Animal studies is bigger in the UK, Australia and New Zealand; it's true. However it is not impossible to study human-animal relations in the US. It looks like you have a reasonable list of schools. I'd start checking out other departments at those schools to see if they have folks doing interesting research. Animals are big in the humanities right now so Literature and History departments are worth looking at. You'll also want to be more specific then livestock or companion animals in Latin America. Also, you are not just looking for faculty who do work with animals, you are looking for fa