Congress Makes USDA AWARE that Americans Will Not Stand for Cruel Agricultural Research
This morning ASPCA President Matt Bershadker stood on Capitol Hill beside
Representative Earl Blumenauer of Oregon as he introduced new legislation
to end government-funded and -perpetrated cruelty to animals used in agricultural research.
The Animal Welfare in Agricultural Research Endeavors (AWARE) Act, H.R. 746/S. 388, comes in response to the gut-wrenching animal suffering
revealed by
The New York Times at
USDA’s Meat Animal Research Center (USMARC) in Nebraska—a tax-payer funded facility that performs research to
make meat production more profitable.
The AWARE Act would require animal agricultural research at federal facilities
to meet the minimal standards for humane handling, care, and treatment
in the Animal Welfare Act (AWA). The bill would prohibit the type of disregard
for animal suffering that is clearly ingrained at the USMARC.
To date, the USDA has provided no explanation nor expressed any remorse
for its treatment of the thousands of animals that have been starved,
crushed, tortured or left to die painful deaths at the hands of its researchers.
While it’s disappointing that the agency with primary enforcement
authority for our federal animal welfare statutes—including the
Animal Welfare Act, which H.R. 746 would amend—behaves so atrociously
toward the animals in its own care, we are grateful to have champions
like House cosponsors Rep. Blumenauer and Pennsylvania Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick
working to right these wrongs. We are also grateful to Senator Cory Booker
of New Jersey for introducing the Senate version of the bill and to Wayne
Pacelle of The Humane Society of the U.S. for helping us lead the charge.
You can learn more about the AWARE Act here, or take action immediately by contacting your members of Congress using
the form below.