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

CA SB 250 - Suspended!

Woo! I'll post details later but here are the bare bones results:

0 (zero) supporters spoke up
5 (five) opponents spoke up

• Finances said there would be costs
• Opponents said there would be costs
• Sen. Runner confirmed with opponents that nowhere in the US has mandatory spay/neuter ever decreased shelter costs - it always gets worse.
• Sen. Runner also confirmed with Finance that the state will get unfunded mandate costs, more cats & dogs will be abandoned, so those mandate costs will increase.

Then Sen. Runner asked Finance: so, local government can ask the State to pay for the increased costs?
Finance: yes

SB 250 will be thoroughly vetted by the Committee and voted up or down late in the month.

Methinks it's dead, Jim.

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...

PeTA Wins... and Loses

The PeTA Two were convicted of dumping trash illegally (dozens of dogs and cats which were euthanized as soon as the van carrying them pulled away from their former owners). According to the laws of the state, justice was served. All felony charges were dropped.

As a result of publicity generated by the case, one decades-long PeTA supporter wrote to an Animal Rightists' Google Group that he had removed PeTA as a beneficiary of his nearly $3 million life insurance policy. A PeTA representative responded that the organization was surprised at this since it's 'public knowledge' that animals it acquires are usually killed by the organization.

If it wasn't before, it is now....

Here's another blog I just found on canine politics. Check it out.