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Illinois Dog Owners - Urgent Alert by eaglerock814 on Mon Aug 24, 2009 8:45 am

Proposed Illinois Legislation Puts Dog

And Cat Owners In ‘Catch 22’ Situations

Task Force Will Discuss Legislation On Tuesday

by JOHN YATES

American Sporting Dog Alliance

http://www.americansportingdogalliance.org

asda@csonline.net

This article is archived at http://eaglerock814.proboards.com/index ... &thread=53

SPRINGFIELD,IL (August 23, 2009) – Proposed changes in the Illinois Animal WelfareAct would have several frightening and authoritarian ramifications forpeople who raise dogs or cats:

ü Anyone in Illinois who ownsmore than five female dogs or cats capable of reproduction currentlymust have a state license and be inspected. The proposed legislationrequires these people to get rid of all of their animals if they chooseto scale back and voluntarily relinquish their state license. Theproposed legislation would not allow them to keep any of their dogs orcats, including household pets.

ü The draft legislation requireslicense holders to relinquish all of their dogs and cats if they areplaced under license suspension, even if the problems do not involvethe care or welfare of their animals in any way. Licenses can besuspended for purely technical violations, such as for failing to postrequired disclosure statements in the correct place, or for unrelatedissues, such as failing to pay state taxes on income that does notinvolve dogs or cats.

ü A license suspension is only a euphemismunder the draft bill. In reality it is a de facto revocation, as itrequires a kennel or cattery to dispose of all of its animals withintwo weeks and prior to a possible court review of the decision of theIllinois Department of Agriculture, which is cop, judge, jury andhangman under this proposal. In most kinds of laws, a suspension meansthat a licensee has the opportunity to correct problems. In this bill,a suspension lasts for 12 months, which means that a kennel is out ofbusiness or the lifetime work of a dedicated hobby breeder would bedestroyed. Also, a suspension is mandatory for three violations withina three-year period, even if they have nothing to do with the care orwelfare of dogs or cats. This is a blatant attempt to destroy many goodkennels and catteries.

ü When a license is relinquishedvoluntarily, suspended, revoked or denied, all animals must be turnedover to a state-or-federally-licensed kennel, which means animalshelters will get a steady supply of easily adoptable purebred dogs tofund their activities, and animal rights groups will get their wish ofremoving high quality puppies from American life because shelters willspay or neuter the dogs before they are adopted. Although the billgives the state the option of allowing other placements, people willlose the right to choose the best homes for their own animals.

üPet stores will be allowed to purchase puppies or kittens only fromkennels or catteries that are licensed by Illinois or the U.S.Department of Agriculture. This means that private individuals who havesurplus kittens or puppies will be forbidden to sell them to petstores. This will result in higher animal shelter admissions andeuthanasia rates, and also deny people who patronize pet stores thechance to buy a family-raised puppy or kitten.

ü A series ofdisclosures must be made to people before they buy a dog or cat, andalso posted by the animal’s cage and on the Internet, if a kennel orcattery advertises online. This is totally unworkable in a kennelenvironment, because moisture and chemicals used for sanitation woulddestroy the disclosure sheets (as would rainfall and snow in outdoorfacilities). The required disclosures would include names and addressesof the breeder and anyone else who has owned the animal, thus exposingthem to potential danger on the Internet by exposure to thieves,threats from animal rights groups, and the collection of identifyinginformation from spammers and telemarketers. It also could lead toidentity theft. For an online classified ad, the required disclosureswould many times more lengthy than the ad itself, and websites wouldrequire frequent and expensive redesigns – for no valid purpose!

üCurrent law gives the Illinois Department of Agriculture the power towrite regulations to implement and enforce the law. This is a broadpower for the Department to do anything it wishes, and the law givesthem the additional power of destroying a home or business kennel forfailing to follow impossible or irrational regulations. Under nocircumstances should this draft legislation be considered without alsounveiling the new regulations it would be used to enforce. To dootherwise is to require dog and cat owners to swallow a pig in a poke.

üCat owners were lied to by the state and the Task Force that wascreated this year to develop and review new legislation and rules. Theywere told that cat owners would not be affected in any way, and catowners were denied representation on the Task Force. However, the draftlegislation shows clearly that cat owners will be affected directly andin many ways, and also will be subject to the new regulations thatwould be implemented by the legislation.

ü The legislation alsowould appear to prohibit or destroy private rescue operations. Onlyrecognized humane societies, animal welfare societies or licensednonprofit corporations would be allowed to get a state license. Fosterhomes would be permitted only under the auspices of a state-licensedfacility. There is no provision for private individuals who want tohelp homeless animals, if they disagree with the beliefs and practicesof licensed organizations (such as about no-kill, for example), or ifthey simply choose to work independently. It also would be illegal forIllinois residents to act as foster homes for rescue organizationsheadquartered in other states, which applies to many breed rescues.This would have a significant impact on shelter admissions andeuthanasia rates.

Those problems make the proposed legislationunfair, unworkable and repressive to dog and cat owners. We urge dogand cat owners to vigorously oppose it, and do everything possible tomake sure it is not passed into law.

There is no online link tothis legislation, to our knowledge. It was emailed as an attachment toTask Force members only two days ago. Thus, we are unable to provide alink for dog and cat owners to directly access this document.

TheIllinois Task Force for Dogs will meet to discuss the proposedlegislation this coming Tuesday, August 25, 2009, at 9 a.m. at theIllinois Department of Agriculture Auditorium, 801 E. Sangamon Avenue(enter through Gate 11 at Sangamon Avenue and 8th Street), Springfield,Illinois. We urge all dog and cat owners to attend this meeting if atall possible and voice strong opposition to this horrible proposedlegislation.

Because the meeting and agenda were announced withlittle advance notice, we also urge dog and cat owners to immediatelymake their concerns known to the sporting dog delegate on the TaskForce, Mary Jo Trimble. Ms. Trimble is a strong supporter of the rightsof dog and cat owners, and we are asking her to make our concerns knownat the meeting. We also urge cat owners to respond, as they do not havea representative of their own on the Task Force. Ms. Trimble’s email istrimblemaryjoray@gmail.com.

Inaddition, we are asking dog owners to urge changes in the current lawthat would raise the current threshold for state licensure higher thanthe current standard of more than five female dogs or cats capable ofreproduction. This number includes elderly and retired dogs, as well asolder puppies that are being evaluated for their potential. It hasnothing to do with actual breeding for the vast majority of hobbyists.

Thisis an absurdly low threshold, as it ensnares many hobbyists who do verylittle breeding, but are active in shows, field trials and otherevents. There is no reason for the state to forcibly intrude into thelives of these private citizens. At the bare minimum, the thresholdshould be doubled to more than 12 female dogs or cats capable ofreproduction.

Also, current law only allows for judicial reviewof decisions by the Illinois Department of Agriculture. This isun-American, and violates the principles of justice in this country.This part of the law should be changed to guarantee the right ofjudicial review and appeal, and to forbid the Department of Agriculturefrom taking action against a license before all court reviews andappeals are completed. In America, all citizens are presumed to beinnocent unless proven guilty in a court of law. A state bureaucracy isnot a court of law.

This would not expose dogs or cats to harm,as existing animal cruelty laws thoroughly and forcefully address anycruelty, abuse or neglect issues that may be present. These laws fullyprotect the safety and welfare of all dogs and cats.

TheAmerican Sporting Dog Alliance is asking all Illinois dog and catowners to help us defeat this unprincipled and repressive draftlegislation.

The American Sporting Dog Alliance representsowners, breeders and professionals who work with breeds of dogs thatare used for hunting. We also welcome people who work with otherbreeds, as legislative issues affect all of us. We are a grassrootsmovement working to protect the rights of dog owners, and to assurethat the traditional relationships between dogs and humans maintainsits rightful place in American society and life. The American SportingDog Alliance also needs your help so that we can continue to work toprotect the rights of dog owners. Your membership, participation andsupport are truly essential to the success of our mission. We arefunded solely by your donations in order to maintain strictindependence.

Please visit us on the web at http://www.americansportingdogalliance.org . Our email is asda@csonline.net .

PLEASE CROSS-POST AND FORWARD THIS REPORT TO YOUR FRIENDS http://www.americansportingdogalliance.org eaglerock814 Senior Poster

 Posts: 152Joined: Sat Feb 09, 2008 3:21 pmLocation: Oil City, PA E-mail Top

Looks like theyve worded it so they can CONTROL anyone, anytime ,any situation. What a bunch of B.S. This crap can relly hurt some of the honest guys like Don Duell and a number of other feild trial fanatics, that keep a large string of dogs for various trial purposes. Too bad there arent some other more important economical issues that they could concern themselves with.!?????

The bigger the gov. gets, the bigger the problems we have.