Animal Welfare in Trouble in Missouri

From the looks of the legislative session, animal welfare in Missouri is in trouble.  Here's a wrap up of the latest news from the Missouri Alliance for Animal Legislation.

"As more and more commercial dog breeders stop breeding dogs due to recent implementation of humane standards of care, the clamor from the pet industry and agricultural interests increases as they rail against all laws protecting animals.

A prominent Missouri pet industry representative, Jim Hughes, who operated one of the largest dog brokering operations in the country, recently lamented that "today, the pet shop is about to suffer the same fate as Hostess Twinkies." Mr. Hughes stated that the "puppy breeders are disappearing in droves." Mr. Hughes blames the recently enacted Canine Cruelty Prevention Act (CCPA) stating that years ago "the commercial puppy breeders sold 400,000 puppies through pet stores across the country...that has been cut in half."

While it is true that over 900 dog breeding operations have closed down in Missouri, Mr. Hughes fails to acknowledge that the reason for doing so was not onerous regulations but rather many breeders simply refused to provide even a modicum of care and humane treatment to their dogs. The new regulations which proved too burdensome to hundreds of breeders were the requirements for veterinary care, adequate living space, and access to fresh air. Simply put, dog breeders can no longer warehouse their dogs in barns confined inside tiny cages often never seeing the light of day and languishing without veterinary care.

Instead of celebrating the demise of the cruel puppy mill scenario of raising dogs and encouraging a more humane and professional approach of producing puppies, industry leaders, along with agricultural interests, and even some lawmakers, are instead decrying a loss of jobs. At a recent hearing in a House Agriculture Committee, some lawmakers ramped up the rhetoric against the welfare of animals. Comments such as animals should not be companions, horses should not be companions, and they will make Bessie the cow a companion animal next, were heard including the claim that dogs are just an issue to get the foot in the door to attack animal agriculture. One lawmaker expressed a desire to weaken our new puppy mill law and another wants to lessen the penalties for dogfighting and for "those who torture animals."

A host of bills have already been introduced that would weaken current laws or restrict future laws protecting animals. One bill would even eliminate our current prohibition against cockfighting. We expect more adverse bills to come. We will keep you informed of our ongoing efforts to protect the welfare of animals in Jefferson City. This legislative session will no doubt be a very critical time for the welfare of animals in Missouri.

Here's the legislation MAAL is following in 2013 - legislation supported by MAAL is in black;  opposed is in red:

• HB 153 Added protections for Animal Control Officers.
• HB 174  Crimes Against Police Animals
• HB 205  Affirms the Right to Raise Livestock Without An Undue Economic Burden on Livestock Owners
• HB 206 Designates the Month of December as "Pet Breeders Appreciation Month"
• HB 210 Weakens Animal Fighting and Abuse Statutes 
• HB 255 Removes Taxes on Animal Shelters
• HB 284 Removes Taxes on Animal Shelters
• HJR 7 Proposed Constitutional Amendment Affirming the Right to Hunt, Fish and Farm
•  HJR 10 Proposed Constitutional Amendment Requiring 4/7 Majority on any Ballot Initiative Relating to Raising Livestock
• HJR 11 Proposed Constitutional Amendment Affirming the Right to Hunt, Fish and Farm
• SB 41 Weakens Protection Against Emission of Air Pollutants and Solid Waste Discharge
• SB 98 Removes Taxes on Animal Shelters
•  SB 149 Primate Act   

 Fetch the Missouri Alliance for Animal Legislation on the web for more information.

Recycle That Old Cell Phone to Help Animals

Upgrading your cell phone?  Thousands of new cell phones are purchased every day and lots of folks will be upgrading to the latest for the holidays.  If that includes you, what are your plans for your old cell phone?

Why not help the planet and animals at the same time?

Gift that old one to the Petco Foundation.  They're collecting and recycling old cell phones to aid in their mission of raising the quality of life for pets and the people who need them.  Proceeds from the donated phones help reduce the number of animals euthanized, rescue animals in crisis, provide lifesaving vaccinations for homeless pets, and rehabilitate pets with behavioral issues.

It's easy!  Simply print a prepaid shipping label at Petco.com/recycle and drop it in the mail.

Image courtesy of the Petco Foundation

The Petco Foundation has served as a voice for campaign animals across our country since 1999.  Each year they help animal welfare organizations find lifelong, loving homes for millions of homeless pets, as well as fund spay and neuter efforts, animal assisted therapy programs and humane education.  Visit them on the web at Petco.com

New Face of the Missouri Alliance for Animal Legislation

Photo:  MAAL

 Meet Darby, the new face of the Missouri Alliance for Animal Legislation for 2013.

Darby is a 2 1/2 year old Scottish Terrier / Basset Hound mix who lived in Chesterfield, MO.  When stray dog, Darby, was lost and alone he was taken to an animal shelter.  Rescued by the Scottish Terrier Rescue and placed in foster care, Darby's second placement proved to be the perfect forever home.

Darby will be featured in the Faces of the Alliance 2013 calendar, on the Missouri Alliance for Animal Welfare website and in other publications.

The Missouri Alliance for Animal Legislation is a non-profit organization working to bring positive change for animals through legislative means.  They protect animals from abuse, neglect and inhumane exploitation by monitoring and facilitating the passage of animal welfare laws, enhancing the quality of life for people and animals in Missouri..
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Labrador Life Line Labour of Love Auction

 Shop and bid to win amazing dog themed items for your dog, your home, and your friends.  At the same time you'll be supporting a fantastic volunteer animal welfare organization. 

Browse beautiful original art, dog toys and treats, dog collars and clothes, dog lover jewelry, and much, much more.  Among the items you'll find a black Labrador Retriever dog pendant necklace donated by For Love of a Dog.

Labrador Life Line's annual Labour of Love auction began on August 31 and runs through September 15 and is one of their biggest fundraisers.  Sign up here in order to participate. Monies gained help LLL carry out their mission to assist eligible Labs, whether owned or in rescue, with medical treatment or other special needs that will enable that dog to live out his or her life surrounded by people who love them. 

Dog Swims - St Louis Missouri Area

Live near St Louis?  Beat the heat and support animal welfare at the Missouri Alliance for Animal Legislation annual Pool Paws for Humane Laws dog swims.

Cost is only $10 for each dog and adult human companion; $3 for each addition human.  These dog swim fundraisers offer well socialized dogs the opportunity to take an end-of-season dip. Family members and friends are allowed to wade in the pool but not swim. (Download the Flyer here)

 

Dog Swim Events:

McNair Park Pool/St. Charles
Monday, August 6: 6:00 � 8:00 p.m.
Thursday, August 9: 6:00 � 8:00 p.m.
(Inclement weather call 636-946-1553) No rain out days scheduled

Kirkwood Aquatic Center
Tuesday, September 4: 5:00 � 7:00 p.m.
Thursday, September 6: 6:00 � 8:00 p.m.
(Inclement weather call 314-984-6972) No rain out days scheduled

Splash at Wabash/Ferguson
Wednesday, September 5: 6:00 � 8:00 p.m.
(Inclement weather call 314-521-1313) Rainout date: September 6: 6:00 � 8:00 p.m.

Alligator�s Creek Aquatic Center/O�Fallon
Saturday, September 8: 11:00 a.m. � 1:00 p.m.
(Inclement weather call 636-272-1626) Rainout date: Saturday, September 15: 11:00 a.m. � 1:00 p.m.

RULES:

• Well socialized dogs welcome. No aggressive dogs. No pinch/choke collars.
• Proof of current vaccination records, DHLPP and Rabies, required before entering pool.
• Owners must bring bags or other method to clean up after their dogs.
• Dogs must be leashed unless swimming in the pool and closely supervised by their owners.
• All children under 18 must be accompanied by an adult. Dogs are running loose and become rambunctious.
• Small children should be closely supervised to avoid injuries.
• All owners must sign a waiver and are legally responsible for their dogs and any injuries or damage caused by their dogs.
• One-half of the entry fees will be contributed to the Missouri Alliance for Animal Legislation, a nonprofit lobbying organization working to enact, support and protect Missouri animal welfare laws. Donations are not tax-deductible.

 For more information, contact the Missouri Alliance for Animal Legislation (MAAL)  or call 314-361-3944.  MAAL protects animals from abuse, neglect and inhumane exploitation by monitoring and facilitating the passage of animal welfare laws.

A Happy Ending for Buddy - Video

Over the last year, Wayside Waifs animal shelter in Kansas City, Missouri, has partnered with over 30 other animal shelters and animal welfare agencies to rescue thousands of animals.  

In the video below you'll meet Buddy.  He was one of 27 dogs rescued from a hoarding situation near Savannah, MO.  Scared and living in filth, Buddy experiences a transformation.  Buddy learns to trust humans and finds his forever home.

Missouri Puppy Mill Legislation and Farmers Wake-up Call

What do puppy mills have to do with farmers?  Plenty, as evidenced by the recent campaigns to institute new puppy mill and commercial dog breeding laws in Missouri.  

My own rural Ozarks neighborhood was filled with campaign signs warning that the government would soon be telling you how many horses, cattle, hogs, and other livestock you may own and how they must be cared for.  You may recall my own remarks about Missouri's Prop B and farmers during the campaign.

Missouri puppy mill compromise legislation was passed and many Missouri commercial dog breeders have gone out of business.  At the same time, Missouri farmers are still angry and feeling very threatened.  So are livestock producers in other states.

I usually do not quote press releases in their entirety, however, this is important information that I want to make sure I get right.  The information below comes from "Mo. dog breeding vote 'wake-up call' for farmers" written by Alan Scher Zagier of the Associated Press.

A 2010 ballot initiative to toughen oversight of dog breeders highlighted the rift between Missouri farmers and national animal rights activists. Two years later, the divide has only deepened.

Twenty-five farm groups ranging from the Missouri Pork Association and the state Beef Industry Council to agribusiness heavyweights Cargill and Monsanto have united under the banner of Missouri Farmers Care.

Their target? The Humane Society of the United States, which pushed the dog breeding initiative and is now the primary financial backer of Your Vote Counts!, a proposed state constitutional amendment requiring a three-fourths majority vote before the Legislature could override voter-approved laws.

That's just what lawmakers did last year, reversing many of the new rules for dog breeders endorsed by a slight majority of Missouri residents just months earlier.

Farmers' anger was on full display at a recent Missouri Farmers Care meeting in Monroe City, 20 miles from the banks of the Mississippi River and half that distance from Mark Twain's birthplace in Florida, Mo.

Vehicles sported bumper stickers warning HSUS and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals to "get your paws off our laws." Missouri Farmers Care flyers set on a table said, "Their goal is to end animal agriculture by increasing the cost of food and even through outright bans."

Activists view animals as "cuddly, furry things, not what we use to make money in livestock operations," said state Sen. Brian Munzlinger, a Republican whose district includes 13 northern Missouri counties dominated by hog farms and grain elevators.

"They weren't going to stop at pets," he added. "They're going after all of our farm animals."

Rural lawmakers such as Munzlinger have headlined a recent series of Missouri Farmers Care town hall meetings across the state. From Clinton and Harrisonville to Salem and St. Joseph, hundreds of farmers turn out twice a month for political rallies that bring together soybean growers, dairy producers and other agricultural groups that more often have focused on their own narrow interests, said Dan Kleinsorge, the farm group's operations manager.

"Prop B was a wake-up call for agriculture," he said.

Farm groups in other states also are heeding the call, Kleinsorge noted, as HSUS and other animal rights groups target not just Missouri but two dozen states that allow signature-driven petitions to appear on ballots.

In neighboring Nebraska, Gov. Dave Heineman caused a stir this month when he referred to HSUS in saying, "We're going to kick your ass and send you out of the state." Farm groups there have formed a "We Support Agriculture" coalition as a pre-emptive move against potential HSUS-supported ballot efforts.

In Ohio, the state Farm Bureau formed a Center for Food and Animal Issues as part of its successful push for a 2009 ballot measure that created a livestock care oversight board. And in Iowa, farm groups stung by the release of videos of chicks being ground up and pigs being beaten convinced lawmakers to make it a crime to lie on a job application to get access to farms to make secret recordings.

While the Your Vote Counts! effort makes no mention of agriculture or "cuddly, furry" pets, Missouri campaign finance reports show two-thirds of the more than $345,000 donated to the petition drive through the end of 2011 came from HSUS. Another $50,000 was donated by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Just two of the 11 individual donors to Your Vote Counts! in the fourth quarter of 2011 live in Missouri.

Missouri Farmers Care has raised significantly less � about $127,000 through 2011 � but nearly all its 290 individual donors in the last three months of 2011 were Missourians. Most gave in relatively small amounts.

Dane Waters, the Your Vote Counts! campaign manager, acknowledged HSUS is the primary force behind the proposed Missouri ballot measure. His group must still collect signatures from two-thirds of the state's congressional districts equaling at least 8 percent of the votes cast in the 2008 gubernatorial election. That amounts to between about 146,000 and 178,000 signatures � though the group is aiming for 234,000 names.

"With any initiative effort, there's always a primary supporter or a primary donor," said Waters, who worked on Sen. John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign and is also political director for the Humane Society Legislative Fund, an HSUS spinoff group that works to change state and federal animal protection laws.

"At the end of the day, it's irrelevant where the money comes from," he added. "Because only Missourians get to vote on it."

Waters agreed that the dog breeding initiative led to the latest fight, but he disputed the idea that his group was anti-agriculture. He said it has no plans, nor interest, in other agriculture-related political campaigns in Missouri beyond this year.

"There's a tremendous amount of misunderstanding about what HSUS is," he said. "Our goal is to not to fundamentally change the agricultural society in Missouri. Our goal is to work within the agricultural framework."

Farmers and their supporters remain suspicious. Steve Yates, a 59-year-old retired high school agriculture teacher who attended the Monroe City meeting, summed up the unease shared by many there.

"It threatens our livelihood, but it's a bigger issue," he said. "Whether you're a commodity producer or not, it affects the way we live. If you think the price of food is high now, just wait."