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The two main federal animal welfare laws are the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act and the Animal Welfare Act. Although these laws take major steps in protecting animals, they also contain major loopholes and omissions, thereby excluding millions of animals from basic, humane protections. For instance, the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act fails to protect 95% of animals slaughtered for food by excluding poultry from its provisions. There is no justifiable reason that 9 billion animals slaughtered every year for food should be excluded from the requirement that animals be rendered “insensible to pain” before slaughter. Rabbits are treated the same as poultry under this act and also do not have to be rendered "insensible to pain." Moreover, the Animal Welfare Act also fails to provide minimum standards of care to mice, rats and birds used in laboratories. As mice, rats and birds are the most widely used animals in research, used in approximately 95% of animal experiments, there is no logical reason to exclude them from the protections afforded to another animals used in research. Please contact your Congressional representatives and urge them to support legislation to strengthen these laws. |
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