National Animal Welfare Legislation

WASHINGTON — Louisiana’s U.S. senators are leading the charge on what one interest group is calling an increasingly advantageous political stance: national animal-welfare legislation.

U.S. Sen. David Vitter introduced a measure in February that would prevent chimpanzees from being transported across state lines.

More recently, U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu re-introduced a bill that would end slaughtering horses for food.

The measures are examples of how the Louisiana senators have advocated for federal legislation considered crucial to the animal-welfare movement.

“They have made some of the issues their own and pushed them in Congress,” said Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The Humane Society of the U.S.

While the two Louisiana senators score high on the society’s report card, Louisiana’s House delegation as a whole remains weak on these issues, Pacelle said.

Former Democratic U.S. Rep. William Jefferson of New Orleans led the congressional House delegation with a 58 on the society’s congressional scorecard.

By contrast, Landrieu and Vitter scored the society’s third-highest mark, at 67.

Vitter, a Republican, introduced his bill in February in the wake of an attack on a Connecticut woman by a chimpanzee. The legislation seeks to protect public safety and promote animal welfare by prohibiting interstate commerce of primates for the pet trade.

When introducing the legislation, Vitter said the measure would do for states what previous legislation did for the U.S. in banning the importation of chimpanzees. Louisiana is one of 20 states with laws prohibiting keeping primates as pets.

“Primates are wild animals who can attack and spread disease,” said Mark Markarian, executive vice president of The Humane Society. “They don’t belong in our bedrooms or basements.”

In the last session of Congress, retiring Republican U.S. Rep. Jim McCrery of Shreveport successfully passed a law that would prevent chimpanzees retired from federal research from being called back into service.

McCrery’s measure specifically helped Chimp Haven, a sanctuary outside Shreveport that cares for animals formerly used in federal research. The site houses 131 chimpanzees that have been used by the federal government."

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