Hollywood Pets Catch a Break on Regulations

For decades the U.S. government has kept movie extras who are hired along with their pets on a tight leash. They’re required to register their beasts with the Department of Agriculture and fork over fees as high as $300. In a bid to help Louisiana’s film industry, Senator David Vitter sponsored a bill exempting extras who appear with “domesticated household” animals. On Dec. 31, as the nation teetered on the edge of the fiscal cliff, Congress adopted pet reform. Hardworking pups no longer will be burdened with what a spokesman for the Republican lawmaker calls “unnecessary regulation.”