Critical insights at the intersection of animals and politics
The staged fighting of animals is the most widely criminalized form of animal cruelty, with the first prohibitions imposed by the states in the first half of the 19th century. Yet it remains as one of the biggest underground enterprises that causes extreme harm to animals — with literally tens of thousands of backyard cockfighting … Read more
The National Law Enforcement Council (NLEC) is a group of current and former local and state prosecutors, attorneys general, and other law enforcement professionals who support fortifying the legal framework against animal cruelty and seeing that all of our animal welfare laws are robustly enforced at all levels of government. The goal of the group is to … Read more
Washington, D.C. — Animal Wellness Action (AWA), the Animal Wellness Foundation (AWF), and Tennessee State Senator Jon Lundberg, R-Bristol, today asked U.S. Attorneys J. Douglas Overbey and Donald Q. Cochran, respectively covering the Eastern and Middle Districts of Tennessee, to investigate allegations that nine Tennesseans appear to be deeply involved in illegal trafficking of fighting animals, … Read more
Animal Wellness Applauds Cohen’s Tireless Work for Horses WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 1400, the Horse Transportation Safety Act, authored by Congressman Steve Cohen (D-TN-09), that would ban the transportation of horses across state lines in ‘double decker’ trucks or trailers containing two or more levels stacked on top … Read more
He says that’s just one reason to oppose federal anti-poaching bill One thing that’s always baffled me are the mental contortions exhibited by some animal-use industries to justify cruelty. Cockfighters, for example, say the birds love to fight, even though the hapless creatures are trapped in a cordoned-off pit and have deadly knives strapped to … Read more
Animal Wellness Action Calls on Congress to Move Both Key Wildlife Measures Washington, D.C. — House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Raul Grijalva and Water, Oceans and Wildlife Subcommittee Chairman Jared Huffman, D-Calif. conducted a hearing on measures to combat global trafficking in bear parts and halt the trade in primates for use as pets. Animal Wellness … Read more
The era of disregarding animal welfare laws cannot end soon enough Reports from China this week are delivering a dose of heartbreak and how-can-it-happen. Dog meat traders are butchering terrified and terrorized dogs at the infamous Yulin festival, selling their parts to buyers in defiance of a new Chinese regulation that reclassified dogs from “livestock” to … Read more
AWA and the Animal Wellness Foundation (AWF) are supporting the United States by seeking to participate as friends of the court in two pivotal federal court cases relating to animal fighting. In Puerto Rico, and separately on Guam, cockfighters have filed legal actions to nullify the most recently enacted provisions the anti-fighting section of the … Read more
By Josh Marquis AWA Director of Legal Affairs Barbara LaWall is unique in many ways. She was the first person in her family to attend college. She entered law school later in life than most, after seven years as a high school English teacher. Courtesy of Title IX, Barbara was in the first University of … Read more
Our phones starting buzzing on the morning of March 9th. It was news of the FBI’s surprise raids at a racetrack and horse training facility in Florida around 5:00 A.M. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York handed down 40 indictments of trainers, veterinarians, and drug distributors in multiple states. Among … Read more