List of Bills Pending Before Congress

Below is a list of several bills pending before Congress. Please contact your representative and two US Senators to urge them to support these bills. To see texts of any of the bills, go to www.thomas.gov and type in the bill number.
For contact information for your two US Senators and your Representative (congressman/woman) you can call the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121 or go to www.senate.gov and www.house.gov or www.congress.org . Have your 9 digit zip code ready. Additionally, letters may be sent to your US Senators and Representative to the following addresses:

The Honorable (name)
US Senate
Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable (name)
US House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515


H.R. 891: Dog and Cat Fur Enforcement Act
Labeling: This bill requires all fur products to be labeled regardless of the value of the fur. Currently, labeling is not required if the value of the fur is $150 or less.
Bans Sale of Raccoon dog fur: This bill bans the sale of fur from raccoon dogs. Raccoon dogs are killed in China, sometimes skinned alive, and their fur is then used in garments. The Dog and Cat Protection Act of 2000 prohibits the export, import, manufacture, or sale of products made with dog and cat fur. However, this law does not protect raccoon dogs. Between 1.5 million to 4 million raccoon dogs are killed in China each year for their fur.

H.R. 3029: Bear Protection Act
This bill prohibits the import, export and interstate trade in bear parts. Bear parts are used in Asian medicines and are in increasing demand. To meet this demand, poachers are killing bears and selling the parts at huge profits. While trade in bear parts is illegal in many states, a federal law is needed to provide for more effective enforcement. It has been reported that law enforcement officers in the US have uncovered dead bears in our forests with only their gallbladders and paws removed. Videotapes of poaching also show the brutality involved in killing the bears.

H.R. 2193: Animal Welfare Accountability Improvement Act
Bans Using Animals in Sales Demonstrations: This bill prohibits the use of live animals for training, demonstrating, or marketing medical devices to sales representatives.
Increases Fines: Fines for violations of the Animal Welfare Act, the main federal law regulating the care of animals used laboratory experiments and tests, would be increased.
Reporting to Congress Reinstated: The US Department of Agriculture would be required to submit a report to Congress detailing its enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act and make recommendations for legislation to improve administration of the Act and the transportation of live animals in air transportation.

H.R. 661: Downed Animal and Food Safety Protection Act
Those animals who are too injured or sick to stand on their own are often pushed, prodded, pulled, kicked and dragged to move them to slaughter. H.R. 661 addresses this cruelty in the following ways:
Requires Euthanasia of Downed Animals: This bill requires all non-ambulatory livestock in interstate and foreign commerce to be immediately euthanized.
Strengthens Inspection Requirements: Provides that USDA inspectors may not pass through inspection any non-ambulatory livestock or the carcass or any part of the carcass of such livestock.

H.R. 2711/S. 2422: Computer Assisted Remote Control Hunting Act
This legislation would ban Internet hunting. This means hunting through the use of a computer or other equipment which allows a person to remotely control the aiming and discharge of a weapon to kill or injure an animal while not in the physical presence of the targeted animal. Internet hunters pay a fee, select an animal, and click the mouse to fire the rifle. 34 states have laws banning this practice.

H.R. 2964/ S. 1498: The Captive Primate Safety Act
This legislation would ban the interstate and foreign commerce of primates for use as pets. These animals are often subject to abuse and neglect in the pet trade. While able to be handled as infants, when primates grow they become more difficult to handle. The result is that some of these animals end up at roadside zoos where they are kept in small cages and improperly cared for; others are confined in homes where their lives become barren and isolated.

H.R. 3829: Sportsmanship in Hunting Act
This legislation would prohibit the transport or possession of a confined exotic animal for the purpose of allowing the killing or injuring of the animal for entertainment or for the collection of a trophy. The purpose of this legislation is to prevent what has been termed “canned hunting,” the hunting of animals who are confined in areas from which they cannot avoid hunters. Often the animals are accustomed to human handling or feeding and do not even make substantial attempts to escape. These animals are shot, often at close range, just so the shooter can have the dead animal as a trophy.

H.R. 3327 and H.R. 3219: Federal Dog Protection Act
These bills would strengthen the federal dogfighting laws to include stiff penalties for those who are spectators at dogfights and for those who train or transport animals for dog fighting.

H.R. 3663: Protect American Wildlife Act
This legislation would establish additional prohibitions on the shooting wildlife from aircrafts. In the last seven years, about 700 wolves have been shot and killed from aircraft. The aerial shooting of wolves has taken place in Alaska, for example, in order to boost the moose and caribou population for hunters.

H.R. 1726: Farm Animal Stewardship Purchasing Act
This legislation would prohibit the federal government from purchasing meat, dairy products or eggs for use in the military, prisons, schools and other federal programs unless the animals were provided with adequate space to stand, lie down, turn around completely and fully extend all limbs or wings, provided daily access to adequate food and water, and provided with adequate veterinary care. The legislation also states that the animals may not have been forced fed.