Julián Castro, who previously served as the San Antonio mayor and Housing and Urban Development secretary, is announcing an ambitious animal welfare plan Monday as part of his presidential campaign. The plan, which the campaign provided exclusively to HuffPost, calls for ending the euthanasia of domestic dogs and cats in shelters and seeks to improve federal housing policy for those with pets. It also says Castro would sign into law legislation that would make animal cruelty a federal crime, establish federal minimums for space for farm animals, prohibit the testing of cosmetic products on animals, and ban the unlicensed ownership of large cats like lions and tigers. Castro’s plan, called “PAW: Protecting Animals and Wildlife,” is the only comprehensive and detailed animal welfare plan released by any of the presidential candidates. Support for animal welfare policies has increased steadily over the last two decades as more states and municipalities have passed laws to protect pets and farm animals. Castro’s plan offers several strategies and proposals that would work toward ending euthanasia in shelters. The number of dogs and cats that are euthanized in animal shelters across America changes depending on whom you ask, from just over 700,000 to 3 million annually. But that figure has decreased over the last three decades as spaying and neutering have increased dramatically.

ASSOCIATED PRESS 2020 candidate Julián Castro is laying out a major plan to improve animal welfare in the United States.

Castro’s plan calls for $40 million in federal funding for a “Local Animal Communities Grant Program,” which would help defray the costs of vaccinating, spaying and neutering animals. The money would also go toward programs that promote animal adoption. The plan also says that new affordable housing units will be pet-friendly. As part of his campaign, Castro has laid out a housing plan that would create 3 million new affordable housing units over 10 years. Castro also says he will work with homeless shelters that receive federal support to “ensure pets belonging to homeless individuals seeking refuge are not prohibited entry.”

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