the prosecution!

Sign the Petition

THANKS FOR SIGNING THE ANIMAL BILL OF RIGHTS! TELL YOUR CONGRESSPERSON!

Does an Animal Abuser Live in Your Neighborhood?

THANKS FOR SIGNING THE ANIMAL BILL OF RIGHTS!
TELL YOUR CONGRESSPERSON!