Help animals in puppy mills, roadside zoos and labs!

The Animal Welfare Act is meant to protect animals in facilities regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture like puppy mills, roadside zoos, or laboratories. Yet repeat offenders who continue to violate basic standards of animal care in these facilities face little to no consequences. As a result, countless animals are suffering. Many violations are egregious—including denying veterinary care to animals who are emaciated, sick, injured, or unable to walk.

The Better CARE for Animals Act will strengthen enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act by enabling the Department of Justice to collaborate more effectively with the USDA to hold accountable animal businesses that violate the most basic rules of humane care. It also allows the DOJ to seek stronger penalties for repeat offenders, including license revocations, civil penalties, and the use of seizure and forfeiture of animals experiencing harmful treatment.

This change is long overdue. Consider that in May of 2022, the DOJ filed a lawsuit documenting dozens of animal welfare violations at a breeding facility for animals used in research. Among the many violations noted, beagles were being killed instead of given veterinary care for easily treatable conditions, and, over an eight-week period, 25 beagle puppies died from cold exposure. The company that owned the facility eventually entered a settlement agreement leading to the transfer of roughly 4,000 dogs to animal adoption organizations, but it should never have taken so long to save these dogs since USDA inspectors had documented dozens of violations at the facility in 2021 and 2022. If the DOJ had better tools to punish chronic violators, like this facility, it's possible some of these animals could have been saved.

The Better CARE for Animals Act will give DOJ better tools to enforce the Animal Welfare Act, prosecute repeat offenders, and help save suffering animals before it's too late. Please urge your members of Congress to support this critical bill today!
Dear Legislator,

As your constituent, I am writing to urge you to cosponsor the Better Collaboration, Accountability, and Regulatory Enforcement (CARE) for Animals Act (H.R. 5041/S. 2555), which will strengthen the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) by giving the Department of Justice (DOJ) the tools to collaborate more effectively with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to enforce the AWA when the regulated community are violating the most basic rules of humane care.

The AWA requires research facilities, exhibitors, puppy mills, and other breeders/dealers to meet basic standards of animal care. This law is crucial to protecting over a million animals from inhumane care and treatment, yet many facilities are getting away with egregious abuses.

Currently, there are only three administrative law judges for the entire USDA. As a result, only so many enforcement actions can go through the system each year, which is a contributing factor to why so many AWA violators go unpunished. However, Congress included a provision in the AWA that allows DOJ to bring cases in federal court.

But as it stands, DOJ enforcement power only goes so far because they can only ask the court to issue injunctions to prevent current unlawful mistreatment of animals. The Better CARE for Animals Act would require a memorandum of understanding between the USDA and DOJ to encourage greater collaboration and ensure DOJ has access to evidence on AWA violators. It would also provide DOJ with more enforcement remedies under the AWA by authorizing them to seek license revocations, civil penalties, and the seizure and removal of mistreated animals.

Last May, DOJ filed a lawsuit detailing shocking AWA violations at a breeding facility owned by a company called Envigo. Government inspectors found, among many violations, that beagles there were being killed instead of receiving veterinary treatment for easily treatable conditions and that over an eight-week period, 25 beagle puppies died from cold exposure. Ultimately, Envigo entered a settlement agreement leading to the transfer of roughly 4,000 beagles to animal adoption organizations, but it should never have taken so long to save these dogs, as USDA inspectors had documented numerous violations at the facility in 2021 and 2022.

The Better CARE for Animals Act will give DOJ the tools to better enforce the AWA and hopefully step in earlier at facilities with documented violations of the AWA, like Envigo, in order to save the lives of suffering animals before it is too late. I hope you will support this important bill.
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