The Humane Society is backing a new bipartisan bill filed by Democrats and Republicans in both the House and Senate called the Better Care for Animals Act. The new bill would give the Department of Justice the ability to step in and remove animals experiencing harmful treatment and seek license suspensions, revocations, and civil penalties in those cases.
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00:00 Last year we introduced you to Nala, one of 4,000 beagles rescued from squalid
00:06 conditions inside a facility that was breeding animals for laboratory testing.
00:11 Now there's a bipartisan bill in Congress to ensure something like that
00:16 never happens again. As for Nala, she has a new home, a new life, and a new name.
00:23 In the years since her rescue and adoption, the dog formerly known as Nala
00:29 shed her old name and is now called Rue. Rue exclamation point. Why exclamation
00:35 point? Because everything about her is lively. We first met Lisa Hall when she
00:41 came to the Homeward Trails Animal Rescue in Northern Virginia. I think she
00:45 might be the one. She intended to adopt a puppy, but as we saw for ourselves, Rue
00:50 found her instead. She was like boop boop boop boop boop like beelined it for me
00:56 and I felt like she picked me and that was that. Rue is one of the 4,000
01:02 beagles rescued from an in-vego site in Virginia. Animal rights groups uncovered
01:07 animal welfare violations at the facility which bred beagles destined
01:12 for lab testing. Federal officials sued the facility which eventually shut down
01:17 and gave up all the beagles. Then came the mad dash to try and find homes for
01:24 all 4,000 beagles. It was so exciting to have a piece in this operation to help
01:33 get these 4,000 beagles to freedom. Jennifer Eskra is legislative director
01:38 of the Humane Society which helped get all 4,000 of the beagles adopted across
01:43 the country through a network of rescue partners. They're now backing a
01:47 bipartisan bill filed by both Democrats and Republicans in both the House and
01:52 Senate called the Better Care for Animals Act. It gives them this expanded
01:57 toolbox of options that they currently are limited in their options under the
02:04 Animal Welfare Act. As it stands now, enforcement of the Federal Animal
02:09 Welfare Act falls mainly on the USDA. The new bill would give the Department
02:13 of Justice the same ability, allowing them to step in and remove animals
02:18 experiencing harmful treatment and seek license suspensions, revocations and
02:24 civil penalties. In those cases, this asked for collaboration in a united
02:29 effort and it would enable the D. O. J. To better step in more quickly step in
02:36 to help and unnecessary animal suffering in a divided Congress. They're hopeful
02:42 about the bill's future. We think it has good prospects. It's strong bipartisan
02:47 leadership. You did good girl for Lisa Hall. The new bill is good news. I'm
02:53 glad they're doing that. I sometimes look at her sweet little face and I
02:56 think of how she must have felt in that crate and the things that went on. But
03:02 she says, thankfully, that's all now in ruse past. She's kind of, I think,
03:07 forgotten it all, you know, at least I hope so. And all the other in Vigo
03:11 beagles. I'm in a facebook group. They're all living their great life
03:15 to first you think, oh, no one can love their, you know, dog as much as me. And
03:19 then you read about Frankie or violet or another dog and you're like, yeah,
03:24 they're all living great lives all in a dog's day. Maya Rodriguez, Scripps News,
03:31 Barbersville, Virginia.