Ban on Canned Hunting

NEW YORK STATE LEGISLATIVE ALERT SUPPORT A. 6788 AND S. 3223 TO BAN CANNED HUNTING

A. 6788, introduced by Assemblywoman Deborah Glick, and S. 3223, introduced by Senator Carl Kruger, would ban canned hunts.
Canned hunts are hunts that occur in areas where the animal has no reasonable chance of escaping. Usually animals who are accustomed to human handling are used in canned hunts so they do not even attempt to escape their killers. Some of these animals are from zoos, others from circuses, and still others are bred in captivity.
It has been reported that lions raised as pets who end up at canned hunt facilities would lick the hands of hunters before being shot. In another widely reported case, a ram stood still as arrows were repeatedly shot at the defenseless animal.
Currently, New York State law prohibits canned hunts in areas of 10 acres or less. The canned hunting facilities in New York are much larger than 10 acres so the law has been ineffective.
A. 6788 and S. 3223 would amend the law by banning canned hunts regardless of the acreage.
Please contact the legislators listed below to urge them to support A. 6788 and S. 3223.
Tell them that canned hunting is not a sport. It is unjustifiable cruelty and senseless killing that should be prohibited by law. The current law is not good enough. The issue is not the size of the facilities, but the fact that the animals have no means of escape and often make no effort to escape because of previous human contact. Remind them that just a couple of years ago the tame animals at New York’s Catskill Game Farm were auctioned off to the highest bidders and it is very likely several of the Catskill Game Farm animals ended up at canned hunts.

CONTACT INFORMATION:
For A. 2612:
Assemblyman Sheldon Silver, Assembly Speaker. Telephone: 518-455-3791; E-mail: speaker@assembly.state.ny.us; Fax: 212-312-1418; Address: LOB 932, Albany, NY 12248
Your local assemblyperson. If you do not know the name of or contact information for your NYS asssemblymember, go www.assembly.state.ny.us. In your letter, fax, call, or e-mail, please mention that you are a constituent and include your address in written correspondence.

For S. 3223:
Senator Malcolm Smith, Senate Majority Leader. Telephone: 518-455-2761; Fax: 518-455-2816; E-mail: masmith@senate.state.ny.us; Address: 909 LOB, Albany, NY 12247
Senator Antoine Thompson, Chair of the Environmental Conservation Committee. Telephone: 518-455-3371; Fax: 518-426-6969; E-mail: athompso@senate.stat.ny.us; Address: 615 LOB, Albany, NY 12247
Your local NYS Senator. If you do not know the name of or contact information for your state senator, go to www.senate.state.ny.us. In your letter, fax, call, or e-mail, please mention that you are a constituent and include your address in written correspondence.
Thanks for your help!

New York State Bills Signed Into Law/2008

Below is a listing of key animal related bills that have been signed into law this year by New York State Governor Paterson. While these bills address important humane issues, in many instances they need to be strengthened to provide animals with greater protection. The Humane Society of New York will continue to work for the passage of more stringent animal protection legislation that effectively prevents cruelty to all animals.

Animal Irritancy Tests, A. 7402-B, S. 3528-A. Sponsored by Assemblywoman Rosenthal and Senator Padavan. Prohibits manufacturers from testing cosmetics and household products on animals when an alternative test method has been scientifically validated and recommended by the Inter-Agency Coordinating Committee for the Validation of Alternative Methods (ICCVAM) and adopted by relevant federal agencies or programs within an agency responsible for regulating the specific product or activity for which the test is being conducted. California has a similar law.

Slaughter, A. 246-B, S.5920-A. Sponsored by Assemblywoman Clark and Senator Padavan. Places a moratorium on the operation of establishments where animals are slaughtered for food within a 1500 foot radius of a residential dwelling in a city with a population of one million or more. Existing facilities may still operate. Additional bills and other actions to ban/regulate these establishments are being considered.

Animal Fighting Spectators, A. 10092-A, S. 6466-A. Sponsored by Assemblyman Kavanaugh and Senators DeFrancisco, Larkin and Nozzolio. Makes being a knowing spectator at an animal fight a violation. More than 16 states make it a felony to be a knowing spectator and many states make it a misdemeanor. Thus, this bill, while a step forward, needs to be further strengthened.

Animal Response Teams, A. 9715-A, S. 7184-A. Sponsored by Assemblyman Timothy Gordon and Senator Saland. Authorizes the commissioner of Agriculture and Markets to establish state and county animal response teams to support the prevention of, preparedness for, response to, and recovery from emergencies and disasters affecting animals in New York State. Allows for the appointment of volunteers to such teams and further states that the commissioner shall be responsible for training the teams to ensure response during emergencies and disasters.

Task Force on Slaughter of Non-Ambulatory Animals, A. 3689-B, S. 8409. Sponsored by Assemblywoman Markey and Senator Young. Provides for the establishment of a task force to examine, evaluate and determine the most effective state actions to prevent the slaughter of animals who are unable to walk on their own due to illness or injury (referred to as downed animals). The legislature did not pass more effective legislation to prohibit slaughterhouses, stockyards, auction market agencies, or dealers from buying, selling or receiving a downed animal. The bill that did not pass stated that such facilities shall not hold a downed animal without taking immediate action to humanely euthanize the animal or humanely remove the animal for veterinary treatment.

Junior Hunting, A. 11033, S. 8228. Sponsored by Assemblywoman DelMonte and Senator Volker. Provides that 14 and 15 year olds can hunt deer and bear. This bill also allows minors under the age of 12 to assist licensed trappers. The Humane Society of New York and other humane organizations opposed this legislation which was supported by the NYS Department of Environment Conservation.

* We will continue to work for passage of humane legislation during the 2009 session, including supporting bills to make intentional cruelty to wildlife a felony, ban canned hunting, promote humane education, end horse slaughter, allow pets in housing, and much more.

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.