(Beth Clifton collage)
Pro-animal record as prosecutor, candidate, and in office
WASHINGTON D.C.––U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, 59, endorsed by President Joe Biden to become his successor as Democratic presidential candidate in the November 5, 2024 general election, would become not only the first African-American and Asian-American candidate to head the ticket for a national political party, but also the first presidential candidate to have endorsed, helped to pass, and helped to enforce strong, specific pro-animal legislation throughout her political career.
Harris has in fact made animal advocacy a prominent theme in her campaigns.
(Beth Clifton collage)
Horseracing Integrity & Safety Act and Big Cat Public Safety Act
Two longtime Harris legislative goals, now achieved, were the December 2020 passage of the Horseracing Integrity & Safety Act and the December 2022 passage of the Big Cat Public Safety Act.
The Horseracing Integrity & Safety Act prohibits race day horse drugging and authorized the creation of a new national Horseracing Integrity & Safety Authority.
Enforcement was recently delayed in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi by the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, contradicting a 2023 ruling by the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
(See Trump-appointed judges stall Horse Racing Safety & Integrity Act rules.)
The Big Cat Public Safety Act restricts possession of large and exotic cats to zoos, accredited sanctuaries, universities, and government agencies.
(See Joe Biden signs the Big Cat Public Safety Act.)
Kamala Harris. (Beth Clifton collage)
Farmed animal welfare
Harris throughout her career has also advocated for farmed animal welfare legislation and opposed measures such as the EATS Act, now before Congress, which would prevent states from excluding the sale of animal products and byproducts not produced in accordance with those states’ own animal welfare standards.
Recounted Harris as a then-U.S. Senator from California, in an April 13, 2018 letter to a constituent shared with ANIMALS 24-7 by Eric Mills of Action for Animals, “Animals deserve to be treated with our compassion and respect. As Attorney General of California,” prior to running for the U.S. Senate, “I fought to promote animal welfare and enforce protection laws.
“That included defending laws that restrict forced over-feeding of ducks and geese, and laws that prohibit harvesting sharks for their fins. I also defended laws that require stores in California to only sell eggs from free-range hens or hens kept in cages that allow full range of movement.
Kamala Harris & friend.
(Beth Clifton collage)
“I recognize there is still much work to do”
“I recognize there is still much work to do regarding federal protection for pets, farm animals, wildlife, and other creatures,” Harris finished.
Harris during her 2016 U.S. Senate campaign issued a platform pledge that she would “Fight for Nationwide Protections for Animal Rights.”
“As San Francisco district attorney,” Harris reminded voters, she “successfully sponsored legislation that now allows judges to include a family’s pets in protective orders in domestic violence cases.”
Harris pledged then to “protect the rights of animals by supporting humane legislation, opposing government programs that use taxpayer funds to harm animals, supporting initiatives to protect animals and for adequate enforcement of animal welfare laws, and opposing inhumane laws or those which weaken current protections.”
(Beth & Merritt Clifton collage)
Service dogs for veterans & puppy mills
Harris also said she would “push for federal funding for programs that enable veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder to train [shelter] dogs as a form of therapy and provide trained companion dogs to disabled veterans.”
This was accomplished.
Harris further said she would “support strong enforcement to crack down on puppy mills and ensure humane care for dogs in commercial breeding operations,” and “support enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act, providing funding for USDA inspectors overseeing conditions at puppy mills, research laboratories, roadside zoos, circuses, and other regulated facilities.”
Sonny Perdue.
Trump appointee undid progress
Progress in this direction was severely undermined by former agriculture secretary Sonny Purdue, appointed by then-U.S. President Donald Trump and in office throughout the Trump presidency, 2017-2021.
Much of the damage, but not all of it, has been repaired during the Biden/Harris administration, despite opposition from the Republican majority in the House of Representatives.
Harris as a U.S. Senator specifically endorsed the Safeguard American Food Exports (SAFE) Act, promoted by the Humane Society of the U.S. but not yet enacted into law, “to ban exports of horses for slaughter in other countries, and prevent horse slaughter plants from re-opening in the U.S.”
(Kamala Harris/Twitter photo)
Wild horses, animal testing, wildlife
Harris also said she would “push for more humane treatment and population control of wild horses by the Bureau of Land Management,” promised to “fight for greater funding for the development and approval of alternative chemical testing methods,” and pledged to “support continued funding for wildlife conservation, habitat protection programs and efforts to combat poaching.”
Harris further pledged “oppose any efforts to weaken the Endangered Species Act,” as she consistently has.
Kamala Harris. (Beth Clifton collage)
Concerned about climate change, but not veg
Harris continued that she “supports legislation to prohibit monkeys, chimpanzees, and other primates from being shipped across state lines for the pet trade,” another goal not yet achieved.
Harris finally mentioned that “We shouldn’t forget that entire species are at risk for extinction because of climate change.”
While Harris is not a vegetarian, she has mentioned in campaign appearances that she “would support changing the U.S. dietary guidelines to reduce the recommended intake of red meat specifically,” because of the contribution of meat production to global warming.
(Beth Clifton collage)
Elijah McClain
Harris took early notice of the August 24, 2019 police killing by ketamine overdose of mild-mannered African-American violinist, vegetarian, and animal shelter volunteer Elijah McClain, in Aurora, Colorado, as “absolutely crushing.”
Two paramedics and one police officer were subsequently convicted of negligent homicide for their role in McClain’s death.
Signing of PACT Act: HSUS president Kitty Block at left, Donald Trump at right, with Humane Society Legislative Fund president Sara Amundson directly behind Trump.
(Beth Clifton collage)
Humane Society Legislative Fund endorsement
Humane Society of the U.S. president Kitty Block and Humane Society Legislative Fund president Sara Amundson endorsed the Biden/Harris ticket in 2020, they recalled in a March 2022 blog posting, “based on their individual records and the poor performance of the incumbent [Donald Trump] administration in critical areas of animal welfare concern.
Wrote Amundson during the 2020 election campaign, “Senator Kamala Harris achieved a score of 100% every year on the Humane Scorecard,” a project of the Humane Society Legislative Fund, “since being elected to the U.S. Senate.
(Beth Clifton collage)
PACT Act
As a U.S. Senator, Amundson recounted, Harris cosponsored “legislation to crack down on horse soring abuses, prohibit the trade of shark fins, reduce wildlife trafficking, and address widespread doping of racehorses. She also supported the PACT Act to create a felony penalty for malicious animal cruelty [committed on federal property], which [in November 2019] was signed into law by President Trump,” and was promptly claimed by Trump as his landmark accomplishment for animal welfare.
The PACT Act, however, exempts anything done in connection with legal hunting, fishing, or trapping; “customary and normal” agricultural and veterinary practices; slaughtering animals for food; pest control; medical and scientific research; euthanasia; or actions “necessary to protect the life or property of a person.”
Most vertebrate species are otherwise covered, including birds, reptiles, and amphibians, but fish and invertebrates are not covered at all.
(See HSUS, Donald Trump, & the PACT Act: The Art of the Deal.)
Who needs foie gras when there is peanut butter? (Beth Clifton collage)
Foie gras & fighting dogs
Amundson also praised Harris “for introducing the Help Extract Animals from Red Tape (HEART) Act,” to “expedite the disposition of abused animals who have been rescued and seized from persons involved in unlawful animal fighting or gambling,” endorsed by both the Humane Society of the U.S. and the American SPCA.
This bill might have accelerated either adoptions or euthanasias of fighting dogs and gamecocks, but failed in committee in both the 115th and 116th Congresses.
“As California’s attorney general (2011-2017), Kamala Harris defended a series of pioneering animal protection laws approved in the state,” Amundson added.
Harris continuously defended California’s ban on foie gras sales after producers launched a series of challenges in the courts.
Selling foie gras, an oily spread made from the diseased livers of force-fed ducks and geese, was banned in California in 2004, but Los Angeles U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson on July 14, 2020 ruled that Californians may continue to purchase it from out-of-state suppliers.
(See Amazon et al may sell foie gras to Californians despite state ban, rules judge.)
(Beth Clifton photo)
Defended California battery cage laws
Wayne Pacelle, Humane Society of the U.S. president 2004-2018, now heading Animal Wellness Action and the Center for A Humane Economy, also praised Kamala Harris for her work as California attorney general.
In particular, Pacelle singled out Harris in January 2015 for having “defended a series of pioneering animal protection laws,” winning “four separate challenges to Proposition 2 and AB 1437.”
Proposition 2, approved by California voters in 2008, centered on purportedly prohibiting egg-laying hens in so-called battery cages. AB 1437 was passed by the California legislature to clarify that eggs from hens kept in battery cages elsewhere were also barred from sale in California.
Aiden Harris confronts Kamala Harris.
Confronted by vegan activist
Before co-sponsoring federal legislation to protect sharks, which has yet to win passage, Kamala Harris also “defeated a challenge to California’s ban on the possession and sale of shark fins,” Pacelle recalled.
Direct Action Everywhere cofounder Wayne Hsiung, now blogging as Simple Heart, issued a public apology to Harris on June 2, 2019, a day after activist Aiden Cook, 24, identifying himself with Direct Action Everywhere, jumped onstage during a Harris campaign appearance, took the microphone from Harris, and briefly spoke before security personnel hauled him away.
Cook had in 2018 comparably disrupted a campaign appearance by then-presidential candidate Bernard Sanders, senior U.S. Senator from Vermont.
(Beth Clifton collage)
Harris & the Diane Whipple mauling death
Long before doing any of the things that Block, Amundson, and Pacelle remembered Kamala Harris for doing, she led the San Francisco legal response to fatal and disfiguring dog attacks, including pit bull proliferation.
Harris was handling child abuse and neglect cases for the San Francisco Family & Children’s Services Division when on January 26, 2001 two Presa Canarios belonging to San Francisco attorneys Marjorie Knoller and Robert Noel fatally mauled St. Mary’s College lacrosse coach Diane Whipple, 33, at the door to her apartment.
Marjorie Knoller & Robert Noel.
Knoller & Noel convicted
Harris was not involved in the initial prosecution of Knoller and Noel, who were tried in Los Angeles, rather than San Francisco, in order to find an impartial jury.
Knoller on March 21, 2002 was convicted of second degree murder. Both Knoller and Noel were also convicted of manslaughter and keeping a dangerous animal.
San Francisco Superior Court judge James Warren prevented prosecutors Terrence Hallinan, James Hammer, and Kimberly Guilfoyle (now fiancé of Donald Trump Jr.) from presenting evidence that Knoller and Noel had sexual relations with the Presa Canarios.
This, the prosecution contended, might have contributed to the fatal attack.
On appeal, Warren in 2004 threw out the second degree murder conviction of Knoller, and allowed her to be released on bail, as she had completed her manslaughter sentence.
Robert Noel, meanwhile, had been released from prison in 2003. He died in 2018.
Robert Noel & Marjorie Knoller with Presa Canario. (Beth Clifton collage)
Harris sent Knoller back to prison & kept her there
Running against Hallinan in 2003, Harris won 56% of the vote.
Harris took over the Knoller prosecution.
“We believe the defendant should be sentenced as originally mandated by the jury,” Harris said.
The California First District Court of Appeal in May 2005 reinstated the second degree murder conviction. Further litigation of the conviction and sentence continued until in February 2016 the conviction was affirmed by U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Harris continued oversight of the case until she was elected California state attorney general in November 2010. Knoller, denied parole in February 2023, remains in prison.
(See Diane Whipple died for the sins of dangerous dog advocacy.)
Nicholas Faibish.
The Nicholas Faibish case
Harris handled her second dog attack fatality case after Nicholas Faibish, 12, was killed on June 3, 2005 by two pit bulls kept by his mother, Maureen Faibish, 39.
Maureen Faibish was charged with felony child endangerment resulting in death, Harris told media, because she knew it was dangerous to leave Nicholas alone with the pit bulls.
On July 31, 2006, however, “A San Francisco jury deadlocked after deliberating for more than two days,” reported San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Jaxon Van Derbeken.
“Ten of the 12 panelists favored acquittal on the charge of felony child endangerment,” Van Derbeken wrote. “A 7-5 split favored conviction on a misdemeanor charge.
Nicholas Faibish, bitten earlier in the day by Maureen Faibish’s 70-pound male pit bull, had been left alone in a basement with food and video games, but no working toilet.
The male pit bull was left upstairs with a female pit bull who was in heat.
Nicholas Faibish was found dead in an upstairs bedroom.
Harris opted against retrying Maureen Faibish, she told media, because of the risk of again having a hung jury.
Diane Whipple in front of the San Francisco apartment house where she died.
(Beth Clifton collage)
Pit bull sterilization ordinance
With the Faibish case pending, the San Francisco city council adopted an ordinance promoted by then-San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom, now governor of California, which has required since January 1, 2006 that pit bulls must be sterilized if brought within the San Francisco city limits.
Enforced by Harris, the ordinance reduced San Francisco shelter intakes of pit bulls by two-thirds in two years, and brought San Francisco the lowest volume of pit bull killing in shelters of any major U.S. city.
(Beth Clifton collage)
Case against the ASPCA
A lesser known case arising during Harris’ tenure as California Attorney General arose when the State Humane Association of California, alleging “unfair and deceptive fundraising practices which harm local humane societies and SPCAs,” in May 2011 filed a consumer protection complaint against the American SPCA.
(See Fundraising turf war brings California groups’ complaint against the ASPCA.)
The State Humane Association of California complaint was dropped after the Better Business Bureau National Advertising Division in April 2013 issued an opinion favoring the ASPCA.
The National Advertising Division, however, “recommended that the ASPCA modify its website to more clearly explain that the organization is not directly affiliated with local SPCAS or local humane associations,” a National Advertising Division media release said.
The State Humane Association of California, founded in 1909, merged with the California Animal Control Directors Association in 2018 to become the California Animal Welfare Association.
(Beth Clifton collage)
Alleged misuse of police dogs
The last animal-related case coming before Harris as California Attorney General concerned allegations of frequent civil rights violations and misuse of force, including misuse of police dogs, by the Bakersfield Police Department and Kern County Sheriff’s Department––the two largest law enforcement agencies in Kern county.
Harris ordered a state investigation, but had already been elected to the U.S. Senate by the time the investigation concluded.
(Beth Clifton collage)
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The post VP Kamala Harris has long, strong record on animal issues appeared first on Animals 24-7.
