Animal Legal Defense Fund Ranks U.S. State Animal Protection Laws
The Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) recently released its 14th annual U.S. State Animal Protection Laws Ranking Report for the year 2019.
The ALDF assesses each state’s animal protection legislation and ranks them from strongest to weakest. For 2019, Illinois ranked first, followed by Oregon, Colorado, Maine, and Rhode Island.
At the bottom of the rankings, Mississippi has the weakest animal protection laws, followed by Iowa, New Mexico, Kentucky, and Wyoming.
New Hampshire and Montana are the most-improved states, thanks to recent legislation to ban animal fighting paraphernalia and to remove animals from abuse and neglect situations.
The banning of animal fighting objects and instruments is a trend in several states. Also trending are state laws that prohibit people convicted of animal abuse from owning (or living in the same household with) an animal.
You can click on their interactive map to see how your state ranks, and you can download the full ALDF rankings report HERE.