Animal Welfare Act
Encyclopedia
The Animal Welfare Act was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson
on August 24, 1966. It is the only Federal law in the United States
that regulates the treatment of animals in research, exhibition, transport, and by dealers. Other laws, policies, and guidelines may include additional species coverage or specifications for animal care and use, but all refer to the Animal Welfare Act (otherwise known as “AWA”)as the minimally acceptable standard for animal treatment and care.
As enacted in 1966, AWA required all animal dealers to be registered and licensed as well as liable to monitoring by Federal regulators and suspension of their license if they violate any provisions of the Animal Welfare Act and imprisonment of up to a year accompanied by a fine of $1,000. All facilities covered by the Animal Welfare Act were required to establish a specialized committee that included at least one person trained as a veterinarian and one not affiliated with the facility. They were to regularly assess animal care, treatment, and practices during research and required to inspect all animal study areas at least twice a year. Such committees also were required to assure that alternatives to animal use in experimentation is implemented whenever possible.
Although hygienic living conditions were necessary for animals not during experimentation to prevent unintentional infection, there were no such provisions against intentionally infecting animal subjects with disease for the purpose of the experiment.
(Public Law 92-522) of 1970, preventing extinction or depletion from indiscriminate taking, including hunting, harassment, capture, and killing (permitted takings, including for subsistence and research purposes, must be accomplished humanely, with "the least degree of pain and suffering practicable to the animal"); and endangered and threatened species were also protected with the passage in 1973 of the Endangered Species Act
(Public Law 93-205), making it unlawful to buy, sell, or transport in interstate or foreign commerce any species found to be endangered and closely regulating commerce in any species threatened with extinction.
These laws regarding animal welfare demonstrate the type of concern that produced AWA in the 1960s. Congress had acted on several occasions over the past century to protect animals, both as individuals and as species (i.e., marine mammals and endangered species). The degree of commitment to the protection of animals through regulation and enforcement increased during this period and exhibit Congress' growing tendency toward stricter controls beginning in the 1970s.
The premise for the animal welfare act makes itself clear in events occurring shortly before the enactment of AWA. Due to increasing evidence that dogs and cats kept as pets were being stolen by dealers, taken across states lines, and resold to research institutions for scientific experimentation, Congress enacted the Laboratory Animal Welfare Act in 1966. Many sportsmen supported the act because it was their hunting dogs that often went missing, as well as many distraught pet owners. The purpose of the act was to deter such abuses by requiring dealers and research facilities that handled, cared for, treated, or transported certain animals "in commerce" to follow standards developed and issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). It was meant to protect the owners of dogs and cat from having their pets stolen for experimentation and to establish other such humane standards for the treatment of particular animals by animal sellers and medical research facilities.
Certain conditions are also excluded from coverage by AWA. Animals that are killed prior to usage, such as frogs used in a biology class, are also not included, so long as they are killed humanely before use.
Facilities that do not receive Federal funding were also not bound by the act’s coverage, such as bear armories.
, APHIS
, and Animal Care agency.
In 1970 the act was amended to include all warm-blooded animals used in testing, experimentation, exhibition, or as pets or sold as pets. Certain cases could be exempted from such definitions unless they used live animals in substantial numbers. Fines were also increased against those interfering with an investigation of an experimentation facility. Those found guilty of assaulting or killing Federal inspectors responsible for such tasks also faced additional sentencing.
Basic treatment was expanded to include humane and reasonable handling of the animals, required shelters from weather and temperature extremes, proper ventilation, adequate housing, decent sanitation, and adequate veterinary care at all stages in the animal’s life.
In 1976 the act was further amended to further specific its necessary qualifications of animal treatment during transportation. Animals were to be kept in adequately sized traveling accommodations according to their size and to be kept from fighting amongst one another. The definition of animal was also broadened to rid the law of the possible interpretation that dogs used for hunting, security, and breeding were not included in its protection.
Again in 1985 the act was amended. The psychological well-being of the animals was now taken into consideration as it never had been before. It was also not permitted for a single animal to be used in more than one major operative experiment, from which it was also allowed adequate time to recover as guided by a veterinarian with proper training.
In 2011, the Dollarhite family of Nixa, Missouri were fined $90,643 for selling several thousand dollars worth of rabbits without a license, which is required of people selling more than $500 worth of rabbits sold as pets. The USDA has increased enforcement of the law in recent years, targeting magicians who perform magic tricks with rabbits.
There is also some questions as to whether or not the act appropriately keeps track of the effectiveness of drugs that are given to animals during experimentation to dull their pain and suffering.
Considering that other alternatives to animal experimentation are available, many also criticize the fact that animals are permitted legally to ever be used in scientific experimentation.
On the other hand, there are also many opponents to increased government regulation of scientific research facilities. Some claim that researchers and their institutions are the ones best suited to determine what policies are acceptable regarding their care of animals. Some in the scientific community feel that it would be inappropriate to regulate animal use at a higher level. There are as well those that feel that funding for the act should be altogether eliminated, although this extreme view is not as widely accepted.
There have been numerous sanctions taken against individuals and agencies that have been found in violation of the Animal Welfare Act
(AWA). A database of violations, reports, and sanctions on behalf of the United States Department of Agriculture
(USDA) can be found on the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service website.
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
on August 24, 1966. It is the only Federal law in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
that regulates the treatment of animals in research, exhibition, transport, and by dealers. Other laws, policies, and guidelines may include additional species coverage or specifications for animal care and use, but all refer to the Animal Welfare Act (otherwise known as “AWA”)as the minimally acceptable standard for animal treatment and care.
As enacted in 1966, AWA required all animal dealers to be registered and licensed as well as liable to monitoring by Federal regulators and suspension of their license if they violate any provisions of the Animal Welfare Act and imprisonment of up to a year accompanied by a fine of $1,000. All facilities covered by the Animal Welfare Act were required to establish a specialized committee that included at least one person trained as a veterinarian and one not affiliated with the facility. They were to regularly assess animal care, treatment, and practices during research and required to inspect all animal study areas at least twice a year. Such committees also were required to assure that alternatives to animal use in experimentation is implemented whenever possible.
Although hygienic living conditions were necessary for animals not during experimentation to prevent unintentional infection, there were no such provisions against intentionally infecting animal subjects with disease for the purpose of the experiment.
History
The historical climate of AWA regarded animal welfare as a priority. The Animal Welfare Act was not the only law enacted for animals at the time. The Horse Protection Act (public Law 91-929) was passed in 1970 and protected horses against the physical practice of produce a physical appearance aesthetically appealing to humans ("soring" the ankles to produce a high-stepping gait); marine mammals as a class (whales, porpoises, seals, and polar bears, for the most part), found protection under the passage of the Marine Mammal Protection ActMarine Mammal Protection Act
The Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 was the first article of legislation to call specifically for an ecosystem approach to natural resource management and conservation. MMPA prohibits the taking of marine mammals, and enacts a moratorium on the import, export, and sale of any marine mammal,...
(Public Law 92-522) of 1970, preventing extinction or depletion from indiscriminate taking, including hunting, harassment, capture, and killing (permitted takings, including for subsistence and research purposes, must be accomplished humanely, with "the least degree of pain and suffering practicable to the animal"); and endangered and threatened species were also protected with the passage in 1973 of the Endangered Species Act
Endangered Species Act
The Endangered Species Act of 1973 is one of the dozens of United States environmental laws passed in the 1970s. Signed into law by President Richard Nixon on December 28, 1973, it was designed to protect critically imperiled species from extinction as a "consequence of economic growth and...
(Public Law 93-205), making it unlawful to buy, sell, or transport in interstate or foreign commerce any species found to be endangered and closely regulating commerce in any species threatened with extinction.
These laws regarding animal welfare demonstrate the type of concern that produced AWA in the 1960s. Congress had acted on several occasions over the past century to protect animals, both as individuals and as species (i.e., marine mammals and endangered species). The degree of commitment to the protection of animals through regulation and enforcement increased during this period and exhibit Congress' growing tendency toward stricter controls beginning in the 1970s.
The premise for the animal welfare act makes itself clear in events occurring shortly before the enactment of AWA. Due to increasing evidence that dogs and cats kept as pets were being stolen by dealers, taken across states lines, and resold to research institutions for scientific experimentation, Congress enacted the Laboratory Animal Welfare Act in 1966. Many sportsmen supported the act because it was their hunting dogs that often went missing, as well as many distraught pet owners. The purpose of the act was to deter such abuses by requiring dealers and research facilities that handled, cared for, treated, or transported certain animals "in commerce" to follow standards developed and issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). It was meant to protect the owners of dogs and cat from having their pets stolen for experimentation and to establish other such humane standards for the treatment of particular animals by animal sellers and medical research facilities.
Exclusions
There is much debate as to the actual definition of an animal, but for the purpose of AWA, birds, rats, mice, horses, and other farm animals were excluded from its protection as initially legislated in 1966. The most commonly used animals in laboratories are rats and mice and therefore they were not regulated in the original law.Certain conditions are also excluded from coverage by AWA. Animals that are killed prior to usage, such as frogs used in a biology class, are also not included, so long as they are killed humanely before use.
Facilities that do not receive Federal funding were also not bound by the act’s coverage, such as bear armories.
Timeline
The Act was amended six times (1970, 1976, 1985, 1990, 2002, 2007) and is enforced by the USDAUnited States Department of Agriculture
The United States Department of Agriculture is the United States federal executive department responsible for developing and executing U.S. federal government policy on farming, agriculture, and food...
, APHIS
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture responsible for protecting animal health, animal welfare, and plant health. APHIS is the lead agency for collaboration with other agencies to protect U.S. agriculture from invasive pests and...
, and Animal Care agency.
In 1970 the act was amended to include all warm-blooded animals used in testing, experimentation, exhibition, or as pets or sold as pets. Certain cases could be exempted from such definitions unless they used live animals in substantial numbers. Fines were also increased against those interfering with an investigation of an experimentation facility. Those found guilty of assaulting or killing Federal inspectors responsible for such tasks also faced additional sentencing.
Basic treatment was expanded to include humane and reasonable handling of the animals, required shelters from weather and temperature extremes, proper ventilation, adequate housing, decent sanitation, and adequate veterinary care at all stages in the animal’s life.
In 1976 the act was further amended to further specific its necessary qualifications of animal treatment during transportation. Animals were to be kept in adequately sized traveling accommodations according to their size and to be kept from fighting amongst one another. The definition of animal was also broadened to rid the law of the possible interpretation that dogs used for hunting, security, and breeding were not included in its protection.
Again in 1985 the act was amended. The psychological well-being of the animals was now taken into consideration as it never had been before. It was also not permitted for a single animal to be used in more than one major operative experiment, from which it was also allowed adequate time to recover as guided by a veterinarian with proper training.
Enforcement
The 2006 HBO film "Dealing Dogs" documents an undercover operation targeting a "Class B" kennel which treated dogs inhumanely, violating the Act. The owners of the kennel were fined over $200,000 as the result of a USDA suit.In 2011, the Dollarhite family of Nixa, Missouri were fined $90,643 for selling several thousand dollars worth of rabbits without a license, which is required of people selling more than $500 worth of rabbits sold as pets. The USDA has increased enforcement of the law in recent years, targeting magicians who perform magic tricks with rabbits.
Proposed amendments
Many animal welfare groups and animal activists support strengthening and further enforcement of the act. The act is often criticized for it’s exclusions of rats and mice, although inappropriately, as the act was amended to include all warmblooded animals in 1970. Some, however, do feel that not just warmblooded animals should be included in the act’s protection. Many also think there should be a higher level of funding given to the purpose of enforcing the provisions of the act.There is also some questions as to whether or not the act appropriately keeps track of the effectiveness of drugs that are given to animals during experimentation to dull their pain and suffering.
Considering that other alternatives to animal experimentation are available, many also criticize the fact that animals are permitted legally to ever be used in scientific experimentation.
On the other hand, there are also many opponents to increased government regulation of scientific research facilities. Some claim that researchers and their institutions are the ones best suited to determine what policies are acceptable regarding their care of animals. Some in the scientific community feel that it would be inappropriate to regulate animal use at a higher level. There are as well those that feel that funding for the act should be altogether eliminated, although this extreme view is not as widely accepted.
There have been numerous sanctions taken against individuals and agencies that have been found in violation of the Animal Welfare Act
Animal Welfare Act
The Animal Welfare Act was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on August 24, 1966. It is the only Federal law in the United States that regulates the treatment of animals in research, exhibition, transport, and by dealers...
(AWA). A database of violations, reports, and sanctions on behalf of the United States Department of Agriculture
United States Department of Agriculture
The United States Department of Agriculture is the United States federal executive department responsible for developing and executing U.S. federal government policy on farming, agriculture, and food...
(USDA) can be found on the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service website.
Further reading
- Irvine, Leslie. 2009. Filling the Ark: Animal Welfare in Disasters. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. ISBN 978-1-59213-834-0
- Alix Fano, Lethal Laws (White Lotus Co. Ltd, 1997).
- Bekoff, Marc, Encyclopedia of Animal Rights and Animal Welfare, vol. 1, 2nd ed. (ABC-CLIO, 2010).
- Jann Hau and G. L. Van Hoosier, Handbook of Laboratory Animal Science: Essential principles and practices.
External links
- Animal Welfare Act and Animal Welfare Regulations from the United States Department of AgricultureUnited States Department of AgricultureThe United States Department of Agriculture is the United States federal executive department responsible for developing and executing U.S. federal government policy on farming, agriculture, and food...
- Biosecurity New Zealand - guide to the New Zealand Animal Welfare Act
- awic.nal.usda.gov - Animal Welfare Information Center (USDA)
- grants.nih.gov