Animal Welfare and Research Policy

Attorney General Pam Bondi announced a new multi-agency animal-cruelty 'strike force' under the Trump administration that will designate U.S. attorneys in every state to pursue dogfighting and other abuse cases, while USDA and HHS simultaneously tighten enforcement against abusive puppy mills and move to phase out many animal experiments. Bondi cited a first-ever conviction using a firearm-in-a-violent-crime charge for dogfighting, Rollins said USDA will sharply reduce warnings and more aggressively shut down noncompliant breeders under the Animal Welfare Act, and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said his department aims to end primate imports for research and is steering NIH funding toward non-animal methods and retirement of lab primates to sanctuaries.