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Animal Wellness Action Calls on Congress to Move Both Key Wildlife Measures

Washington, D.C. (June 25, 2020) — 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 Action, the Animal Wellness Foundation, the Center for a Humane Economy, and SPCA International endorsed both measures and urged that the full committee and then the House act on the measures and send them to the Senate. Former California Fish and Game Commission chairman and former federal wildlife agent Mike Sutton testified in support of the bills on behalf of Animal Wellness Action and other groups, saying the “announcement by Chinese government officials that bear bile can be used as a treatment for COVID-19 was an ominous signal that demand for the parts of bears may surge and put enormous pressure on bears in the wild.”  

Animal Wellness Action and its partners are lead backers of the Bear Protection Act, with H.R. 2264 introduced in 2019 by U.S. Representatives Ted Lieu, D-Calif.; Rodney Davis, R-Ill., Annie Kuster, D-N.H., and Glenn Thompson, R-Penn., and S. 3196, led by U.S. Senators John Kennedy, R-La., and Cory Booker, D-N.J.. The bills aim to stop the global trade in bear parts, specifically gallbladders and bile, used mainly in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Some weeks ago, Chinese public health officials included bear bile as an accepted treatment for COVID-19 patients.

“There aren’t enough bears in the world to provide bile to COVID-19 patients, and God help us, if that’s what the patients are depending on when it comes to medical care and treatment,” said Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action.  “The very few opponents of this bill, under the false pretense of state management authority, are in practical terms running interference for global poaching syndicates. The states and the federal government must both be pro-active to stop global poaching.” 

In addition to sourcing bear parts from poached bears in the wild, wildlife traffickers also draw these parts from animals confined on bear “farms” in China, South Korea, and Vietnam, where the animals are kept in cages or concrete pits and “milked” for their bile. The Bear Protection Act would forbid selling or buying the internal organs of their fluids. There are eight species of bears in the world, and once gall bladders are extracted from the body of a bear, they are visually indistinguishable in terms of species type.

“Bear bile does not treat symptoms brought about by or cure the COVID-19 disease,” said Rep. Rodney Davis, R-IL, and one of the co-authors of the legislation. “China’s recent decision to recommend bear bile as a COVID-19 treatment will only lead to increased poaching and threatens the already-unstable bear populations across the world. Using a small part of a bear as a purported treatment to a widespread, global pandemic instead of other known treatments is reckless and puts humans and multiple species of bears at risk.”

“I am deeply disturbed by the trend of poaching bears for their internal organs,” said Rep. Annie Kuster, D-NH, a cosponsor of this legislation and a member of the Animal Protection Caucus. “The belief that these organs can help treat COVID-19 is detrimental to human health and only increases the dangers to our bear populations in the United States. Congress must act quickly and pass the bipartisan Bear Protection Act. I commend the House Natural Resources Committee for including this bill in today’s hearing.”

There are 40 states that have laws on the books to address this trade, revealing the emerging consensus to address this problem. The Bear Protection Act is needed to make a global statement about the trade from the United States, and to address gaps or inconsistencies in state laws. A trafficker in Colorado may face up to three years in prison and a $100,000 fine, while a trafficker in Kentucky may receive only a $100 fine. Federal sentencing guidelines dictate that the market value of the item must be at least $350 for a prosecution under the federal Lacey Act, but the courts attribute the value of a gallbladder to only $280.

The Senate twice passed the Bear Protection Act two decades ago by Unanimous Consent, and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was the bill author at the time.

AWA and its partners also strongly endorse the Captive Primate Safety Act, H.R. 1776, introduced by Reps. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., and Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Penn., and S. 2562, by Senators Richard Blumenthal, D.-Conn., and Christopher Murphy, D-Conn. Connecticut had one of the most horrifying incidents of a pet chimpanzee disfiguring a young women after she came to help calm the animal at the request of the owner.

“Primates don’t belong in backyards or basements, and people who obtain these animals for use as pets put the animals and anyone who interacts with them at risk,” noted Holly Gann, director of federal affairs for Animal Wellness Action and the Animal Wellness Foundation.  “Most states ban keeping primates as pets, and Congress should pass a complementary law to end this reckless trade.”

“With all that we know about keeping wild animals in captivity as pets, and the safety risk it poses to both humans and animals, we urge congress to move quickly toward a national ban to catch up with many individual state laws to end interstate primate commerce and private ownership,” noted Meredith Ayan, executive director, SPCA International

Click here to watch the replay of the hearing.

Press Contact: Marty Irby, Animal Wellness Action or Stephanie Scott, SPCA International

June 25^th, 2020

Canadian Food Inspection Agency
Attention, Siddika Mathani, President
1400 Merivale Road Tower 1, Floor 6, Room 100
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0Y9
Canada

To Siddika Mithani, President of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA):

The recent arrival of a Ukraine International Airlines plane containing 500 crated puppies, 38 of which were confirmed dead on arrival and many others of which were dehydrated and weak, is an unacceptable tragedy – and an entirely preventable one. Had the CFIA followed its own extensive guidelines on humane transportation for animals, and Ukraine International Airlines involved followed Canadian Health of Animals Regulations and International Air Transport Association (IATA) voluntary codes, the suffering and death of these animals – and the ensuing international outrage – could have been avoided.

SPCA International was also disappointed to learn that the CFIA has handed the surviving puppies, still likely ill and traumatized, over to the importers without completing a full investigation into the cruel transport of these animals. The agency should have also overseen a full veterinary inspection of the animals’ health. We write to you now to demand that the CFIA uphold its own standards for animal transport and care, and that the agency release a complete account of its investigation into this incident.

Dogs should never be transported in such huge numbers, with multiple animals to a crate, at such high temperatures, and without proper oversight and care on long journeys. Due to their smaller nostrils and a narrow windpipe, it is never advisable to transport snub-nosed breeds – like the French bulldog puppies in this case — in the cargo hold of any airplane. The massive numbers of pure-breed puppies transported in this case amounts to an international puppy mill, and unfortunately, this incident is only a microcosm of the corruption, profiteering and cruelty spurred by puppy mills worldwide.

The CFIA’s Health of Animals Regulations section 148 requires that “no animal is transported in a way that it is overcrowded” especially in a way that animals are “likely to suffer, sustain an injury or die.” The Ukraine International Airlines flight clearly violated these rules. To send a message to all players in the cruel puppy mill trade, the importers and airline responsible for this incident must be held accountable with meaningful fines. The CFIA should also recover the surviving puppies from the importers until it can ensure that these animals will be humanely kept. 

We urge the CFIA to strengthen its enforcement procedures by including appropriate fines for all code violations and working with related bodies such as the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to make its regulations mandatory, not voluntary. Globally, the lives of dogs and other animals rest on the work of governing bodies to produce and enforce true protective measures. We ask the CFIA to do its part in supporting animal welfare now in the wake of this situation and in the future.

Respectfully,

Meredith Ayan
Executive Director
SPCA International

New York, NY (June 22, 2020) – The recent death of 38 puppies on a Ukraine International Airlines flight is a terrible tragedy. It’s evident to us, as experts in animal welfare and transportation, that the many checks and balances in place to protect animals during air travel were blatantly ignored on this flight, which resulted in dozens of entirely preventable deaths and extraordinary suffering for the animals onboard. Animals should never be transported in such huge numbers, with multiple animals to a crate, and without proper oversight and care on long journeys. Due to smaller nostrils and a narrow windpipe, it is never advisable to transport snub-nosed breeds in the cargo hold of any airplane.

The transportation of 500 pure-breed puppies from Ukraine amounts to an international puppy mill; this case highlights yet again the corruption, profiteering and cruelty behind pure-breed puppy sales worldwide. This case of careless neglect and cruelty should emphasize to all animal lovers and prospective pet guardians worldwide why it is vital to adopt pets from shelters.  

This tragedy also highlights the urgent need for international regulations for pet air travel. Ukraine International Airlines violated Canadian Health of Animals Regulations and International Air Transport Association (IATA) voluntary codes (a group to which they belong). SPCA International calls on Canada to hold Ukraine International Airlines accountable for their violations, and we call on the IATA to make these voluntary animal safety codes mandatory regulations for all its airlines and investigate UIA’s animal transport procedures. 

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SPCA International is proud to declare Juneteenth (June 19) an annual paid company holiday. Juneteenth commemorates an important day in American history: the day slavery officially ended across the country in 1865. Sadly, it did not mark the end of racial oppression and inequality. We join with other companies large and small to encourage our employees to take time on Juneteenth to reflect and seek a deeper understanding of the systemic racism that still plagues America today and the ways in which we can all be a part of the solution.  

At SPCA International we have always tried to do what’s right over what’s easy. This will be our only social media post today in observation of #blackouttuesday.

If you have the resources, we encourage you to donate to one of the following groups: 

NAACP: https://www.naacp.org/
Campaign Zero: https://www.joincampaignzero.org/
Southern Poverty Law Center: https://www.splcenter.org/

New York, NY (April 29, 2020) – As we continue to learn more about the impact of COVID-19 on animals and humans, we want to share an update on animals known to have tested positive for COVID-19 in the United States. At this time, we know that the first case of an animal testing positive for the virus in the U.S. was Nadia, a tiger at the Bronx zoo in New York City, who came into contact with an asymptomatic zookeeper; several other big cats at the Bronx Zoo are also presumed to have the virus based on their symptoms. We are also aware of two domestic cats that tested positive for the virus, one of them after close contact with people with COVID-19. 

We are saddened to learn that these animals are sick, but we are heartened by the news that experts expect them to make a full recovery. We understand that this may cause concern over whether companion animals, particularly domesticated house cats and dogs, can transmit the virus to humans. We want to emphasize that these cases have not changed advice from experts. The American Veterinary Medicine Association, U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and World Health Organization agree that there is no evidence that a dog, cat, or any pets play a significant role in spreading the virus that causes COVID-19.

We at SPCA International urge pet owners not to abandon their animals. Always maintain basic hygiene when handling and caring for your pets. Wash your hands before and after interacting with your pet, avoid kissing or sharing your food with your animals, and observe social distancing for yourself and for your pets on walks or in shared spaces. The CDC recommends keeping your cats indoors. If you are currently sick with COVID-19, restrict contact with your pets and other animals as you would around other people. SPCAI is closely monitoring the situation and will provide updates as they become available.