Spay/Neuter Assistance

The Spay/Neuter Assistance Fund bill will help control pet overpopulation in states such as West Virginia.

Paws Up!
To the West Virginia legislature for enacting and Governor Tomblin for signing into law SB 202, the Spay/Neuter Assistance Fund bill.

With more cats and dogs being born in West Virginia than can be adopted, the West Virginia legislature has decided to do something about spay/neuter on a statewide scale. The Spay/Neuter Assistance bill will help fund these vital surgeries to reduce the number of unwanted companion animals entering shelters, being left to succumb in the wild, or abandoned on other people’s property.

West Virginia joins several other states in recognizing the need to help relieve shelters and animal control agencies in the state with the burden of housing unwanted puppies and kittens.

Take Action: West Virginia residents, thank your legislators and governor for helping reduce the number of unwanted companion animals in the state. Residents of other states, contact your legislators to see if such an assistance program is needed where you live.

Puppies Are Protected in WV

West Virginia has recently passed SB 437, a bill that will ensure proper standards of care for dogs in commercial breeding facilities.

Paws Up!
To the West Virginia State legislature for enacting and Governor Tomblin for signing into law SB 437, the puppy mill bill.

West Virginia has joined with a number of other states that want to ensure safe, healthy standards of care for dogs living in commercial breeding establishments often referred to as puppy mills.

According to a bill recently signed by the governor, a “‘Commercial dog breeder’ means any person who (A) Maintains eleven or more unsterilized dogs over the age of one year; (B) Is engaged in the business of breeding dogs as household pets for direct or indirect sale or for exchange in return for consideration;”

Take Action: West Virginia residents, please thank your legislators and governor for protecting dogs in commercial breeding operations in West Virginia. Residents of other states, if you do not have laws protecting dogs in commercial breeding facilities, please contact your legislators and urge them to introduce legislation today.

SOS – Save Our Seas

The National Endowment for the Oceans Act would protect our marine ecosystems that are threatened by over-fishing and pollution.

The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation has before it S 646, the National Endowment for the Oceans Act. Protection of our nation’s oceans, coastal areas, and Great Lakes ecosystems is imperative to the overall health of both the environment and the creatures who inhabit these areas. According to the November 2006 issue of Science, a report by an international team of scientists studying a vast amount of data gathered between 1950 and 2003 declared that if current trends of fishing and pollution continue, every fishery in the world’s oceans will collapse by 2048. What we don’t protect today may not be with us tomorrow.

Contact your senators and ask them to support this important piece of legislation when it comes to the Senate floor for a vote. You can also contact the committee and urge its members to support the bill and bring it to a vote this legislative session.

Preserve Natural Lands

Under HR 1187, certain National Forest System and public lands will have designated protections with the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act.

Whenever we can preserve wilderness and wild and scenic rivers, we protect nature and the inhabitants of an area. The House Committee on Natural Resources has before it HR 1187, the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act. This vital piece of legislation will designate protection for certain National Forest System lands and public lands in several Western states now under the jurisdiction of the secretary of the Interior.

Protecting wilderness areas in this country is critical to the preservation of a natural environment and the many species who inhabit that environment. Therefore, contact your representative and ask that he or she support this bill when it comes to the floor of the House for a vote. You can also contact the committee and urge the bill be reported out to the full House for a vote this legislative session.

Factory Farmed Animals Win Some/Lose Some

Paws Up!
To a California legislator for withdrawing an “ag-gag” bill.

Paws Down!
To the Tennessee legislature for passing one.

“Ag-gag” laws are being considered in many states in order to provide protection for those that commit inhumane acts upon factory-farmed animals.

“Ag-gag” laws are being considered in many states. These laws are meant to interfere with undercover investigations of factory farms. They end up protecting employers and employees of factory farms who are abusing the animals in their care. These laws also destroy freedom of speech and the public’s right to know what happens to animals raised and slaughtered for food.

According to a news story, the author of California’s ag-gag bill (AB 343) withdrew the bill. However Tennessee passed such a bill in both houses and has sent it to the governor for signature.

Take Action: Tennessee residents, contact your governor and urge him not to sign the Livestock Cruelty Prevention Act (HB 1191/SB 1248).
California residents, let your legislators know you are not in favor of any bill that interferes with the pursuit of truth in the factory farm industry.

Preserve Antibiotics for Human Use

Antibiotic resistance of bacteria are tested on agar like this to determine the effectiveness of each drug.

An estimated 80 percent of all antibiotics sold in the United States are destined for use by the livestock industry. As a result, we humans are facing a rising level of antibiotic resistant bacteria. Such a situation renders the use of antibiotics for treatment of common illnesses and diseases useless and leads to super bacteria that can easily kill their host.

Several states and the Federal government are seeking to remedy this potentially dangerous situation by introducing bills that would ban the use of antibiotics in animals destined for slaughter for other than the medically necessary needs of the animal. These laws will protect both farmed animals in the way they are raised for food and humans who eat animal products.

The reason antibiotics are used so liberally in factory farmed animals is due to the unsanitary and crowded facilities animals are forced to live in before they are slaughtered. If we clean up our act in the farm yard, we won’t need antibiotics to keep food animals healthy. If we reduce the amount of antibiotics used in the farming industry, we then have better control over their use for human health and well being.

For these reasons, we encourage residents of the following states to contact their state legislators and urge them to support bills that would ban the use of antibiotics in factory farmed animals destined for slaughter for other than the medically necessary needs of the animal. Additionally, we urge everyone to contact your Federal representatives and urge them to support HR 1150, the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act of 2013.

Minnesota – HF 1290
Contact your house member

SF 1285
Contact your senator

New York – A 769
Contact your house member
S 233
Contact your senator

Pennsylvania – SB 531
Contact your senator

HR 1150, the Preservation of Antibioitics for Medical Treatment Act of 2013
Contact your representative

Montana Wolves In Danger of Ramped Up Hunting

Wolves in Montana face serious threats if SB 397 is passed.

Wolves in Montana are facing threats of eradication despite recently being restored to the Northern Rockies. Several bills pertaining to wolves are before the House committee of Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, including SB 397, while HB 73 was signed last month. Under HB 73, hunters are now able to purchase up to three licenses for wolf hunting, are allowed to use electronic devices and calls, are not required to wear hunter orange, and may hunt and trap wolves adjacent to national parks. Furthermore, the cost of a nonresident wolf license has been reduced from $350 to a mere $50, making a wolf license attainable for practically anyone.

According to Montana wildlife officials, there were approximately 600 wolves statewide at the beginning of wolf hunting season. Since then, 225 wolves have been killed, 36 percent more than last year. Unfortunately, due to livestock attacks and a fear of decline in elk herds, they were hoping to reduce the wolf population to 450 by the end of the season, which ended February 28. However, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks reports that elk herds are “at or above management objectives” throughout most regions, and overall have healthy, growing populations. If signed into law, this bill would not only contribute to a steep decline in wolf population due to trapping during breeding and denning seasons, but also would prevent wolves from migrating to areas that could easily benefit from and support them.

SB 397 would legalize a variety of deplorable acts regarding how one actually hunts for wolves, including the use of snares, trapping for ten months out of the year (including breeding and denning seasons), using dead wolves to lure others in, and allowing an unlimited number of wolves to be killed in a given season.

Montana residents, please contact your legislators and urge them to vote no on SB 397.

Police Need Training or Dogs Will Continue to Be Shot

By supporting SB 226, law enforcement officials will receive training on how to handle dogs in dangerous situations.

We read too often of a police officer shooting a family dog. A recent Colorado incident underlines an issue that all police departments need to address—are their officers adequately trained in how to handle, in a non-lethal manner, off-leash dogs?

A police officer’s job is not an easy one. But officers should be trained in all aspects of their job including how to handle confrontations with off-leash dogs.

When police encounter dangerous humans, they are required to maintain restraint and use non-lethal means of subduing that person. We would like police to use that same caution and restraint when it comes to a family dog. Unfortunately, our laws do not require this: in most states shooting a dog is legally the same as breaking a car window or kicking in a door.

We need our police departments to provide clear guidelines and training on how officers can accurately assess the threat of a dog and, if dangerous, deal with it through non-lethal means. We must act on what can be done now for training police in how to handle confrontational dogs, while continuing to talk and educate on broader issues like the property status of animals.

Colorado residents, please contact your state legislators and let them know you want your law enforcement officers trained in how to handle dogs in a non-lethal manner. Tell them to support SB 226, which will provide training to law enforcement officers in how to deal with dogs.

Update to Animal Abuser Registries

Texas, Washington, and West Virginia now have legislation pending regarding animal abuser registries.

Update: New states introducing animal abuser registry legislation include: Texas (HB 3747), Washington (HB 1786), and West Virginia (SB 468).

Legislation is currently pending for several states that would create animal abuser registries for those convicted of crimes involving animal abuse. Read our previous post for the full story.

Horses Lose in Oklahoma

Oklahoma has just lifted a ban on horse slaughtering to allow for the processing and export of horse meat.

Paws down!
To the state of Oklahoma for lifting the state’s 50-year-old ban on horse slaughtering.

According to a news article, “Oklahoma’s 50-year-old ban on horse slaughtering was lifted [recently] when the governor signed a new law that will allow facilities to process and export horse meat….”

The article includes a comment by the governor, “In Oklahoma, as in other states, abuse is tragically common among horses that are reaching the end of their lives.” Instead of sending these animals to slaughter in foreign countries, the governor believes a slaughtering plant in Oklahoma would be a far more humane way to dispose of these animals. Of course, if we had stricter animal abuse laws and if those laws were routinely implemented, possibly we wouldn’t have abuse that is “common among horses that are reaching the end of their natural lives.” We seem to want to solve the result of a problem—too many horses and not enough good owners, rather than the root of the problem—animal abuse.

On the federal level, there has been a bill introduced that would ban just exactly what Oklahoma is about to do. The Safeguard American Food Exports Act of 2013 expressly forbids “the knowing sale or transport of equines or equine parts in interstate or foreign commerce for purposes of human consumption….”

Take Action: Residents of Oklahoma, contact your legislators and governor to express your displeasure at their solution to the excess horse population in your state. Residents of other states where legislation similar to Oklahoma’s is being considered, contact your legislators and let them know slaughtering horses is not the answer to the over abundance of unwanted animals.

The Honorable Mary Fallin
Governor
Oklahoma State Capitol
2300 N. Lincoln Blvd., Room 212
Oklahoma City, OK 73105