News
BREAKING NEWS: In early January 2024, South Korea's parliament passed a bill to ban the breeding and slaughtering of dogs for consumption, with a penalty of 3 years in prison or a fine of 30 million Korean won (equivalent to around $23,000 U.S. dollars). The bill will go to the President of South Korea and it is expected to be approved. Dog farmers and businesses associated with the dog meat industry in South Korea will have until 2027 to end their operations. They will be provided with resources to go into another industry to earn a living.
NEWS ABOUT LEGISLATION
Title 18, USC, Section 48
Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act (or PACT Act)
This law (Public Law 116-72) was enacted on November 25, 2019, under the H.R. 724, Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act. https://www.congress.gov/116/plaws/publ72/PLAW-116publ72.pdf
Title 18, United States Code, Chapter 3, Section 48, prohibits the act of "animal crushing" and the creation and distribution of "animal crush" videos in interstate or foreign commerce.
This law prohibits the purposeful crushing, burning, drowning, suffocating, impaling or otherwise serious injury to a non-human living mammal, bird, reptile, or amphibian. The penalty for violating this law is a fine, imprisonment for not more than 7 years, or both.
Title 7, USC, Section 2160
Prohibition on the slaughter of dogs and cats for human consumption
This law (Public Law 115-334) was enacted on December 20, 2018 under H.R. 2, the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (also called "the Farm Bill"). https://www.congress.gov/115/plaws/publ334/PLAW-115publ334.pdf Note: The original bill was H.R. 6720 (Dog and Cat Meat Trade Prohibition Act of 2018).
Title 7, United States Code, Chapter 54, Section 2160, prohibits the slaughter of dogs and cats for human consumption, as well as the human consumption of dog and cat parts, in interstate or foreign commerce or within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States.
https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim@title7/chapter54&edition=prelim
The penalty for violating this Federal law is a fine not greater than $5,000 for each violation.
Title 19, USC, Section 1308
Prohibition on importation of dog and cat fur products
This law was enacted in 2000. https://www.govregs.com/uscode/title19_chapter4_subtitleII_partI_section1308
Title 19, United States Code, Section 1308, prohibits the importation, exportation, distribution, transportation, manufacture or sale of products that contain dog and cat fur in the United States. Any items containing dog and cat fur bound for importation in the United States or exportation from the United States will be confiscated.
Violators will be subject to a civil penalty of “not more than $10,000 for each separate knowing and intentional violation, $5,000 for each separate gross negligent violation, or $3,000 for each separate negligent violation.”