Conference Committee’s Final Draft of Farm Bill Includes AKC Priorities

On Monday evening, U.S.  House and Senate conferees released a final compromise version of the federal Farm Bill (HR 2) which includes important priorities regarding animal importation and domestic violence.

The measure could go to the House of Representatives for a vote as soon as Wednesday, and to the Senate by the weekend.

Pet Imports: Pet and Public Health. The final version of the Farm Bill provides language consistent with House and Senate versions passed earlier this year that require reporting on the import of unknown numbers of potentially contagious, unhealthy dogs into the United States.

This measure is important because in recent years the United States has simultaneously experienced a large increase in the number of dogs imported for sale/adoption and a significant increase in disease consistent with imported pets. Diseases or parasites with increased incidence include a canine variant of previously believed to be eradicated in the U.S., canine flu, screwworm, brucellosis, and a variety of other infectious and zoonotic diseases directly related to irresponsibly-imported pets.

You can read the entire article at https://www.akc.org/legislative-alerts/conference-committees-final-draft-farm-bill-includes-akc-priorities/