Congress should act fast to protect animals in puppy mills, roadside zoos and research labs during coronavirus crisis
By Kitty Block and Sara Amundson
With cities and states imposing quarantines and curfews, and businesses shuttering their doors and asking employees to stay home, animals in institutional settings are extremely vulnerable to neglect and/or abandonment. Photo by Amie Chou/The HSUS
As the COVID-19 crisis escalates, we are asking Congress to act quickly on an important bill that would ensure that millions of animals held in research laboratories and enterprises like puppy mills and roadside zoos across the country are not forgotten.
The Providing Responsible Emergency Plans for Animals at Risk of Emerging Disasters (PREPARED) Act, H.R. 1042, introduced last year by Reps. Dina Titus, D-Nev., and Peter King, R-N.Y., is ripe for passage, with more than 200 bipartisan cosponsors. The bill would require all facilities regulated under the Animal Welfare Act (AWA), including commercial animal dealers, exhibitors and research labs, to have emergency response plans for the animals in their care when disaster strikes.
This commonsense idea has been on the table for many years, but the urgency to pass it is greater today than ever before. With cities and states imposing quarantines and curfews, and businesses shuttering their doors and asking employees to stay home, animals in institutional settings are extremely vulnerable to neglect and/or abandonment. Our federal government has a responsibility to protect them, and to hold such facilities accountable.
The PREPARED Act would require regulated facilities to submit plans that identify emergency situations, including human and natural disasters (pandemics, hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, etc.), power outages and animal escapes, and institute specific policies and protocols to respond to these emergencies. Plans would need to include instructions for evacuating the animals, shelter-in-place, provision of backup food and water, sanitation, ventilation, bedding and veterinary care.
We already know that not including animals in disaster plans can lead to terrible outcomes. After Hurricane Katrina, more than 600,000 animals were abandoned. Some people refused to evacuate and lost their lives because they couldn’t bear to abandon their pets. At our urging, Congress then went on to pass the PETS Act, which required state and local authorities to take into account—and to plan for—the needs of individuals with household pets and service animals before, during and after a disaster. Unfortunately, the law did not cover commercially owned animals, which is the reason the Humane Society Legislative Fund has been pushing for the PREPARED Act.
Not requiring commercial facilities to have a plan in place also places undue burden on first responders, the local community and nongovernmental entities involved with rescue efforts. Because of Katrina and many other deployments, the Humane Society of the United States knows firsthand the difficulties of providing care for thousands of animals in a significant disaster, and the COVID-19 crisis is a disaster of a greater scale than our country has ever experienced.
Facilities doing National Institutes of Health-funded research are already required to have disaster plans for their animals, as are those accredited by the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care (AAALAC) International and by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. The PREPARED Act would simply level the playing field to ensure that puppy mills, roadside zoos and other regulated facilities also have emergency response plans. It’s a win-win for the businesses too, because it helps them safeguard their activity while ensuring animals they use are not abandoned without care in a time of crisis.
The world around us is changing every day. As we focus on keeping ourselves and our loved ones safe, we cannot and should not forget the millions of voiceless animals in puppy mills, roadside zoos and research labs. They need our help now, more than ever. Please take a moment to contact your federal legislators and urge them to cosponsor the PREPARED Act if they haven’t yet, and do all they can to get this bill passed immediately.
Sara Amundson is president of the Humane Society Legislative Fund.
These institutions have a responsibility to safe guard all animals in their care we would rather they didn’t exist at all but 1 step at a time.
Por favor no nos olvidemos de los animalitos también necesitan de nosotros
This article is so true,we all need to think of these poor animals. Thank you!😍
Please help the mills, zoos, labs. They are depending on you and so are we.
PUPPY MILLS HAVE TO BE OUTLAWED & ANIMAL TESTING HAS NO PLACE IN THE 21st CENTURY, THERE ARE OTHER ALTERNATIVES, PLEASE STOP TESTING ON ANIMALS.
Protect these innocent animals our beloved pets.
Save puppy mill dogs like Bambi
Rip 1/4/08-5/26/16
Save Brusiers mom 😭
Don’t forget about them!
Please help theses babies!!
Por favor necesitan hacerse responsables y cuidar otros los animalitos son parte de nosotros son nuestra responsabilidad
We need to take car of the animals. Thy need someone to take care of them
Stop puppy mills , road side zoo’s and research
Karma
Congress needs to act quickly on an important bill that would ensure that millions of animals held in research laboratories and enterprises like puppy mills and roadside zoos across the country are not forgotten
These animals need your help in an emergency and because of this horrible corona virus. They need someone to help them and to get them out of those horrible places
Thanks so much think of the animals please.
Please don’t forget the animals
Stop the suffering and shut down labs that torture and use animals in cruel experiments!
Please help these animals they don’t deserve this . God Bless them
Please help these poor animals.
This act is vital to pass to keep people accountable for their treatment of animals!! No animal is to be harmed, neglected or used for cruel experimentation!! Please pass quickly especially during this time of crisis with COVID19. Thank you for taking action on this now.
Laboratories and roadsides are a disgrace, needs to be stopped.
Thank you for all you do. Recently you came to the rescue of 50+ Arabians that have been starved for years. No one had been able to get help for them. Local law officials were deaf. The HSUS came with a vet and trailers of hay. We are now hopeful this cycle of abuse will end. Thanks to HSUS. I encourage everyone to donate to this organization.
Please stop the roadside zoos, puppy Mills and the torture and experiments on innocent animals in labs.
Please save these animals!! What would we be like if we had no pets!!
What, when , why, we have not able to change the Law? We have so many people care Deeply about poor innocent Animals who are being miss treated now in puppy miles and Road side Zoos and Research Labs. We all need to stand up Speak up for the Voiceless Innocent Animals .! We need to call our Lawmakers,Senators,Congress to tell them this year is Election years we will Remember
We will be watching,and vote to change, Remove the Lawmakers who is not change the Law to protecting poor Innocent suffering Animals.! We need a protection Laws now.!!
The, Amish run puppy mills and are known for, cruelty to their animals. They, shun the so called English and they need to be shunned.
I am a life long democrat. Straight ticket. I will never ever vote for her again.If you can’t see the abusers right in front of you, then you do not deserve the position.