Humane Treatment of Farm Animals: Overview and Issues

Abstract:

Animal protection activists in the United States have long sought legislation to modify or curtail some practices considered by U.S. agriculture to be both acceptable and necessary to animal health. Members of Congress over the years have offered various bills that would affect animal care on the farm, during transport, or at slaughter; in 2007 these include H.R. 503, S. 311, H.R. 661, and S. 394. Members of the House and Senate Agriculture Committees generally have expressed a preference for voluntary rather than regulatory approaches to humane methods of care. This report will be updated if significant developments ensue.