COK Update: USDA Starts Regulating the Transport of Farmed Animals on Trucks

Reversing its decades-old policy, the USDA will now require food, water, and rest for farmed animals moved long distances on trucks.

This landmark announcement was made in October 2006—just one year after Compassion Over Killing, The Humane Society of the United States, Farm Sanctuary, and Animals’ Angels co-filed a petition with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) requesting that it regulate the interstate trucking of farmed animals in accord with the limits set forth by the federal Twenty-Eight Hour Law of 1873.

The Twenty-Eight Hour Law is one of the nation’s oldest animal protection laws and one of the few federal statutes that applies to farmed animals. It clearly states that, with limited exceptions, animals cannot be transported via “rail carrier, express carrier, or common carrier” for more than 28 consecutive hours without being unloaded for five hours for “feeding, water, and rest.”

Until its recent announcement, the USDA, the agency responsible for enforcing this statute, has avoided applying it to trucks, claiming it was only applicable to animals shipped via rail carrier. At the time the law was written, most animals were transported on rail carrier, as trucks didn’t even exist yet. Today, trucks comprise of more than 95% of all farmed animal transport.

In July 2005, a COK investigation revealed that, in many cases, farmed animals are overcrowded onto trucks and moved long distances—often exceeding 28 hours—without food, water, or a chance to rest. As a result of these hardships, an untold number of animals suffer in-transit injuries, illness, stress, and even death. Learn more about the animal transport investigation and watch the undercover video.

After reviewing the petition filed in October 2005, the USDA responded: “[W]e agree that the plain meaning of the statutory term ‘vehicle’ in the Twenty-Eight Hour Law includes trucks…”

Previous Page | Contents | Next Page