October 31, 2006

Group Says that Jim Feldkamp is an Enemy of Animal Welfare

WASHINGTON — Citing him as a leader on animal welfare policy in the U.S. Congress, Humane Society Legislative Fund (HSLF) announced that it has endorsed U.S. Representatives Peter DeFazio in Oregon’s 4th Congressional District race. DeFazio’s opponent, Jim Feldkamp, has been critical of the incumbent for his support of humane legislation, but HSLF says that it’s Feldkamp who is out of step with Oregon’s humane values.

Representative DeFazio has advocated for mainstream policies to promote the humane treatment of animals, including:

• Farm Animal Welfare: He sponsored the Farm Animal Stewardship Purchasing Act to require the federal government to purchase food from small family farmers who raise animals humanely rather than from large, corporate factory farms.
• Predator Control: He has led efforts to eliminate taxpayer funding for government agents to kill coyotes and other predators with cruel traps, poisons, explosives, and aerial gunning, as a subsidy for private ranchers.
• Animal Fighting: He co-sponsored the Animal Fighting Prohibition Enforcement Act to strengthen the penalties for illegal dogfighting and cockfighting, making it a felony to transport animals across state lines for these gruesome and barbaric fights. Dogfighting and cockfighting are both felonies in Oregon.
• Horse Slaughter: He has voted consistently to end the slaughter of tens of thousands of American horses for food exports to France, Belgium, and other countries. And he has co-sponsored the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act. He also co-sponsored the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act.
• Pets in Disasters: He co-sponsored the Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards (PETS) Act to require emergency planning for pets and service animals, keeping people and pets together during disasters.
• Downer Livestock: He co-sponsored the Downed Animal Protection Act, to stop the sale of sick and injured farm animals who are dragged to slaughter with ropes, chains, bulldozers, and forklifts. These so-called “downer” livestock pose a greater risk of “mad cow disease” and other threats to our food supply.
• Enforcement of Animal Welfare Laws: He has consistently supported efforts to increase funding to improve enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act, Humane Methods of Slaughter Act, and federal animal fighting law.
• Yellowstone Bison: He voted to stop the killing of American bison in Yellowstone National Park.
• Bear Baiting: He voted to stop the unsporting and dangerous trophy shooting of bears over piles of grease and jelly doughnuts on federal lands, a practice that Oregon voters twice banned statewide.
• Internet Hunting and Canned Hunts: He co-sponsored both the Computer-Assisted Remote Hunting Act and the Sportsmanship in Hunting Act to curb the worst abuses in the trophy hunting industry.
• Puppy Mills: He co-sponsored the Pet Animal Welfare Statute (PAWS) to crack down on abusive “puppy mills” that treat the dogs like they are production machines.

“In order to pass humane laws, we need humane lawmakers like Representative DeFazio,” stated Richard Patch, political director for the Humane Society Legislative Fund. “Voters in the 4th District who care about animal welfare should support his re-election.”

Jim Feldkamp, in contrast, is an opponent of moderate animal welfare measures. He has been endorsed by organizations such as Safari Club International, a group of wealthy, elite, trophy hunters. The Safari Club fights in Congress to open our national parks to sport hunting, weaken protections for endangered species, and even defend drive-thru killing of captive animals at “canned hunts.”

Safari Club members annually kill thousands of rare creatures merely to stuff and display them, or to compete in trophy competitions where awards are given for shooting one-of-each on various target lists. These include the “African Big Five” (lion, leopard, elephant, rhino, Cape buffalo), “Bears of the World,” and “Wild Sheep of the World.” To win all 35 categories of Safari Club trophy competitions, a trophy hunter must kill 499 separate species and subspecies. Some members spend hundreds of thousands of dollars over a lifetime shooting animals in the wild, or killing captive wildlife in “canned hunts.”

Congress passed legislation this year that closed a loophole in the federal tax code, which had allowed Safari Club members to shoot rare animals overseas, donate the trophy mounts to phony museums, and write off the entire cost of their hunting trips as charitable donations. A two-year undercover investigation exposed this taxidermy tax scam, and revealed that 800 “donated” trophy mounts were stacked up in an old railroad car in rural Nebraska.

The Safari Club lobbies in Congress for inhumane and unsporting practices such as bear baiting, which Oregon voters twice shot down in 1994 and 1996.  Feldkamp and the Safari Club also support the drive-thru killing of captive exotic animals on fenced reserves, while the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission banned the practice in 1999.

HSLF is a nonpartisan organization that evaluates candidates based only in a single criterion: where they stand on animal welfare. HSLF does not judge candidates based on party affiliation or any other issue. A complete list of HSLF’s endorsements is available online at www.humanevoting.org.

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Humane Society Legislative Fund (HSLF) is a social welfare organization incorporated under section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code. HSLF works to pass animal protection laws at the state and federal level, to educate the public about animal protection issues, and to support humane candidates for office. Contributions or gifts to HSLF are not tax deductible. Your donation may be used for lobbying to pass laws to protect animals, as well as for political purposes, such as supporting or opposing candidates. HSLF does not accept contributions from business corporations or labor organizations. On the web at www.fund.org.