Title: Compassion Index

Source/Sponsoring Agency: Animal Welfare Institute

URL: http://www.compassionindex.org/

Date Checked: 2/6/2008      Status: Active

Date Annotated: 2/6/2008

Topics:

Other keywords: United States Congress; Legislation; Animal Law; Animal welfare

Contents: The Compassion Index is an offering of the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI). AWI is devoted to maintaining the well-being of animals by ensuring decent treatment by humans. AWI has worked for the adoption of many federal animal protection laws, including the Endangered Species Act and the Humane Slaughter Act. The Compassion Index rates members of Congress on their compassion toward animals by tallying key votes and positions taken on pending legislation. AWI offers the index as a tool for both promoting legislative accountability and "to facilitate the advancement of federal bills benefiting animals and to defeat measures detrimental to their welfare." The index may be searched by state, Congressional member's name, or by Zip code. Each member of Congress is assigned a percentage rating based on his or her degree of agreement with AWI on various pieces of legislation. There is an entry for each senator and representative detailing his or her votes and positions on legislation. Currently, the index covers the 109th and 110th congresses. The site also lists key legislation that AWI is tracking. There are several bills before Congress of interest to the group, including the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act and the Pet Safety and Protection Act.

Author of Annotation: M. Morrison