[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 79 (Tuesday, May 7, 2024)]
[House]
[Page H2877]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        ANIMAL PROTECTION CAUCUS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER Mr. Speaker, in less than 8 months, I am going to 
conclude my 28 years here in the House. One of my major priorities and 
proudest accomplishments has been to chair the Animal Protection Caucus 
and lead the effort in a number of those provisions. It didn't start 
out that way, but the more I listened, the more I studied, this 
priority stood out.
  My first major accomplishment dealt with animal fighting, a barbaric 
practice with hidden support in Congress and around the country. There 
are pockets of some States where this tradition continues, but it is a 
barbaric tradition. They train dogs and chickens to fight to the death, 
and it is often organized in rings of criminal elements, people who are 
involved with illegal gambling, drugs. It is indescribable in terms of 
the cruelty that is involved. There are times where there are children 
involved watching this, the drugs, the potential harm to animals.
  Infections took place with the chickens. There were millions of 
chickens that had to be destroyed because of infections that spread 
through animal fighting. This all is hidden from the general public. 
When the focus was trained on it, we were able to gain momentum here 
and ultimately enact step-by-step painful accomplishments that cracked 
down on this cruel activity.
  They are some of the worst people on the planet, as I mentioned, 
dealing with drugs, gambling, money laundering, and the risk to the 
animal's health. We watched how the agenda broadened to include other 
areas as well--performing animals, protections of elephants, big cats.
  Again, public attention on the cruel and dangerous practices that 
helped us make significant progress broaden the agenda beyond just 
animal cruelty. What we found is that the care and welfare of people's 
pets was also important in terms of protecting families. We found 
repeatedly that people would put themselves in harm's way in conditions 
of flood and natural disaster because they didn't want to leave their 
pets. Domestic abusers would stay with the abuser because they were 
afraid of what would happen to their pets.
  We worked to expand protections in shelters for disasters and 
domestic violence to be able to include people's pets so they would 
feel more comfortable actually availing themselves to the services.
  I am pleased with the strength of the movement. It has gained 
momentum. My law school alma mater, Lewis & Clark College, had one of 
the first animal studies programs across the country. We are watching 
these spread in colleges and universities across the country, where 
more and more people are studying, learning, and protecting animal 
provisions.
  I was pleased that we recently have a rule now that will end the 
horrific practice of animal soring. This is where you torture a horse 
by wounding it so that it will have that distinctive gait or it would 
have extraordinarily heavy weights on their legs to develop that 
distinctive gait that is prized by some people who show horses, but is 
hopelessly cruel to animals themselves.
  Year after year, we had a majority of people in both Houses 
supporting legislation to end this practice, but we were thwarted time 
and again by the special interests who wanted to promote the Tennessee 
walking horses.
  Finally, we have seen a rule that has been promulgated that will end 
it after years of struggle. It is one more signal that the animal 
welfare movement is alive, well, and gaining momentum. It is something 
I hope to put my energies into in the remaining time I have in Congress 
to build this bipartisan movement to protect animals and meet our 
responsibilities.

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