Legislative Priorities

Animal Welfare




Throughout Senator Landrieu’s tenure in the U.S. Senate, she has been proud to take a stalwart stand for animals. As an avid horse lover, she can often be found in her downtime at the stables with her daughter. Her family also enjoys the companionship of Sugar Belle, a wheaten terrier.

Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act, S. 727
Senator Landrieu is the lead sponsor of S. 727 because she has witnessed the deplorable conditions these horses suffer from when being transported to facilities and slaughtered. Healthy horses end up bleeding, suffering from broken bones and other injuries in transport. Some end up dead from starvation. Once at the facility, it often takes an employee two or three times to correctly shoot the captive gun bolt into the horse’s brain, causing the horse to suffer and be stricken with pain and terror. This legislation seeks to put an end to these to practices and conditions and end the exportation of horses to Mexico and Canada for slaughter.

Wild Horses and Burros
American’s wild horses and burros are a national treasure, and are protected by the 1971 Wild Horses and Burros Act. Yet they are being removed from their lands at unprecedented numbers and placed in expensive holding facilities. The program is broken and needs to be fixed to provide for a more humane and more economically sound management of these animals. Senator Landrieu is working with the BLM and Congressional leaders to protect the habitat dedicated to these animals and to also protect their genetic viability.

Other animal welfare bills Senator Landrieu has supported:

  • Animal Fighting Prohibition Enforcement Act of 2007, making it a crime to engage in animal fighting ventures;
  • Chimp Haven is Home Act, which prohibits chimpanzees that have been retired to Chimp Haven near Shreveport, Louisiana from being called out of retirement for research purposes;
  • Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards Act of 2006, which mandates that FEMA include pets in natural disaster evacuation plans;
  • Pets Safety and Protection Act of 1998, which amends the Animal Welfare Act to declare the permissible sources of research facilities for dogs and cats.