Voting for the animals

Thank you for reprinting the editorial from the Chicago Tribune about pending animal cruelty legislation before Congress.

It is confounding to many that every member of the Arkansas delegation received such terrible scores on the Humane Scorecard published annually by the Humane Society Legislative Fund. Senators Boozman and Cotton both received an abysmal zero out of 100, and Representatives Crawford, Hill, Westerman, and Womack each received a whopping 7 out of 100. Because there are dozens of bills introduced each session, the scores are partially based on co-sponsorship of key bills. For example, a bipartisan bill titled “Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture” (PACT; S1831) already has 39 of 100 senators as co-sponsors, yet neither John Boozman nor Tom Cotton has signed on.

Animal protection is not a partisan issue. In 2009 a bipartisan group called the Congressional Animal Protection Caucus was formed to unite good people of like mind in support of humane legislation. I urge our elected leaders to reconsider their extreme anti-animal positions as most of their constituents love and respect animals. And we vote! SUZANNE HAMILTON

Little Rock