Xara Shang Yun Sunne is a 2L at American University Washington College of Law. Xara graduated with a B.A. in Sociology and a double minor in Japanese and Art History from Hamilton College. Her interests include civil rights and criminal litigation, disability law, animal rights litigation, and reproductive justice. 

The Animal Welfare Act[1] (AWA), suffers from underenforcement and botched regulation.[2] The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is unable to ensure the health and safety of animals in commercial breeding facilities.[3] An audit of the USDA revealed that the agency has no process for responding to AWA complaints nor any methods to record or track of AWA violations.[4] The result being, among other things, over licensing of commercial animal breeders without government oversight, and subjecting to animals born and raised to be pets to inhumane treatment.[5] As such, it is clear that federal protections against animal cruelty are currently insufficient in ensuring that animals be treated humanely.

On January 10, 2023, the Mayor of DC signed into law the Animal Care and Control Omnibus Amendment Act of 2021[6] (the Act).[7] It was published in the D.C. Register ten days later on January 20, 2023, and was transmitted to Congress on January 26, with a projected law date of May 11, 2023.[8] The Act was first introduced by Councilmembers Cheh, Nadeau, Allen, Lewis, George, and Pinto in December of 2021.[9] The Act proposed amendments to the D.C. Code which would create new criminal offenses by prohibiting sexual abuse of animals, cat declawing, and the possession of animal fighting implements.[10] Additionally, the Act would implement a retail pet sale ban subject to certain exceptions if the animal to be sold was obtained from a rescue or animal welfare group.[11] The Act would also allow judges presiding over divorces cases to consider the best interests of the animal when awarding custody.[12] Finally, the Act would allow hearing officers to require the abusive owner to reimburse the humane society for the costs incurred for the care of the animal seized.[13]

 The Act is D.C.’s big step in joining the growing trend among states and territories of enacting protective animal welfare laws. For example, only three states have laws which consider the interests of the animal in custody disputes.[14] In codifying the Act, D.C. is joining other states, such as California, in recognizing a pet as more than just property and considering its needs and wellbeing when awarding custody rights.[15] Furthermore, the number of bans on cat declawing have grown significantly across the nation in recent years, with many vets considering it an unethical practice.[16]

On the flip side—better late than never—D.C. will be joining the majority of states in adding sexual abuse of animals to its criminal code.[17] Prior to the Act, D.C. had been in the minority with West Virginia and New Mexico in not criminalizing bestiality.[18] Similarly, D.C. will be joining thirty-eight states that have already put the cost of care for an abused animal on the abusive owner when the animal is seize.[19] Because animals are the property of their owners, an owner is entitled to procedural fairness and a hearing when the government seizes abused animals.[20] Thus, the animal cannot be rehomed and remains in the care of the shelter while awaiting a court ruling.[21] In this way, the Act will help defray the cost of care imposed on the shelters that take over the care of an abused animal.[22]

While it is worth noting that animal-fighting is already illegal in D.C. because possession of implements is legal any enforcement of anti-animal fighting laws has proven difficult.[23] Often when law enforcement would arrive, the implements of animal fighting would be present, but the actual dogs (or other animals) would not be, making it difficult to pursue animal-fighting charges.[24] Thus, the additional prohibition on possession of animal fighting implements will make enforcement of D.C. anti-animal fighting laws more effective.[25]

Importantly, the Act will provide protection against animal cruelty where federal laws do not.[26] The Act, under its ban on retail pet sales, will protect animals, such as mice and coldblooded reptiles sold in pet stores which are not covered by the AWA.[27] Under the AWA, those animals are legally subjected to exploitive and abusive practices by commercial breeders.[28] Because there are few laws, state or federal, addressing retail pet sales, D.C. is taking a big step toward preventing the abuse of animals often rampant in retail pet stores.[29]

Fighting animal cruelty at the local level, through state laws and city regulations, is a more effective method of protecting animals in light of the lack of oversight on the federal level.[30] If the Federal Government cannot enforce its animal welfare laws then it is up to the states and cities to address those issues at the state and municipal level.[31] That is what D.C. is doing.[32] When the law becomes active later this year, animals in the District of Columbia will be afforded the greater protection that they deserve.

 

[1] Animal Welfare Act, P.L. 89-544 codified as 7 U.S.C. §§2131-2156.

[2] 9 Humane Soc’y of the U.S., Puppy Mill Brokers Factsheet 2–3 (2020).

[3] Animal Care and Control Omnibus Amendment Act of 2021: Pub. Hearing on B24-0560, (D.C. 2022) (statement by the Geo. Wash. L. Animal Welfare Project).

[4] Id.

[5] Id.

[6] 70 D.C. Reg. 570 (Jan. 20, 2023).

[7] B24-0560 Animal Care and Control Omnibus Amendment Act of 2021, Council of the District of Columbia, https://lims.dccouncil.gov/Legislation/B24-0560.

[8] Id.

[9] Letter from Mary M. Cheh, Councilmember, to Nyasha Smith, Sec’y of the Council of D.C. (Dec. 9, 2021), https://lims.dccouncil.gov/downloads/LIMS/48423/Introduction/B24-0560-Introduction.pdf.

[10] Id.

[11] Id.

[12] Id.   

[13] Id.

[14] Animal Care and Control Omnibus Amendment Act of 2021: Pub. Hearing on B24-0560, (D.C. 2022) (statement by Max Broad, DC Voters for Animals).

[15] Id.; see also, Karin Elwood,  D.C. Animal Welfare Bill Would Consider Pets’ Well-Being in Divorces, Wash. Post (Dec. 13, 2022, 6:00 AM), https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/12/13/dc-council-cat-declawing-pet-custody.

[16] Animal Care and Control Omnibus Amendment Act of 2021: Pub. Hearing on B24-0560, (D.C. 2022) (statement by the Paw Project).

[17] See Rebecca F. Wisch, Table of State Animal Sexual Assault Laws, Animal Legal & Hist. Ctr. (2022), https://www.animallaw.info/topic/table-state-animal-sexual-assault-laws (providing a breakdown of the animal sexual assault laws in 48 states).

[18] Id. (“New Mexico and West Virginia as well as the District of Columbia, do not have laws addressing this conduct.”).

[19] Animal Care and Control Omnibus Amendment Act of 2021: Pub. Hearing on B24-0560, (D.C. 2022) (statement by the Humane Rescue Alliance).

[20] Id.

[21] Id.

[22] Id.

[23] Id.

[24] Id.

[25] Id.

[26] Animal Care and Control Omnibus Amendment Act of 2021: Pub. Hearing on B24-0560, (D.C. 2022) (statement by the Geo. Wash. L. Animal Welfare Project) (“[T[here is severe underenforcement of the AWA leaving animals to continue suffering for profit throughout the country.”); see Boriana Slabakova, 31 Eye-Opening Puppy Mill Statistics, Petpedia (Feb. 18, 2022),

[27] Animal Care and Control Omnibus Amendment Act of 2021: Pub. Hearing on B24-0560, (D.C. 2022) (statement by the Geo. Wash. L. Animal Welfare Project).

[28] Id.

[29] Id.

[30] Id. (underscoring the importance of local action).

[31] 9 Humane Soc’y of the U.S., Puppy Mill Brokers Factsheet 2 (2020).

[32] 70 D.C. Reg. 570 (Jan. 20, 2023).