American Sporting Dog Alliance Helps To Stop
Animal Rights Group Initiatives In Several States
by JOHN YATES
American Sporting Dog Alliance
http://www.americansportingdogalliance.org
The past month has seen many battles for the rights of dog owners on many different fronts, and the dust never clears from one battle before another one looms on the horizon.
But we’re not complaining. We’re winning.
Our secret weapon is quite simple. We tell the truth.
Animal rights groups rely on fabrication, hysteria and almost a religious fanaticism of their supporters when they try to restrict the rights of dog owners. Our response is to do intensive research to find the facts, truthfully state our case, offer assistance to local and statewide dog owners’ groups, get the word out to as many dog owners as possible through our rapidly growing database of email addresses and message boards, and encourage people to take direct personal action and reach out to elected officials.
It’s working.
Here are our accomplishments and activities for the past month:
In Santa Barbara, California, we worked with local dog owners to stop a restrictive mandatory spay/neuter ordinance at the county level. Major animal rights groups threw their weight into this fight, and Humane Society of the United States President Wayne Pacelle made it a personal crusade. Consideration of the ordinance was blocked by a 3-2 vote to table it, and the county supervisors voted to accept our recommendation to create a balanced committee of local citizens to develop alternatives by a 4-1 vote.
In Ohio, we supported efforts of the Bird Dog Clubs of Ohio, and the group won an extension until the end of the year to an order by the state to close down the famous Kildeer Plains field trial area. This will allow the major fall trials to be held on those grounds, and will give Ohio field trialers more time to try to negotiate a permanent solution. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has pressured state officials to close the area to field trials.
Working with local dog owners, a plan by animal rights groups for mandatory spay and neuter in Chino Valley, AZ, was blocked by the mayor after a meeting with our representatives.
In South Carolina, we supported efforts by local houndsmen to stop legislation that would have banned the tethering of dogs. Although it passed the House, the legislation was stalled in the Senate.
We supported the Concerned Dog Owners of California in their lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles over a mandatory spay/neuter ordinance.
In Pennsylvania, changes in the kennel law with draconian and unconstitutional enforcement measures, and animal cruelty law amendments that cast tail docking in dangerously ambiguous language, are being introduced. Go. Ed Rendell strongly supports these animal rights laws.
Ohio kennel legislation is pending that would expose anyone who owns more than nine dogs that could be used for breeding to costly and invasive new rules. Another bill would increase the costs of dog licenses and make it hard for a good Samaritan to help a lost dog.
In Arizona, a tough statewide mandatory spay/neuter law is on the table, and Maricopa County is considering a local ordinance.
Maine legislation also is being proposed, and dog owners are at the center of the crosshairs.
Dallas, Chicago and Volusia County, FL, are facing stringent mandatory spay and neutering ordinances, and a virtual prohibition against hobby breeding.
In California, statewide mandatory spay and neuter legislation was narrowly defeated last year, and now is back on the table.
Last month, we helped dog owners to win major legislative battles in Wisconsin, Oklahoma and Connecticut, and to make major improvements to a new kennel law in Virginia.
Volunteers Needed
Developing an email database of thousands of dog owners, breeders and kennels is vital to our work. It allows us to communicate with people quickly, create networks of dog owners to fight legislation, and to provide people with a way to take action against bad legislation.
Database development means hours and hours and more hours of very tedious work searching the Internet for email addresses. It means searching for email addresses on websites, advertisements, message boards and organization membership lists. Last month, dedicated volunteers helped us to expand our databases significantly for Ohio, California and Texas.
This month, we have an urgent need to expand our databases for Arizona, Illinois, Florida and Maine. Will you volunteer to help? Please contact us at
asda@csonline.net.
We have our work cut out for us! To do our job of fighting these laws, we need you to help us. Your participation and membership are very important. Please visit us on the web at
http://www.americansportingdogalliance.org.
Have You Joined Yet?
The American Sporting Dog Alliance
http://www.americansportingdogalliance.org
