Titus Bill Takes Aim at Inhumane Transport

In September, Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV) reintroduced the Humane Transport of Farmed Animals Act (HR 5286)—bipartisan legislation to improve transport conditions for farmed animals in the United States. The bill would establish fitness for travel standards—mirroring those already in place for livestock exported abroad—to prevent animals who are sick, injured, disabled, or are otherwise in poor condition from being subjected to arduous journeys across the country. HR 5286 would also require federal officials to develop a process to enforce the Twenty-Eight Hour Law, which prohibits the transport of certain animals for longer than 28 hours without offloading them for food, water, and rest.

The bill was introduced in tandem with AWI’s release of its updated report, Farmed Animals in Transport: The Twenty-Eight Hour Law, which analyzes 17 years of federal records and underscores serious and systemic problems with enforcement and oversight of existing law. The Humane Transport of Farmed Animals Act comes at a critical time, given that the administration has signaled it may revoke regulations pertaining to the Twenty-Eight Hour Law in their entirety. Ultimately, the millions of farmed animals who are transported interstate each year need more protections, not fewer (or none), to better safeguard their welfare.

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