The President was busy at work this week signing a number of bills into law, and one of them was a bipartisan proposal from two congressman, Republican Vern Buchanan and Democrat Alcee Hastings. What the “Dog and Cat Meat Trade Prohibition Act” was introduced to do is ban the slaughter of dogs and cats for human consumption as part of the highly publicized farm bill that was also signed this month.
This measure has been in circulation since November 2017, when it moved through the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee. It then drew a large number of bipartisan support for the measure that “amends the federal Animal Welfare Act to make it illegal to knowingly slaughter, transport, possess, buy, sell or donate” meat from cats or dogs to be used for consumption. In addition, any violator “will be fined up to $5,000”.
Buchanan, who is the chairman iof the Animal Protection Caucus, commented this week that “With the president’s signature of this legislation, dog and cat lovers across America can rejoice as the slaughter of these beloved creatures will no longer have legal safe haven in America. I thank President Trump and my colleagues in Congress for joining me in this bipartisan effort and advancing the cause of animal protection.”
When the Farm Bill was passed last week, Hastings also commented on the measure, saying that “The Farm Bill’s inclusion of language prohibiting the cruel dog and cat meat trade domestically in addition to the passage of the Dog and Cat Meat Trade Prohibition Act in September 2018 represents a historic step forward to unify animal cruelty laws across the United States and generate momentum for the animal welfare movement. I am proud to have championed this effort in Congress, along with my colleagues Representatives Vern Buchanan, David Trott and Brendan Boyle, to explicitly ban the killing and consumption dogs and cats across the United States.”
