Animal Welfare Act of 1966 - History

History

The historical climate of the AWA regarded animal welfare as a priority. Indeed, the Animal Welfare Act was not the only animal-protection law enacted at the time. The Horse Protection Act (public Law 91-929) was passed in 1970 and protected horses against various damaging practices designed to produce aesthetically appealing horses, for example, "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 Act (Public Law 92-522) of 1972, which prevented 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". Endangered and threatened species were also protected with the passage in 1973 of the Endangered Species Act (Public Law 93-205), which made illegal the purchase, sale, or transportation in interstate or foreign commerce any species found to be endangered, and also closely regulated commerce in any species threatened with extinction.

These laws regarding animal welfare demonstrate the type of concern that produced the 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 exhibited Congress's growing tendency toward stricter controls beginning in the 1970s.

The premise for the AWA 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 cats 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.