Groundbreaking Farmed-Animal Protection Law Needs Your Help!

The number of animals raised and killed for food in the U.S. is higher than the number of animals in all fur farms, circuses, laboratories, and puppy mills combined. Despite the fact that 96 percent of Americans believe that animals deserve legal protections, the billions of chickens, cows, pigs, and turkeys who are killed each year in this country are not protected by a single federal law while they're in factory farms. Factory farms are allowed to keep animals in cages so small that they can't even turn around or lift a wing, and they're permitted to cut off animals' tails, beaks, and toes without any painkillers. This is largely because the giant meat, egg, and dairy-product industries make enormous contributions to politicians in order to ensure that no laws are enacted that would require factory farms to treat animals better. It is extremely important that animal advocates like you demand that Congress work to end the worst abuses of factory farming by enacting strong farmed-animal protection laws.

U.S. representatives Christopher Shays and Peter DeFazio have introduced the Farm Animal Stewardship Purchasing Act (H.R. 5557), which would require that anyone seeking to sell animal products to the federal government—including the military, federal prisons, school lunch programs, and other programs—meet basic animal welfare standards. Although these standards are modest, they would include some groundbreaking provisions: Factory farms that want to sell their products to the federal government would not be allowed to starve or force-feed animals, leave sick or injured animals to suffer without treatment or euthanasia, or confine animals so restrictively that they are unable to turn around and extend their limbs and wings.

Please call your U.S. representative today and politely ask him or her to cosponsor the Farm Animal Stewardship Purchasing Act. You can reach your representative by calling the U.S. Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121 or by entering your zip code at Congress.org.

Please also ask your two U.S. senators to introduce a parallel bill to the Farm Animal Stewardship Purchasing Act in the Senate.

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