The Happy Act

August 24, 2009
By Laura Allen

A bill pending in Congress would give pet owners tax deductions, well, for having pets. H.R. 3501 introduced by Rep. Thaddeus G. McCotter (R-MI) is also known as the Humanity and Pets Partnered Through the Years or HAPPY Act.

The bill notes that according to the "2007-2008 National Pet Owners Survey, 63 percent of United States households own a pet" and "Human-Animal Bond has been shown to have positive effects upon people's emotional and physical well-being". Kind of an understatement....

Under the bill, H.R. 3501, pet owners could deduct expenses for the care, including veterinary care, of a pet up to $3,500 per year. Pet is defined as a "legally owned, domesticated, live animal". Animals used for research or held in conjunction with a business or similar use don't count.

This bill will save animal lives and help keep them in their homes.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Help pass the HAPPY Act, H.R. 3501 by contacting your U.S. representative found here and urging him or her to co-sponsor or vote yes for this bill!

Canada and European Union Bans American Horsemeat

Canada and European Union Bans American Horsemeat

Europeans focus on food safety issue -- no more poisoned American horse meat

For decades, the gourmet diners of Europe and Japan have eaten American horse meat poisoned by chemical contamination. The horse flesh exporting by unscrupulous producers and horse slaughter plants will come to an end in April of 2010. The new rules enacted by the European Union will mandate chemical free horse meat entering those countries.

American horses are routinely given powerful chemicals prohibited for human consumption such as wormers, Phenylbutazone (Bute), and a host of other deadly medications which are life giving to a horse but cause serious medical issues when ingested by humans. Like DDT, banned for similar reasons, some of these compounds such as Bute remain in a horse's body long after administered. Studies indicate... (continued)

Appeals Court Upholds Roadless Area Protections

San Francisco, CA -- The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals today affirmed protection for over 40 million acres of wild national forests and grasslands from new road building, logging, and development. The decision puts an end to the Bush administration's efforts to open these last great natural areas to development. Today's ruling protects the majority of national forest roadless areas in the country.

"Americans love the wild forests and rivers our country has been blessed with," said Earthjustice attorney Kristen Boyles. "From campers, hunters, hikers, fishermen, and bird watchers to cities and towns that rely on clean, mountain-fed drinking water, we all stand and cheer that the court today protected our national roadless areas."

The appellate court explained that the Bush rule it struck down, "had the effect of permanently repealing uniform, nationwide, substantive protections that were afforded to inventoried roadless areas, and replacing them with a [variable] regime of the type the agency had rejected as inadequate a few years earlier." The court repeated its earlier finding that "there can be no doubt that the 58.5 million acres subject to the Roadless Rule, if implemented, would have greater protection if the Roadless Rule stands." The 2001 Rule has, the court emphasized, "immeasurable benefits from a conservationist standpoint."

Today's ruling not only affirms and reinstates the most popular environmental rule of all time, it frees the Obama administration to pursue President Obama's pledge to "support and defend" the 2001 Rule -- including appealing an adverse ruling from a Wyoming federal court, ending the roadless protection exemption for the Tongass National Forest, and refraining from enacting specific state legislation, like that proposed in Colorado.

In 2009, 127 eminent scientists, four governors, 121 members of Congress, 25 Senators, and 119 outdoor recreation businesses sent letters appealing to President Obama and Agriculture Secretary Vilsack to protect and defend roadless areas.

"We're not out of the woods yet," Boyles said. "This decision halts the Bush administration assault on roadless areas, but the Obama administration should now take the next steps necessary to make protection permanent."

The fate of the Roadless Rule has been caught up in the federal courts and the politics of changing Presidents for almost a decade. Originally adopted by the Clinton administration after an environmental review that included 600 public hearings and over 1.6 million public comments, the Bush administration actively colluded to get rid of it. Despite these efforts, and due to deep public support for roadless area protection, only seven miles of roads were built and 535 acres of trees logged in roadless areas since 2001.

The timber industry first challenged the Roadless Rule in federal court in Idaho. The Bush administration refused to defend it, and the court temporarily suspended the Roadless Rule. That suspension came to an end in 2003 when environmental groups, represented by Earthjustice attorneys, won an appeal in the Ninth Circuit that reinstated the Rule's protections. Separate litigation in federal court in Wyoming then again suspended the Roadless Rule, and appellate court review in the Tenth Circuit was pending when the Bush administration repealed the Rule outright in 2005 and replaced it with one of their own that invited a state by state approach. It was this 2005 Bush rule that was found to be illegal by the 9th Circuit today.

The challenge to the Bush rule was brought by 20 regional and national environmental groups, again represented by Earthjustice, joining parallel efforts by four states. In September 2006, a federal court in California struck down the Bush repeal.

Today's ruling does not address ongoing Roadless Rule litigation in Wyoming or the specific exemption for the Tongass National Forest in Alaska engineered by the Bush administration. Both these areas must be addressed to ensure full, nationwide roadless area protection.

In the challenge to the repeal of the Roadless Rule, Earthjustice represented The Wilderness Society, California Wilderness Coalition, Forests Forever Foundation, Northcoast Environmental Center, Oregon Wild, Sitka Conservation Society, Siskiyou Project, Biodiversity Conservation Alliance, Sierra Club, National Audubon Society, Greater Yellowstone Coalition, Center for Biological Diversity, Environmental Protection Information Center, Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center, Defenders of Wildlife, Pacific Rivers Council, Idaho Conservation League, Humane Society of the United States, Conservation NW, and Greenpeace, and joined with the states of California, Oregon, New Mexico, and Washington.

Read the decision (PDF)

Contact:

Kristen Boyles, Earthjustice, (206) 343-7340, ext. 33

California legislative committee passes puppy and cat mill bill, AB 241

Historic Legislation! California legislative committee passes puppy and cat mill bill, AB 241

AB 241, a bill to regulate commercial dog and cat breeders in California, appeared to be dead on Tuesday, July 14, when the California Senate Public Safety Committee failed to pass it on a 3-3 vote.

The sponsor, Rep. Pedro Nava, even talked about bringing it up next year.

But then on Thursday, July 16. the committee reconvened, and this time Senate President Pro Tem, Sen. Darrell Steinberg, was present. The bill passed by a vote of 4-0.

As the saying goes, it ain't over till it's over.... The bill now goes to the Appropriations Committee.

Read this article at Compassionate Animal.TV
For more on this historic legislation, go to Animal Law Coalition