As a child, the McDonald’s Happy Meal sounds invigorating, yet most overlook the 21 million male dairy cows removed from their mothers and slaughtered as low-cost beef annually. Also heaping a thrill in the new family puppy––from a puppy mill where only half the litter will survive their first 12 weeks of life. The newest pair of fuzzy slippers sounds enticing, but traps 10 million wild animals for fur each year. It is time to wake up. The Animal Welfare Act (AWA), issued in August of 1996 intended to obstruct these affairs, ultimately presents itself with ever so many gaps, necessitating a seed for change. 

George Orwell’s quote, “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others,” ¹ in his novel Animal Farm ironically rings true to the materiality inflicted by this act. The AWA “excludes birds, rats, and mice bred for research; horses not used for research; and other farm animals used in the production of food and fiber.”² This coverage gap is more than critical to be assessed upon, for its over-exemption can be equalized to the carte blanche for laboratory testing sites, factory farms, and a myriad host of other facilities and organizations centered for profit. Take in the realities of CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations), where piglets teeth are clipped and tails are docked, a painful mutilation that is “most carried out without anesthesia and pain relief.” Take in the realities of mother cows whose calves are removed within hours of giving birth to save their milk for profit, where mothers call on their offspring for days. How many dreams must millions of helpless animals envision each dismaying night until their desires are conceded? 

These horrifying apertures are further expanded through the staffing shortages of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services (APHIS). The APHIS works to enforce the AWA and thereby “ensure the humane treatment of more than 1 million vulnerable animals, nationwide.”⁵ It is under their supervision, oversight, and protection that the AWA delivers its existing benefits. While it is not due to the AWA that these staff shortages have occurred, even the slim merits of the act turn obsolete when enforcement is diminished. 

It has been made evident that the Animal Welfare Act is defective within its limitations of animals protected, but even within this fortunate sum is a greater settlement. Within the 5% of animals afforded protections under the act, “the law sets minimal standards for their housing, feeding, handling, and veterinary care.”⁷ As the AWA chiefly protects warm-blooded animals used in research (excluding birds, rats and mice) such as monkeys, the impact projects a loose demand for praise as the protection itself is unsatisfactory. Moreover, “it requires committees (Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees or IACUCs) to review and approve research protocols.”⁸ The issue with this arises as the IACUCs are composed of dependent animal researchers who “approve 98% of proposed animal experiments without undertaking any type of ethical review.”⁹ 

These examinations must not belittle the gratitude our nation has to obtain such a law; rather, it is the invisible intentions masked by exclusions, laxity, and minimal standards that fabricate its title. It is a moral imperative that we address these failures and a collective responsibility that we protect the vulnerable. 

Acknowledgement

The Institute for Youth in Policy would like to acknowledge Donna Kim for editing this op-ed.

References

in. 2024. “Mutilations of Pigs.” FOUR PAWS in the US - Global Animal Protection Organization. FOUR PAWS in the US. 2024. https://www.fourpawsusa.org/campaigns-topics/topics/farm-animals/mutilation-with-pigs 

Orwell, George. 1945. “Animal Farm.” https://www.arvindguptatoys.com/arvindgupta/orwellanimalfarm.pdf. 

Schewe, Rebecca. 2025. “USDA Staffing Crisis: Food Safety Agencies Struggle as Federal Workforce Shrinks.” National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition. November 14, 2025. https://sustainableagriculture.net/blog/usda-staffing-crisis-food-safety-agencies-struggle-a s-federal-workforce-shrinks/ 

“The Animal Welfare Act: Background and Selected Issues.” 2025. Congress.gov. 2025. https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R47179 

“The Animal Welfare Act Protects Just 5% of Animals in Labs.” n.d. Rise for Animals. https://riseforanimals.org/news/animal-welfare-act/ 

“USDA-APHIS: Animal Welfare.” 2024. Www.aphis.usda.gov. September 24, 2024. https://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal-care.