1970
The Horse Protection Act prohibits soring Tennessee Walking Horses for
show purposes (see 1976 for amendments).
Congress amends the Laboratory Animal Welfare Act (renamed the Animal
Welfare Act), extending protection to all warm-blooded animals in
laboratories and the wholesale pet and exhibition trades.
Note: The USDA did not include protections for rats, mice and
birds as mandated until a 2000 federal court ruling. However, in 2002,
before the USDA began to act, Senator Jessie Helms (R-NC) inserted a rider
to a spending bill at the behest of the National Association for
Biomedical Research to specifically exclude these animals, denying 95
percent of research subjects basic protections.
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Important Legislative Initiatives Advanced by SAPL
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1971
Congress passes resolutions asking the Secretary of State to call for a
10-year international moratorium on commercial whaling.
A new law provides a criminal penalty for shooting animals, including
birds from aircraft.
The Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act intends to protect, manage
and control wild horses and burros.
Note: While the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act aims
to protect these animals, it was undermined when Senator Conrad Burns
(R-MT) attached a controversial rider to a massive appropriations bill in
2004, eliminating the prohibition on killing wild horses. SAPL is pushing
to restore the Act.
1972
The US delegation to the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment
proposes a moratorium on commercial whaling, based on the adoption of the
1971 resolutions; it passes with no opposition.
The Marine Mammal Protection Act prohibits killing, taking or harassing
any marine mammal without a permit and bans the importation of any part or
product of a nursing marine mammal or his or her mother. It sets the goal
of zero mortality or serious injury rate for dolphins caught incidental to
tuna purse seining (see 1976 and 1992 for extension of the law’s
jurisdiction).
Resolutions calling for international protection of polar bears pass in
Congress.
A new amendment gives the Department of the Interior power to enforce
the 1971 law providing a criminal penalty for shooting at animals from
aircraft.
The House of Representatives passes a prohibition on poisoning
predators on public lands; it does not progress in the Senate.
1973
The Endangered Species Act enhances US ability to defend endangered
species. Endangered species protection broadens and strengthens by
bringing the United States into conformity with the Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
The convention, a three-week event, concludes in Washington, D.C. with
over 80 participating countries.
Hearings against the poisoning of predators on public lands are held in
both the House and the Senate.
1974
Congress approves a bill that includes authorization of funds for
research on methods of animal birth control, but the President vetoes it.
Nine days of hearings on legislation to regulate air shipment of
animals take place.
Efforts to enact legislation against the poisoning of predators
continue; President Nixon’s Executive Order banning predator poisoning on
public lands is threatened.
1975
President Ford modifies the Executive Order on predator poisoning to
provide for the experimental use of cyanide with the aim of developing a
cyanide collar for sheep to ensure only predators attacking sheep are
killed.
Hearings on legislation to restrict the cruel steel jaw leghold trap
and a bill to invoke economic sanctions against whalers take place in the
House of Representatives.
1976
Congress passes an amendment to broaden the Animal Welfare Act to:
(1) regulate carriers, intermediate handlers and animal brokers,
requiring adherence to humane standards;
(2) specify that all dogs—including dogs for hunting, security or
breeding purposes—be protected;
(3) prohibit COD transportation of animals, unless the shipper
guarantees payment of the round-trip fare and costs for care of the
animals not claimed at destination. Additionally, animals cannot be
transported at an age less than permitted by the Secretary of
Agriculture, and dealers, exhibitors, auction sale operators and all
governmental agencies are required to obtain a veterinarian’s
certificate before delivering animals for transportation affecting
commerce;
(4) extend the Secretary’s investigative authority to intermediate
handlers and carriers, and authorize a civil penalty of up to $1,000 for
each violation of the humane standards;
(5) impose a uniform civil penalty of up to $1,000 on all persons
regulated under the statute, and eliminate the requirement that the
Secretary issue a cease-and-desist order before imposing a civil penalty
on research facilities;
(6) make it a crime punishable by fine and imprisonment to knowingly
sponsor, participate in, transport in interstate commerce or use the
mail to promote fights between dogs, other mammals or cocks, except
where state law permits this;
(7) require all government agencies—including the Army, Air Force and
National Institutes of Health—using laboratory animals to show they
fully comply with the Act.
The Tule Elk Bill provides protection for a species found only in parts
of California.
Congress amends the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 to increase
its coverage from 12 to 200 miles, consistent with the new 200-mile-limit
law extending US jurisdiction.
Congress amends the Horse Protection Act of 1970, increasing civil
fines and raising criminal penalties. Other sections provide authority for
the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to seize illegal equipment as
evidence for trial, detain a horse for 24 hours for further examination,
subpoena non-government witnesses in civil cases and give penalties for
assaulting, intimidating or interfering with federal agents and for
knowingly making false reports or entering a horse in a show under a false
name. Authorization for funding increases.
1978
The Senate amends the Agriculture Appropriations bill to authorize use
of funds for research on animal birth control, but USDA fails to make use
of the funds.
The Humane Slaughter Act improves with an amendment requiring that
livestock (poultry are specifically excluded) imported into the United
States for meat be slaughtered humanely. Foreign packers exporting to this
country must meet standards equal to those required of US packers.
Congress amends the Meat Inspection Act for all inspected plants to
empower the USDA inspectors to stop the slaughtering line on the spot if
they observe any cruelty. Slaughter may not recommence until deficiencies,
whether of equipment or of abuses by personnel, are corrected.
Note: Although Congress has never repealed the humane
slaughter laws of 1958 and 1978, the laws are blatantly disregarded. The
barbaric packing industry moves animals so rapidly through the slaughter
lines that it is impossible to stun and kill them humanely. Animals may be
dismembered or scalded while still alive and conscious, their cries
echoing through the plants. USDA has succumbed to industry pressure and
has stopped authorizing its inspectors to stop the line if cruelty to an
animal occurs, since it incurs large costs for the slaughterhouse.
1979
Congress passes the Packwood-Magnuson Amendment to the International
Fishery Conservation and Management Act to provide important protection
for whales and other sea creatures. The amendment cuts a nation’s fish
allocation by 50 percent upon certification by the Secretary of Commerce
that a nation has not lived up to the Act. All allocations would be
stopped in a year if such nation persists in its violation, providing
incentive for whaling nations to adhere to the International Whaling
Commission rulings.
Terrestrial and marine animals are included in the embargo sanctions of
the Pelly Amendment to the 1967 Fisherman’s Protective Act. The new
amendment covers all threatened or endangered species, enabling the
President to embargo all products from any nation diminishing the
effectiveness of an international wildlife conservation agreement.
The House of Representatives passes the Elephant Protection Act.
