2024 State Legislature Candidate Survey

Massachusetts Voters for Animals works to elect candidates to public office who care about the humane treatment of animals and who will support enacting laws and policies for animal protection. Please complete the following survey about animal issues that come before the state legislature.

There are 9 questions. We will use the replies as part of the basis for our endorsements, so expanding on your yes/no answers would be helpful. If you have questions, please contact us at info@massvotersforanimals.org.

Legislators can affect animal welfare by:

1) supporting legislation to protect animals and opposing bills that cause or increase animal suffering;

2) opposing state programs that cause or fund the exploitation of animals; and

3) supporting policies and funding levels for state programs to protect animals.

Note: Completed questionnaires may be posted on our website, www.massvotersforanimals.org.

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If you are interested in the general issues that MVFA asks candidates for state legislature, see a past survey below. Specific questions may change from election to election and in local races.

Legislators can affect animal welfare by

1) supporting legislation to protect animals and opposing bills that cause or increase animal suffering;

2) opposing state programs that cause or fund the exploitation of animals; and

3) supporting policies and funding levels for state programs to protect animals.

Note: Completed questionnaires may be posted on our website, www.massvotersforanimals.org.

Question 1: Breed-Specific policies

In 2012, Massachusetts passed legislation that prohibits banning or regulating dogs based solely on their breed. Most experts contend that laws that focus on specific breeds are not effective, are unfair, and create enforcement problems, and that laws focusing on dangerous dogs (regardless of breed) are most effective. Bills have been filed that would prevent insurance companies that offer homeowners insurance from discriminating based on dog breed, a practice that leaves animals homeless and can separate families from their pets.

Do you support legislation that would prevent insurance discrimination that is based on a dog's perceived breed?

Question 2: Sunday Hunting

Hunting is allowed six days of the week, leaving only one day, Sunday, for the 99% of Massachusetts residents who do not hunt to safely walk in the fields and woods. Every year, legislation is introduced to allow Sunday hunting, or to grant such decision-making power to the director of the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, an agency that traditionally makes decisions in the interest of trappers and hunters.

Are you in favor of legislation allowing hunting on Sundays?

Question 3: Animal Testing

Non-animal testing methods provide information of equivalent or superior quality and relevance to humans in comparison to methods that use animals for testing products such as cosmetics and household cleaners.

Would you support legislation that requires the use of non-animal testing methods when they are available, instead of testing that uses live animals?

Question 4: Wild Animals in Circuses

The complex social, psychological, and behavioral needs of wild animals cannot be met when they are kept as part of a traveling entertainment show. There are severe problems involving confinement, constant transport, nutrition, restraint, and harsh training methods. Wild animals placed in situations unnatural to them may act unpredictably, creating potentially dangerous situations for circus employees, spectators, the general public, and the animals themselves. Incidences of elephant rampages and tiger attacks have ended tragically.

Would you support legislation that would prohibit certain -- or all -- wild animals from performing in traveling shows in Massachusetts?

Question 5: Civil Citations to Protect Animals

After the largest animal cruelty case involving farm animals in New England occurred in Westport, Mass., an effort has been in place to expand a law (that currently applies only to dogs) to allow animal control and police officers to write civil citations for all domestic animals kept in certain cruel conditions. This would help to correct harmful situations before they escalate to criminal animal cruelty.

Would you support bills to allow animal control and police officers to issue civil citations for certain cruel conditions for domesticated species of animals?

Question 6: Fur

On fur factory farms, wild animals spend their entire lives in cramped cages, deprived of the ability to engage in natural behaviors. The stress from living in a tiny cage causes serious welfare problems, such as self-mutilation and infected wounds, and can increase pathogen shedding and the risk of zoonotic disease transmission, such as COVID-19.

Would you support legislation that would prohibit the retail sale of new fur products (e.g. clothing, accessories, household items) in Massachusetts. This would not impact the sale of used or second-hand products.

Open-ended questions:

7. Have you taken any actions in either your public or private life that impacted the welfare of animals? (Co-sponsorship or votes in the legislature, or other actions as a public official or private citizen?)

8. Would you be in favor of legislation to protect animals from certain forms of cruelty even if opponents said there is commercial and economic benefit from the animal exploitation? For example, opponents to a ban on wild animals in circuses say that if these traveling circuses did not perform in their town, jobs or income would be lost.

9. Do you consider yourself as having animal protection as a core value? That is, do you see cruelty to/mistreatment of animals as an ethical issue that must be addressed as part of society’s efforts toward moral progress?

2024 State Legislature Candidate Survey

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