Cathy A. Liss

Cathy Liss "serves as president of the Animal Welfare Institute and Legislative Director of the Society for Animal Protective Legislation (AWI's legislative division). Liss began working for the Animal Welfare Institute and Society for Animal Protective Legislation as an intern while attending Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. After graduating in 1982, she joined the institute full-time and was promoted to executive director of the Institute in 1991 and elected president in 2002. Liss works on a variety of legislative initiatives before the U.S. Congress and various state bodies, including federal legislation to end horse slaughter, prohibit interstate and foreign commerce in steel jaw leghold traps and furs obtained through their use, and to prevent the sale of dogs and cats by random source dealers. She has particular expertise regarding the federal Animal Welfare Act and has pushed for adoption of the 1985 Improved Standards for Laboratory Animals amendment to the Animal Welfare Act. Liss has extensive experience working with the varied government agencies involved in use of and/or oversight of animals. She has conducted site visits of animal research laboratories, animal dealer premises, animal auctions, animal factories and family farms, and has been involved in development of less cruel alternatives to the steel jaw leghold trap. Liss is a member of the National Wildlife Services Advisory Committee and a member of the U.S. Technical Advisory Group on Humane Trap Standards, under the auspices of the American National Standards Institute."