Pondering Puppy Mills and H$U$

I was going to post this series of short notes on Twitter, but think I'll put them here instead. First, though, two bills are currently scheduled for an Assembly Floor vote tomorrow:

AB 241 - Nava - Dogs and cats: breeding for sale
AB 1437 - Huffman
- Shelled eggs: sale for human consumption: compliance with animal care standards

Call and fax your Assembly Member tonight and ask them to vote NO on both of these bad bills.

The following thoughts are posted as I think about the implications of H$U$' actions last week. Wayne P's animal radicals tried to stop information from zooming along the Internet. Didn't work. Only made us angry - and for a lot of us, ready to take more action to stop the AR agenda. Here we go; open minds, please. Our previous thoughts and actions / inactions got us where we are today, all of us. If things are to change, the change must start within us.

No, that's not a political statement. Just the truth.

/rant_thoughts

• H$U$ has enough attorneys to kill Twitter accounts, remove ground breaking news reports from Google, and delete videos from YouTube. We learned that this week.
  

• H$U$ has enough money to bring and endorse almost 200 animal bills across these 50 states this year - including about ten (so far) in California.
  

• H$U$ says laying hens are better off in groups of thousands, with attendant threats of cannibalism and disease, than in smaller cages where they're safer and happier (proven because they lay more eggs!).
  

• H$U$ says a puppy mill has over 75, 50, 30, 20 or 11 breeding dogs. Yep, in Texas they're facing potential laws calling anyone with 11 intact bitches a commercial kennel - which H$U$ and PeTA say is a puppy mill. But... what is a puppy mill, anyway? Really? Are numbers the sole determining factor?
  

• H$U$ told the California Assembly Appropriations Committee last week that VP Joe Biden bought his pup from a puppy mill. 'A horrible place with 5 citations!' No time was left in committee to tell the FULL story: that all charges were dismissed (see previous posts for details).

This was a USDA kennel licensed for over 250 dogs but handling just 91 dogs onsite. Imported from Europe and worth $5,000. to $10,000. each. There are two heated indoor swimming pools for the dogs on the property. Um.... I'm thinking this is not a puppy mill.

• Another view on puppy mills - please just read, think & listen to this person's heart even if you disagree
  

If we let H$U$, PeTA and other ARs define who gets to breed dogs, cats, poultry, swine, horses, cattle, sheep... will we still live in America?

If we continue to let H$U$, PeTA and local ARs make animal control law, how long until ALL breeders and pet owners are scofflaws?

If we let H$U$ and other animal radicals dictate how critters are cared for ... how long before no one is 'good enough' to own a pet? Or a cow? Or a chicken?

/end rant_thoughts

Sac City, Sac County - and California

I attended the Sacramento City Council meeting yesterday afternoon - what, you say? The City Council meeting? What happened to the County Board of Supervisors meeting?

Good question. I found out about a week ago that the BOS meeting was postphoned until April 17 (see Item 42), and that a County mediation meeting will take place tonight instead from 6-9pm. At the same time, I found out that Sacramento City and County Animal Control - and HSUS and a whole slew of other AR groups - put an animal overpopulation proposal on the City docket for vote yesterday afternoon!

Wow - talk about subterfuge... and even better, when I went to verify the Sac City Council Meeting agenda this morning, I found yesterday's agenda no longer online. Voting will now take place in about three weeks, I believe - but if I heard right, the public will not be able to comment again in session before the vote. Another interesting point: while the County meetings last year filled the chambers to overflowing, not even half of the City seats were taken. Again, I wonder if the public is aware of the proposals about to change their pet ownership rights.

The best (*cough*) news of all: AR legislators are now proposing mandatory spay and neutering for the entire state of California. I'm not the only one who's unhappy with this.

I wonder how much a kitten or puppy will cost in the Golden State ten years from now if these proposals are allowed to pass...

Making a Difference in Sacramento

The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors will be revisiting the county shelter-proposed "Animal Overpopulation Ordinance" on February 27, 2007, at 2:30 p.m. (See Item #40 of the Action Summary for January 16, 2007)

Read the ordinance - tell all your neighbors - write, call, fax and email your opinion to the Clerk of the Board. Take the day off work and GO TO THE MEETING. Sign up to give a 3 minute talk on why government should not interfere with your property rights or right to privacy. Nothing says "we'll remember you next time we vote" like participating in the political process.

One strange thing I noticed: almost no one whose skin possessed a lot of melanin showed up at last year's public Board meetings for this proposal. Could it be that no one notified a substantial portion of the pet-owning community about this ordinance?