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PostPosted: Sat Mar 08, 2008 3:40 pm 
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Silent Mouth
Silent Mouth

Joined: 10 Feb 2008
Posts: 41
Good Guys And Dogs Will
Pay For Proposed Ohio Law

by JOHN YATES
American Sporting Dog Alliance
http://www.americansportingdogalliance.org

COLUMBUS, OH – Legislation revising Ohio’s animal control laws is designed to penalize law-abiding dog owners and burden kennel owners by making them pay for the cost of enforcing the law against people who don’t comply with it. Law-abiding dog and kennel owners would face a fivefold increase in the cost of licensure, plus greatly increased burdens of paperwork.

Other changes in the law will greatly increase the number of dogs killed in shelters, give county auditors unrestrained power to revoke kennel licenses in violation of constitutional guarantees of due process, promote medically dangerous sterilization and vaccination practices, mandates breed-specific euthanization, and make it harder for good Samaritans to help stray pets.

For dog owners, the legislation boils down to this: Responsible dog owners and innocent dogs would have to pay for the sins of people who don’t obey the law.

Rep. Shawn Webster (R-Columbus) is the prime sponsor of House Bill 446. We urge Ohio dog owners to contact Rep. Webster before Tuesday, March 11, when he is scheduled to meet with representatives of the Ohio Valley Dog Owners (OVDO) to discuss problems with this legislation. Rep. Webster’s email address is district53@ohr.state.oh.us. The American Sporting Dog Alliance strongly supports OVDO’s vital work to improve this poorly conceived legislation, and we urge all Ohio dog owners to do the same by emailing Rep. Webster today about your concerns.

Please feel free to use any information contained in this report, and also to cross-post it and forward it to your friends.

The American Sporting Dog Alliance is the unified voice of sporting dog owners and professionals in America. We work at the grassroots level to defeat unfair legislation and policies that are harmful to dogs and the people who own and work with them. Our work to protect your rights is supported solely by the donations of our members. Please visit us on the web at http://www.americansportingdogalliance.org.

In Ohio, ASDA also is currently working to defeat proposed kennel legislation that would severely burden if not destroy responsible hobby breeding, and to defend the rights of people who hunt with dogs or compete with them in field trials.

House Bill 446 would require county registration (licensure) of all dogs, and puppies that are eight weeks of age or older, and also criminalize the sale or transfer of any puppy or dog that is not licensed. Current law requires registration at the age of three months.

Registration fees for each dog and puppy would be increased from $2 to $10. In addition to these individual fees, owners of kennels would see an increase in their county license costs from $10 to $50. Anyone who raises dogs for hunting, or offers dogs for sale, is considered to be a kennel owner. Raising dogs for hunting is specifically singled out.

The purpose of these greatly increased fees is to pay for the cost of animal control in Ohio. The unfairness and irrationality of this approach is that responsible dog owners and breeders, who are perhaps the least likely cause of the problem, are the people who are being forced to pay for it.

Breeders and owners of purebred dogs rarely burden animal control agencies and animal shelters. Moreover, purebred puppies almost never are found in municipal animal shelters. This legislation makes responsible dog owners and breeders the “cash cow” that will be milked to pay for animal control efforts directed at irresponsible people who ignore the law. ASDA regards this as the unethical exploitation of law-abiding citizens.

People who actually violate the law should pay for the cost of enforcing it, through fines and other penalties. This cost should not be borne by law-abiding dog owners. We should not be held responsible for the actions of others, over which we have no control.

A particularly onerous part of the legislation gives county auditors the unrestricted power to revoke kennel licenses (this includes anyone who raises a single litter of hunting dogs) for unproven allegations of animal cruelty. County auditors do not have the qualifications to make judgments about animal cruelty, and the guilt or innocence of a dog owner facing such accusations should be determined only in a court of law.

This power is given to auditors “if the auditor determines” that a violation of animal cruelty statutes has occurred. No limits are placed on this power, and the legislation does not define any criteria for an auditor to use. In fact, the law gives an auditor the power to revoke a license if he/she simply feels that a kennel owner may have violated cruelty statutes, or even extra-legal personal opinions about what constitutes cruelty.

This is a clear violation of constitutional protections of due process of the law.

The legislation allows animal control officers to confiscate any dog or puppy over eight weeks old that is not wearing a collar and license, even inside its owner’s home or kennel, or if it slips its collar or the collar is chewed off by rambunctious littermates. Officers also would be given the power to sell or kill a dog or puppy that is not wearing a collar and license, and its owner would have no recourse.

Good Samaritans would have a tough time under the legislation. Many kind-hearted people take in a stray dog, care for it and try to locate its owner. If they cannot locate the owner, they often try to find another person to take the dog, take it to no-kill shelters where the dog might be given a second chance, or keep it themselves.

The legislation would require good Samaritans to notify the county within two days of finding a stray dog, and deliver it to a municipal shelter within 10 days if the owner cannot be located. Most municipal shelters euthanize most of the unclaimed dogs that they receive.

This would eliminate the option of placing the dog with a rescue group or shelter that does not kill dogs. It also would prohibit finding a home for the dog with a neighbor, friend or family member. For many dogs that good Samaritans would help, the result would be death for an innocent dog in a municipal gas chamber.

ASDA believes that this provision serves no legitimate purpose, while hindering people who want to help stray dogs and sentencing many of those dogs to death.

County animal control officers also would be given the legal authority to kill any “nuisance” dog for which proof of rabies vaccination by a veterinarian cannot be produced, if a rabies quarantine has been declared. There is no definition of the key word “nuisance” in the legislation.

Under the existing law, it appears that a dog would not be able to play in its own yard, go hunting or compete in a field trial if a rabies quarantine is imposed in the state, as it would have to be penned, leashed or confined inside of a home or kennel. This unnecessary restriction should be removed from the law.

In 2007, the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) declared that rabies has been eliminated from domesticated dogs everywhere in America. A CDC statement said that no dogs with rabies have been found in American kennels for more than 10 years.

ASDA believes that the current rabies prevention program is working and should be continued. However, there is no rational justification for more strict rabies controls in light of the CDC findings.

The legislation also requires rabies vaccines to be administered only by a licensed veterinarian. This is an unnecessary burden on dog and kennel owners, and especially on people who own several dogs. Dog owners should be permitted to administer the vaccines themselves. Veterinary expertise is not required to successfully vaccinate a dog.

Potentially unsafe medical practices also would be encouraged under the legislation. The age for making people pay higher license fees for dogs that are not spayed or neutered was lowered from nine months to six months. Many veterinarians believe it is potentially harmful to spay or neuter an immature puppy, and an increasing body of research suggests that sterilizing dogs carries many significant health risks for the dog. Moreover, female dogs typically don’t reach reproductive maturity until they are around 11 months old.

ASDA objects to any law that would penalize serious breeders of purebred dogs, as they do not contribute significantly to the problem of unwanted pets. Most breeders take great pains to assure that the puppies they sell go to good homes where they are wanted and valued. The vast majority of unwanted puppies come from accidental matings of dogs that are owned by negligent people. Research also has shown that most dogs in shelters are there because of other reasons, such as a landlord’s objections, personal illness, or job transfers to other states.

In addition, most dogs that will compete in dog shows, field trials or performance events, or that will be used for hunting or farm herding, cannot be fully evaluated for their fitness for competition, hunting, herding or breeding until they are a year or two old.

The legislation’s definition of a dangerous dog automatically includes all “pit bulls.” It would make it illegal for anyone to transfer any “pit bull,” except for the purpose of euthanasia. ASDA strongly opposes any breed-specific legislation, which would deny due process of the law and equal treatment under the law to people who show purebred American Staffordshire Terriers, Staffordshire Bull Terriers, Bull Terriers, American Pit Bull Terriers and other breeds.

One of the major reasons why ASDA opposes breed-specific legislation is that we see a strong tendency for legislation to include hunting breeds. The proposed federal Pet Animal Welfare Act, for example, includes all hunting dogs with pit bulls for much more intensive regulation. The Ohio legislation also takes a major step in this dangerous direction by requiring anyone who raises a litter of hunting dogs to obtain a county kennel license.

Hunting dog owners also know that we are next on the list for the extremist animal rights groups, who strongly support this kind of legislation. We cannot let down our vigilance.

For these reasons and more, ASDA urges all Ohio dog and kennel owners to voice their strong opposition to this legislation by contacting Rep. Webster immediately.

Please visit us at http://www.americansportingdogalliance.org.


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 Post subject: Been there...
PostPosted: Thu May 08, 2008 6:41 am 
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Silent Mouth
Silent Mouth

Joined: 06 May 2008
Posts: 15
I have been to the State House to fight against this House Bill. The OSSDA, has been told by the committee members taht this bill does not have enough revision to pass. We still need letters, preferrably on letter head, wrote to speak out against this bill. You may send these letters to any OSSDA officer, or send them to me and I will get it to the President of the Association.
Please send to:

Whitney Boggs
P.O. Box 475
Wakeman, Ohio 44889

This would be helping our cause very much. We all thank you in advance for reading about this ridiculous bill that has been proposed by a Veterinarian himself.

_________________
Team member of Fincham's Indian River Kennels


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 Post subject: Thank you!
PostPosted: Thu May 08, 2008 7:23 am 
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Silent Mouth
Silent Mouth

Joined: 10 Feb 2008
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Letters to legislators are vital now!

Please see some of my other postings for contact information, or email me and I'll send them to you: jtyates@csonline.net


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PostPosted: Fri May 09, 2008 6:31 am 
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Silent Mouth
Silent Mouth

Joined: 06 May 2008
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The OSSDA President and a couple members traveled down to Columbus Thursday morning to testify against the House Bill 446. We need these letters wrote and sent to us so we can protest against this Bill before it's too late folks!! Please email or mail me letters against the bill. My email and mailing addresses are:

princezz623@yahoo.com put House Bill 446 in Subject line...

Whitney Boggs
P.O. Box 475
Wakeman, Ohio 44889

Thanks Guys


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