Animal Welfare Group Urges Connecticut Voters to Choose Humane Candidates for Office

WASHINGTON (August 15, 2008)—Citing their leadership and support of animal protection policies, the Humane Society Legislative Fund announced its endorsement of five Connecticut candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives in the general election.

“In order to have humane laws, we need to elect humane lawmakers,” said Sara Amundson, executive director of the Humane Society Legislative Fund. “We urge Connecticut voters to elect candidates who support the humane treatment of animals.”

The slate of endorsements for the U.S. House includes all five incumbents, three of whom scored a perfect 100 on the most recent Humane Scorecard:  Reps. Joe Courtney (D-2nd), Rosa DeLauro (D-3rd) and Chris Shays (R-4th). The five lawmakers—also including Reps. John Larson (D-1st) and Chris Murphy (D-5th) combined for an average score of 90 on the Humane Scorecard.

Several members of Connecticut’s House delegation, from both parties, have been leaders for the humane treatment of animals. For example:

• Rep. Shays is the co-chair of the Congressional Friends of Animals Caucus, and has been a leader on numerous animal welfare bills. He successfully led the passage of the Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards (PETS) Act in 2006, which was introduced in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and now requires pets and service animals to be included in disaster planning. He is currently a lead sponsor of the Farm Animal Stewardship Purchasing Act, which would require that meat, egg, and dairy products purchased by the federal government come from producers who meet a basic set of animal welfare standards.
• Rep. DeLauro, chair of the Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, has advocated for funding to enforce the Animal Welfare Act, Humane Methods of Slaughter Act, and other animal protection laws. She successfully passed legislation in the wake of the pet food recall scandal that established better standards for the safety of pet food, and she is now the lead author of the Food Safety Recall Information Act to address the problem of abusing sick and crippled cattle which this year led to the largest meat recall in U.S. history.

All five incumbents supported measures in the 110th Congress to strengthen the penalties for illegal dogfighting and cockfighting, stop the export of American horses for slaughter in foreign countries, prevent the trophy hunting of threatened polar bears in the Arctic, and halt the trade in dangerous primates as exotic pets.

HSLF is a nonpartisan organization that evaluates candidates based only on a single criterion: where they stand on animal welfare.  HSLF does not judge candidates based on party affiliation or any other issue.

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Media contact: Heather Sullivan: 301-548-7778, hsullivan@hslf.org

The Humane Society Legislative Fund is a social welfare organization incorporated under section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code and formed in 2004 as a separate lobbying affiliate of The Humane Society of the United States. The HSLF works to pass animal protection laws at the state and federal level, to educate the public about animal protection issues, and to support humane candidates for office. On the web at hslf.org.

Paid for by Humane Society Legislative Fund and not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee. HSLF, 519 C Street, NE, Washington, DC 20002.