How Animals Fared in the First 100 Days of the Second Trump Administration

The FDA and EPA have both recently advanced policies to phase out various types of animal experimentation.

After Donald Trump’s electoral victory this past November, I chronicled his first-term actions that both helped and harmed animals, while wondering what a second Trump presidency might bring.

Of course, there’s still 93 percent of this second Trump presidency remaining, but the first 100 days have delivered several highly consequential policies affecting animals, some earning the praise of animal protection groups and others earning their criticism.

Let’s start with the good:

• In a historic move, the FDA is phasing out animal testing for certain drugs. More details on this major advancement are here.
• Additionally, the EPA is moving to reinstate a decade-long (2035) phaseout of animal testing for chemicals at the agency.
• NIH announced today (April 29, 2025) that it is putting more emphasis on human testing and is working to reduce animal experimentation.
• The DOJ executed a dogfighting bust in which it seized 190 dogs, the most ever from a single person, with both AG Pam Bondi and FBI director Kash Patel strongly condemning animal abuse in a press release.

And then there’s the less good:

• The new Agriculture Secretary endorsed a bill to nullify state farm animal welfare laws.
• The president is opening a protected marine monument to commercial fishing.
• The administration is working to subvert the Endangered Species Act, including redefining “harming” of endangered animals.
• The administration is expanding logging, including in national forests.
• The Interior Department has weakened protections for migratory birds.
• The White House ended a domestic biomanufacturing program in which alternative protein startups were working to help America lead the world in efficient protein manufacturing.
• Trump signed a raft of executive orders that could destroy wildlife habitat.
• The administration is working to make permanent faster permissible line speeds at slaughterhouses.

President Trump is opening the Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge to commercial fishing.

Potential executive branch opportunities for animals under Trump 47

Trump has personally spoken in the past about animal welfare, including calling elephant hunting “a horror show” in 2017, holding an official ceremony when he signed the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture (PACT) Act in 2019, and twenty years ago lamenting the mistreatment of chickens and fish. There are plenty of opportunities for the president to improve his legacy when it comes to the treatment of animals. For example, Trump could:

• End a Biden program to slaughter half a million barred owls.
• Oppose the Food Security and Farm Protection Act (S. 1326) and other efforts to strip states of their right to set their own agricultural standards.
• End or slash USDA’s Wildlife Services program.
• Close the wasteful and inhumane Meat Animal Research Center.
• Issue an executive order prohibiting a variety of types of animal experiments, including for cosmetic tests.
• Direct Attorney General Pam Bondi to create an Animal Cruelty Crimes section at DOJ.
• Have Interior Secretary Doug Burgum stop roundups of wild horses and over time shrink the captive population of 70,000 wild horses and burros and save tens of millions of dollars a year.
• Finally, given that Project 2025 includes a plan to repeal crop subsidies, there’s an opportunity for Trump to make reforms in animal agriculture. During Trump’s first term, farm subsidy payments ballooned to historic highs and drew rebuke from the conservative Cato Institute. A reversal this time around could be a surprising win for both taxpayers and animals.

In its remaining 1,361 days, the second Trump administration is sure to take more actions that will affect animals. Time will tell how many of those actions are positive or negative for them.