BINGHAMPTON, NY – Today Animal Wellness Action announced its endorsement of U.S. Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-NY-22, in recognition of her solid advocacy for horses, dogs, wildlife, and other animals at risk of cruelty. She’s one of the leaders on animal welfare in the U.S. House. She also was a leader on efforts to emerging viruses spawned at mink farms.
“Congresswoman Tenney has an incredible passion for animals and she has put that passion into action in the House of Representatives” said Wayne Pacelle, president at Animal Wellness Action. “She’s fighting against puppy mills, horse slaughter, needless animal testing, and other abuses of animals that must be pulled up from the root.”
“Claudia Tenney is a tireless advocate for animals who continues to see success in securing the enactment of new laws to protect the voiceless we all care so deeply about,” said Marty Irby, executive director at Animal Wellness Action. “We applaud Rep. Tenney’s work and hope the voters that care about animals will send her back to Washington, D.C. for another term.”
Tenney has backed numerous animal protection measures in the U.S. House:
- Tenney is one of the leaders of the MINKS Are Superspreaders Act to end mink farming in the U.S. as mink have proven to be the number one superspreader of COVID besides humans and have already spawned at least one new variant in the U.S. All five documented cases of SARS-CoV-2 variants that have spread from animals to people came from mink on factory farms.
- Tenney is a cosponsor of the FDA Modernization Act to stop needless, costly, and inhumane animal testing. The measure recently passed the U.S. Senate and would end animal testing mandates at the FDA by amending the 1938 statute – a Depression-era requirement for animal testing for all new drug development protocols, allow for alternative methods when validated, and help reduce drug costs and time to market for voters.
- Tenney was a cosponsor of the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture (PACT) Act that was signed into law by President Donald J. Trump in 2019 – the first ever anti-cruelty statute in American history that outlawed the most egregious of animal abuses on the federal level.
- Tenney cosponsored and voted for the Big Cat Public Safety Act that passed the House in July and would ban the private ownership of dangerous big cats as well as the practice of ‘cub petting’ that continues to fuel overbreeding and unfunded mandates on animal rescues.
- Tenney is a cosponsor of the Prevent All Soring Tactics (PAST) Act that would amend the 1970 Horse Protection Act to end the painful practice of soring – the intentional infliction of pain to Tennessee Walking Horses front limbs to induce an artificial pain-based gait known as the ‘Big Lick’ that’s prized at horse shows. The measure passed the House Energy and Commerce Committee in September.
- Tenney is a cosponsor of the Save America’s Forgotten Equines (SAFE) Act that would permanently end the slaughter of American equines on U.S. soil and the transport of equines across state and federal lines for that purpose.
- Tenney cosponsored the Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act that would ban the trade in shark fins in the U.S.