From puppy mills to endangered species, Congress is taking action on animal welfare! But their decisions depend on your voice. Get informed about the latest animal protection legislation in Congress and let your representatives know you stand with animals. Find out how you can advocate for their protection and make your voice heard before these critical votes! Everything you need, including full details and contact information, can be found at www.congress.gov. Take action now, and together, let’s create a kinder world for all creatures.
Pending Federal Animal Protection Bills
Below is a list of animal protection legislation pending before Congress. For more information, including copies of these and other bills and names of your two U.S. senators and congressman/woman (and their contact information), go to www.congress.gov. Here is a brief summary of these bills:
Companion Animals
H.R. 1842: People and Animals Well-being Act of 2025 (PAW Act of 2025) Allows certain veterinary expenses for pets and service animals to be treated as amounts paid for medical care for purposes of a health savings account or flexible savings account.
H.R. 2253: Puppy Protection Act of 2025 Requires improved standards of care for dogs at puppy mills, sets limits on breeding, and requires dealers to make efforts to find humane placement for retired breeding dogs.
H.R. 2605 and S. 1441: Service Dogs Assisting Veterans Act (SAVES Act) Requires the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to award grants to nonprofit organizations to assist such organizations in carrying out programs to provide service dogs to eligible veterans.
H.R. 4921: Providing for Unhoused People and Pets Act of 2025 (PUPP Act of 2025) Provides that the Secretary of Agriculture, acting in consultation with the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, may carry out a program to award grants for providing housing that accommodates homeless persons who have pets and authorizes an appropriation of $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2030.
Cruelty
H.R. 349: Goldie’s Act Purpose is to increase enforcement of the Federal Animal Welfare Act including requiring records of violations to be forwarded to local law enforcement agencies.
H.R. 712: Child and Animal Abuse Detection and Reporting Act Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to include data on animal abuse in the national clearinghouse for information relating to child abuse and neglect.
H.R. 1477: Animal Cruelty Enforcement Act of 2025 Establishes an Animal Cruelty Crimes Section within the Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division to enforce Federal laws prohibiting animal cruelty under the jurisdiction of the Department of Justice.
H.R. 2976: Cold-blooded Animal Research and Exhibition Act Provides protection under the Animal Welfare Act to cold-blooded species.
H.R. 3112 and S. 1538: Better Collaboration, Accountability, and Regulatory Enforcement Act of 2025 (Better CARE for Animals Act of 2025) Provides the Department of Justice with more enforcement remedies under the Federal Animal Welfare Act.
H.R. 3683: FBI Animal Cruelty Taskforce Act of 2025 Establishes an Animal Cruelty Crime Taskforce within the FBI to investigate and enforce Federal laws prohibiting animal cruelty under the jurisdiction of the Department of Justice, including cases relating to dogfighting, cockfighting, crush videos, and similar conduct and also directs the Taskforce to produce training materials regarding these crimes for local law enforcement.
H.R. 3946 and S. 1454: Fighting Inhumane Gambling and High-risk Trafficking Act of 2025 (FIGHT Act of 2025) Provides greater protection for roosters, bans gambling on animal fighting and allows people to commence a civil lawsuit to enjoin violations of the Federal animal fighting law.
Equines
H.R. 1661 and S. 775: Save America’s Forgotten Equines Act of 2025 (SAFE Act of 2025) Prohibits the slaughter of equines for human consumption and the transport of equines for slaughter for human consumption. Ideally, this bill would not be limited to human consumption. New York’s new law, for example, prohibits the slaughter and transport for slaughter of equines for human or animal consumption.
H.R. 1684: Prevent All Soring Tactics Act of 2025 (PAST Act of 2025) Increases penalties for violations of the Horse Protection Act and prohibits use of material at a horse show, horse exhibition, horse sale or auction which is attached to a limb of a Tennessee Walking Horse, a Racking Horse, or a Spotted Saddle Horse that is constructed to artificially alter the gait of the horse and is not protective or therapeutic.
H.R. 4356: Wild Horse and Burro Protection Act of 2025 Phases out the use of helicopters and fixed wing aircraft for rounding up wild free-roaming horses and burros.
Experimentation
H.R. 233 and H.R. 297: Higher Education Loses Payments for Painful Experiments, Tests and Studies Act (HELP PETS Act) Prohibits the availability of Federal funds to institutions of higher education that conduct painful biomedical research on dogs and cats.
H.R. 456: Protecting Dogs Subjected to Experiments Act Provides that no Federal funds made available to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) may be used for conducting biological, medical, or behavioral research involving the testing of dogs.
H.R. 1085: Cease Animal Research Grants Overseas Act of 2025 (CARGO Act of 2025) Prohibits the National Institutes of Health (NIH) from awarding support for any activity or program that uses live animals in research in foreign countries.
H.R. 1291: Humane and Existing Alternatives in Research and Testing Sciences Act of 2025 (HEARTS Act of 2025) Establishes a center within the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to promote alternatives to the use of animals in research and testing.
H.R. 1802: Safeguard Pets, Animals, and Research Ethics Act (SPARE Act) Prohibits the use of animals in federally funded research and promotes the adoption of humane and scientifically advanced alternatives and the rehoming of the animals.
H.R. 3246: Violet’s Law Requires federal animal research facilities to promulgate standards to facilitate the adoption of animals no longer needed for research.
Farm Animals
S. 1947: Opposing the Cultivation and Trade of Octopus Produced through Unethical Strategies (Octopus Act) Bans commercial octopus farming in the United States and prohibits imports of farmed octopus from foreign countries.
H.R. 2185: Mink: Vectors for Infection Risk in the United States Act (Mink VIRUS Act) Prohibits the farming of mink for their fur.
H.R. 2539 and S. 1236: Freedom in School Cafeterias and Lunches Act (FISCAL Act) Requires schools to offer plant-based milk to students participating in the school lunch program.
H.R. 2626: Pigs In Gestation Stalls Act of 2025 (PIGS Act of 2025) Restricts confinement of breeding pigs and requires the establishment of a program to provide financial assistance to pig producers to assist in complying with the law, with priority given to independent pig producers.
Wildlife
H.R. 207 and S. 2314: Supporting the Health of Aquatic Systems Through Research Knowledge and Enhanced Dialogue Act of 2025 (SHARKED Act of 2025) Requires the Secretary of Commerce to establish a task force to identify and address critical needs with respect to shark depredation. PASSED IN HOUSE. Still needs Senate action.
H.R. 347 and S. 843: Sea Turtle Rescue Assistance and Rehabilitation Act of 2025 Requires the Secretary of Commerce to establish the Sea Turtle Rescue Assistance Grant Program.
H.R. 1934: Prohibiting Threatened and Endangered Creature Trophies Act of 2025 (ProTECT Act of 2025) Prohibits the taking for a trophy of any endangered or threatened species of fish or wildlife in the United States and the importation of endangered and threatened species trophies into the United States.
H.R. 1992: Kangaroo Protection Act of 2025 States that it is unlawful for any person to knowingly bring into the United States for commercial purposes, possess with the intent to sell, or sell a kangaroo; or introduce or manufacture for introduction into, sell or offer to sell, trade, advertise, transport, or distribute in interstate commerce a kangaroo product.
H.R. 3199 and S. 1594: Captive Primate Safety Act of 2025 Prohibits the importation, exportation, sale, and purchase in interstate or foreign commence or substantially affecting such commerce of primates and prohibits possession of primates, with exceptions.
H.R. 3456: Captivity of Helpless Elephants Reduction Act of 2025 (CHER Act of 2025) Prohibits safari parks and zoological parks from exhibiting, housing, managing or breeding African elephants and requires such facilities to transfer African elephants in their possession to an authorized wildlife sanctuary.