Saturday, April 4, 2009

The Gospel According to HSUS

Unless you've been living under a rock this year, it's impossible to avoid the onslaught of "ANTI-dog breeder" bills that have been introduced in no less than two dozen states pushed by none other than the Humane Society of the United States.  These two dozen bills are worded almost identical in all states, with the common theme being to limit the number of intact animals a person can own and in most cases, allowing for WARRANTLESS searches of the breeder's premises.  Are these laws really about cracking down on substandard breeders?  Or is it a nationwide push to make dog breeding so troublesome and expensive that hobby breeders will just quit? 
According to Wayne Pacelle's blog,
  • "There are perhaps more than 10,000 mills in the nation, with Missouri accounting for more than 3,000, and then Oklahoma and Iowa the next biggest." 
  •  Last year Virginia was the "hub" of puppy mills (the "Virginia Is For Puppy Mills" campaign), and Pennsylvania is "the puppy mill capitol of the East"
Gee, with Wayne stating facts like that, it makes you wonder WHY legislation is needed in states like Nevada, Minnesota, Washington, Oregon, Tennessee, Illinois, Maine, West Virginia, Arkansas, Delaware, Texas, California, Florida....you get the idea.  Are all of these states infested with "puppy mills" as well??   The real reason for these bills?  To ensnare the "other guy"...the hobby breeder; those breeders who are not required to operate under USDA guidelines. 
From the H$U$ website"Under current law in most states, and under current regulations of the federal Animal Welfare Act, individuals running breeding operations that only sell puppies directly to the public are not required to be licensed and inspected by an oversight agency."  (YEP, show folks, that's YOU!) 
And further "USDA exempts breeding facilities – regardless of the number of animals they have or financial thresholds they meet – where the puppies are bred and sold directly to private pet owners as "retail pet stores."........"Without oversight, the operations can easily fall below even the most basic standards of humane housing and husbandry."
A good breeding facility law: (According to H$U$)

  • applies to all breeding operations with animals or animal sales numbering over a specified threshold.  (can you say "limit laws")
  •  requires a licensing fee and pre-inspection. (Like $500 per intact animal fee...and "must be of good moral character", as we have seen in bills proposed this year)
  • includes routine, unannounced inspections at least twice yearly. (Warrantless searches of private property, unconstitutional last time I checked)
  • is enforced by an agency with adequate funding and properly trained and tested staff. (Oh yeah, we're just in the worst economic crisis since the Depression, but I'm sure Wayne and company would love to step in and take over this job, huh) 
  • rotates inspectors to cover different areas of the state. (Uh-huh, I can see that happening...who would want to uproot their families to move to a different area...)
  • is equipped with strong penalties when facilities are in repeated non-compliance, including but not limited to cease and desist orders.  (H$U$ translation:  raids, intimidation of breeders into "signing over" all dogs so said dogs can be sold for profit to further stuff their warchests)

Do you get it yet?  Have you connected the dots?  The current nationwide push to "end puppy mills" is NOT about protecting animals...it is NOT about cracking down on substandard breeders...it is NOT about regulating commercial breeders that are already under USDA guidelines...
What it IS about is ending purebred dog breeding.  Period.  Using incrementalism (limiting the number of animals someone can own, which can easily be lowered next time, in a new law), the Animal Rights group, the Humane Society of the United States, is pushing it's REAL agenda:  to eliminate the hobby breeder, who has now become "just another puppy mill" in the eyes of the public...There is no one left to throw under the bus.  The bus is headed straight for OUR breeding programs.
Are you willing to throw away years of dedication to your breed and your breeding program?  Are you still one of those breeders that thinks "this law won't apply to me"?  Now it does.  There can be no compromise, no backing down.  The only way to defeat the bullies is to get in their faces and scream, "HELL NO!! You will NOT take away MY rights...you will NOT tell me how many dogs I can own...you WILL NOT tell me how or when or to which dogs I can breed to!!!"
The "Anti-dog breeder bus" is roaring down the street...in YOUR state, or will be headed there shortly.  There will be no "other guy" to sacrifice like we have done in the past because we are now the "other guy".

5 comments:

  1. Of course, this has nothing to do with substandard kennels or overpopulation or any
    other fabricated nitwit excuse for regulating dog breeders (any more than they are now regulated). If it were really all about protecting the animals, then the anti-neglect
    and cruelty laws in EVERY state could be well-used, as in fact they are, to address conditions in substandard kennels. As well,
    since substandard conditions do not produce
    healthy puppies, those substandard kennels don't stay in business too long, anyway. We
    are indeed the "other guy", but why don't
    many more of us wake up to that reality?

    Roberta Pliner

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  2. Thank you for he truth in a nut shell. And there are a lot of nuts out there trying to steal your dogs under color of law. The ASPCA in NJ even wears a uniform that looks like an offical government issue police uniform. It's not just about the other guy - WAKE UP!

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  3. "What it IS about is ending purebred dog breeding."

    ____________

    I would extend that to just plain 'ending dog breeding' since these bills do not specify lineage on the dogs targeted. Breeders of mixed breeds, those attempting to outcross purebreds and/or create new breeds - really anyone who breeds dogs would be affected by these bills.

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  4. Besides the really bad effects of this type of legislation on the breeder, there is also the fact that the general public is so ignorant about breeding and animal husbandry that these laws sound reasonable. Most people don't know why anyone would want to keep more than ten or fifteen dogs unless you are producing lots of puppies from them. They don't understand that the need to keep pups back for evaluation, keeping old dogs, taking dogs back when necessary. Under the Texas law, I am a commercial breeder, regardless of how many litter I breed a year or how much money I make, just due to the number of bitches I have.

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  5. what it is, is about desensitizing people to end the keeping of pets,period.Once that is accomplished peta and Hsus will begin to eliminate the elderly and handicapped. They are using pet keeping to promote their perfect human race which is their ultimate agenda. I can recall in the 1970's when almost no one had heard of Peta and I lived in DC that they had a projection of 2040 to eliminate pets.I am not making this up and I am not nuts ( I don't think)Ask AKC Judge Ed Gilbert, ask anyone who remembers having Peta turn their dogs loose at shows like they did mine.We all know they don't care about pets. Tennesee took a bad hit today when the prosecutor for the Hickman county puppy mill testified in favor of the anti breeder legislation.The House subcommitee gave the bill their favorable recommendation, which means it will be near impossible to defeat.Some moron vet named Lembo said it would prevent dogs from making children sick.
    Please wherever you live, contact these people and tell them the pending anti breeder bills are screwed up, I have included a copy of an email sent to local kennel club members that has legislative contact info.


    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

    PRESS RELEASE
    04/01/09
    Press contact:
    Donna Malone, President
    (901) 353-1805
    Responsible Animal Owners of Tennessee

    DECIDE FOR YOURSELF! COMMERCIAL BREEDER LICENSE -- GOOD OR BAD?

    We agree that breeders who keep animals in filthy, inhumane conditions should be punished. We also agree that breeders who sell unhealthy pets to potential owners should be punished. There are, however, already laws to address both issues, as evidenced by all the recent puppymill busts. We do believe, however, that the standard of care used to protect animals in Tennessee is low and needs to be raised.

    The proposed Commercial Breeder License is undesirable for the following reasons:

    Let's call the alleged "Commercial Breeder License" bill what it really is -- a BACKDOOR mandatory spay/neuter law. It does what all mandatory spay/neuter laws do, it infringes on your right to own and breed, it just takes a more convoluted path to get there. It does not start out forcing all owners to spay/neuter their pets, only those who possess or maintain twenty (20) or more unsterilized adult female dogs or cats in Tennessee for the purpose of the sale of their offspring as companion animals. It is still spay or pay - the motive behind all mandatory s/n laws.

    The proposed bill, creates a new class of criminal - anyone who owns twenty (20) or more unsterilized adult female dogs or cats in Tennessee. You will be left, if you are innocent, to "prove" your intent was not to sell. The reality is that, as every proponent of the law has so eloquently said, "Why would anyone have over 20 unsterilized animals unless they were breeding to sell?" That is presumption of guilt on their part and only serves to illustrate that, if you are innocent and changed under the proposed law, proving your innocence will be a difficult, expensive (probably over $5000 at a minimum for legal services and boarding fees if animals are confiscated) proposition.

    Mandatory spay/neuter and breeder licensing laws are currently being proposed all over the Country. This is a deliberate, well-planned, coordinated attack on responsible breeders by philosophical extremists. Unable to successfully target owners with mandatory spay/neuter laws, these extremists are now targeting breeders directly. They do so by alleging that there is a need for additional legislation to protect consumers and animals and it, happily, will increase revenues for the enacting entity. That is all smoke and mirrors! What they are doing is and remains promoting of plank 10 of the extremist animal rights' platform: "Stop any further breeding of companion animals, including purebred dogs and cats.. . . .Abolish commerce in animals for the pet trade."

    Further evidence of animal rights extremists' hands on the proposed bill is that it reads that if you are a "Releasing agency" defined in the proposed law as a pound, animal shelter, humane society, animal welfare organization, society for the prevention of cruelty to animals, or other similar entity or home-based rescue that releases companion animals for adoption" you CANNOT get a commercial breeder license! In other words, if you breed "commercially," whatever that means, you cannot rescue. Why? Animal rights extremists don't want breeders to be able to "legitimize" (in anyone's mind) themselves by rescuing. What happened to their mantra, "Don't breed if you don't rescue?" The goal is no possibility of positive PR for breeders, responsible or not!

    The proposed bill unreasonably lumps true commercial breeders, puppymillers, and individual breeders who have an extended breeding program together. This will further confuse an already confused public as to whom is or is not a good source for pets.

    Breeder licensing limits the sources available to potential owners, making it more likely they will have to turn to large scale breeders whose focus is on financial profit rather than producing quality pets. Like all mandatory spay/neuter laws, it promotes the "adopt one until there are none" push of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), who by the way has worked on and is lobbying for the proposed law.

    Breeder licensing will NOT protect animals from the inhumane conditions that exist in (puppy/kitten) mills. Tennessee already has animal protection laws to address puppymill conditions. A breeder license will just allow the government's "camel's nose" into heretofore private property, i.e., your home.

    Breeder licensing will NOT protect consumers from less scrupulous breeders. Tennessee already has consumer protections laws -- incorporating such laws by reference into a breeder licensing law will do nothing to increase the protection such laws provide.

    Breeder licensing will NOT increase state revenues nor will it provide the funds necessary to support a new bureaucracy to enforce the law. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) reports only 27 breeders and/or dealers are registered in Tennessee, although the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) requires them to register. Twenty-seven (27) breeders and/or dealers will NOT generate the funds necessary to support a new bureaucracy. What will they do to support it? Lower the number that triggers the requirement to be licensed? Raise the license fees? Neither is good for breeders or pet owners.

    Most breeders will not comply with a breeder licensing law. In fact, where similar legislation has been enacted, the blowback is that fewer people license their pets increasing animal control-related costs generally and the potential for rabies outbreaks, a human-health concern.

    Breeder licensing will NOT make those who currently do not "pay their fair share" (of what?) pay their "fair share." If a breeder does not report his income to the federal government, and pay applicable taxes, it is not logical to assume he will comply with additional state or local laws.

    Breeder licensing will create an unfunded, expensive, bureaucratic nightmare for the State of Tennessee.

    Breeder licensing sill increase the cost of pets, thereby, limiting their availability to potential low and fixed-income owners and the public generally.

    Article 1, Sec. 21 of the Tennessee Constitution states, "No man's services or property taken without consent or compensation. That no man's particular services shall be demanded, or property taken, or applied to public use, without the consent of his representatives, or without just compensation being made therefor. Title 1, Chapter 3, §§1-3-105 states: ""Personal property" includes money, goods, chattels, things in action, and evidences of debt;" Part of the value of your "chattels" rests in its ability to reproduce, thus, the proposed law is in violation of the Tennessee Constitution. Don't let your "representatives" deprive you of your rights, oppose the proposed Commercial Breeder Licensing bill!

    And, finally, one of the most ludicrous arguments we have heard to-date for this commercial breeder law is that the "attorney general wants numbers." He probably wants a raise too. So what? Who cares? Your elected representatives are supposed to represent your interests, not those of some government employee no matter what his title may be.

    Contact your state legislators (State Representatives and Senators) and express your objections to SB0258 and HB0386, a.k.a., the "Commercial Breeder Act". Their contact information is available from the State's website at: http://www.capitol.tn.gov/legislators/ or from your local election commission or public library.

    In addition, contact the bill's House and Senate sponsors below and ask them to pull the bills:

    Rep. Janis Baird Sontany (Primary House Sponsor)
    32 Legislative Plaza
    Nashville, TN 37243-0153
    Phone (615) 741-6861
    Fax (615) 253-0325
    rep.janis.sontany@capitol.tn.gov

    Rep. Debra Young Maggart
    203 War Memorial Building
    Nashville, TN 37243-0145
    Phone (615) 741-3893
    Fax (615) 253-0350
    rep.debra.maggart@capitol.tn.gov

    Rep. Henry Fincher
    32 Legislative Plaza
    Nashville, TN 37243-0142
    Phone (615) 741-1875
    rep.henry.fincher@capitol.tn.gov

    Rep. Steve McManus
    107 War Memorial Building
    Nashville, TN 37243-0196
    Phone (615) 741-1920
    Fax (615) 253-0232
    rep.steve.mcmanus@capitol.tn.gov

    Rep. Mike Turner
    18 Legislative Plaza
    Nashville, TN 37243-0151
    Phone (615) 741-3229
    Fax (615) 741-4322
    rep.mike.turner@capitol.tn.gov

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