WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 28: Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., makes remarks on behalf of a nominee, during the Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing in Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, April 28, 2021. Ketanji Brown Jackson, nominee to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the District of Columbia Circuit, and Candace Jackson-Akiwumi, nominee to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the Seventh Circuit, testified on the first panel. (Photo By Tom Williams-Pool/Getty Images)
Presidential hopeful Corey Booker revealed an ambitious welfare plan to ban cosmetic animal testing.
The former Mayor of Newark intends to run for the Democratic nomination in 2020. Booker was the first vegan senator in U.S., something reflected by his animal welfare plan.
“Our treatment of animals is a test of our character and a measure of the compassion of our society,” says the first line of Booker’s animal welfare plan. Booker aims to immediately end animal testing for cosmetics, with a long-term aim of ending all animal testing by 2025. Booker also hopes to spark the development of new, cruelty-free methods of testing to replace animals.
Other key points include making extreme acts of animal cruelty a federal crime, banning traps like steel-jaw legholds and snares, prohibiting keeping primates and big cats as pets, a national ban on the sale of shark fins, a ban on the use of poison for predator control, stopping the export of horses for human consumption, protecting endangered species, creating acres of new wildlife habitat, and shutting down all puppy mills.
Earlier this year, Booker co-sponsored a bill — presented by Democratic Senator Bob Menendez — that would make the use of exotic animals in circuses, carnivals, and parades illegal nationwide.
The Travelling Exotic Animal and Public Safety Protection Act would nationalise New Jersey’s existing 2018 circus ban. “New Jersey has illustrated that the exploitative use of exotic animals in traveling performances is antiquated and no longer has a place in our society,” said Booker.
Booker also introduced a bill that extends federal prohibitions on animal fighting in US territories, which was passed into law in the 2018 farm bill.
Booker has many prominent vegan supporters, including Miyoko Schinner – the award winning celebrity chef behind Miyoko’s Creamery. The artisan vegan cheese expert recently hosted a fundraiser for Booker and endorsed his 2020 campaign.
Jennifer Stojkovic — Executive Director at sf.citi (San Francisco Citizens Initiative for Technology and Innovation), a nonprofit that advocated for tech policies — has also given her public support to Booker. Stojkovic told LIVEKINDLY, “As vegan leaders, it is our duty to engage in this crucial upcoming Presidential Election.”
“I am proud to support Senator Cory Booker on his quest for the White House,” Stojkovic continues. “A longtime vegan and advocate for the animals, Senator Booker not only talks about animal welfare as a campaign priority, but personifies it in his daily life.”
“I hope to continue to support Senator Booker through more incredible vegan events and encourage other animal advocates to help elevate his message at this critical time,” says Stojkovic. “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to get a vegan into the world’s most powerful position!”
This post was last modified on September 29, 2021 4:27 am