On September 28th, 2006 – The Humane Society of the United States, Compassion Over Killing, Farm Sanctuaryand Animals' Angels hailed a decision by the U.S. Department of Agriculture announcing that it will apply the nation's oldest federal animal welfare law—which was passed in 1873 when farm animals were transported by rail—to the modern transport of animals by truck. The decision came in response to a legal petition submitted in October 2005 by the humane organizations.
"USDA's decision could substantially reduce suffering for the millions of farm animals trucked long distances each year in the United States," said Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The HSUS. "Congress declared more than 100 years ago that animals must be given food, water and rest after 28 hours of transport, and we commend USDA for finally applying these basic animal welfare standards to the transport of animals by truck."
The federal Twenty-Eight Hour Law, the nation's first and only federal law regulating the transport of farm animals, requires that animals be offloaded after 28 hours in transit on a "vehicle" so that they may eat, drink and rest for at least five hours. However, both USDA and the agribusiness lobby have tried for years to avoid applying the law to truck transport. This has effectively rendered the law meaningless, since more than 95 percent of all animal transport in the United States is via trucks.
The agency's decision marks the first time USDA has publicly announced that the Twenty-Eight Hour Law applies to the transport of animals by truck. In a 1997 publication entitled, Cattle and Swine Trucking Guide for Exporters, USDA informed the livestock industry that the Twenty-Eight Hour Law "applies only to rail shipments." Likewise, a 1995 Federal Register Notice issued by the USDA states unequivocally: "The Twenty-Eight Hour Law does not apply to transport by truck."
The livestock industry has also long attempted to evade the application of the Twenty-Eight Hour Law to trucks. Just last week in testimony before Congress, the National Pork Producers Council claimed that the Act was "enacted to deal with the movement to slaughterhouses of cattle by train" only and strenuously opposed the "extension" of the Twenty-Eight Hour Law to truck transport.
In its response to the humane organizations' legal petition, USDA concluded that "[w]e agree that the plain meaning of the statutory term 'vehicle' in the Twenty-Eight Hour Law includes 'trucks' which operate as express carriers or common carriers." USDA also noted that it is working to investigate "alleged violations of the Twenty-Eight Hour Law, and is currently investigating a shipment of breeding pigs from Canada to Mexico," a case involving the deaths of more than 150 pigs who arrived by truck at a Brownsville, Texas, livestock export facility in July after an extended journey of more than 28 hours. The HSUS, Farm Sanctuary, and other animal protection organizations have asked both state and federal officials to investigate the case.
As described in the organizations' legal petition, more than 50 million of the nearly 10 billion farm animals transported by truck every year must endure trips far in excess of 28 hours without food, water or rest. A 2005 Compassion Over Killing undercover investigation of long-distance pig transport found numerous cruelties, including dead animals left on trucks for more than 30 hours, animals enduring extreme heat without water, and animals suffering from a variety of injuries, including bruises, abrasions and bleeding lacerations on their bodies, legs and ears.
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