Washington Bill Due For Vote
Legislation regulating people who raise dogs has passed the Senate in Washington, and also passed through a House committee. It passed by an 8-3 vote in the House Judiciary Committee on March 26, and now can be called
for a final vote by the full House at any time.
Like the Oklahoma bill, Washington Senate Bill 5651 was softened after its
introduction because of protests by dog owners. The original bill could be
accurately described as inflammatory animal rights legislation that would
have wantonly destroyed high quality breeding of purebred dogs in the state. It defined even small hobby breeders as “puppy mills.”
There have been several improvements to the legislation. However, the
American Sporting Dog Alliance continues to actively oppose it for several
reasons.
Chief among those reasons is the fact that it is not needed. When challenged
by the American Sporting Dog Alliance, proponents of the legislation could
not name a single instance when a problem at a kennel was not fully
addressed by existing laws. Washington has very tough animal cruelty laws,
and they can be used to shut down any poorly operated kennel.
We see no reason to subject the vast majority of kennel owners, who have
high quality operations, to cumbersome bureaucracy..
Moreover, all real commercial kennels already are federally regulated.
Although it’s stated purpose is to regulate commercial kennels, the
legislation specifically excludes any kennel that has a federal license.
That exemption tells us that commercial kennels are not the real target. In
fact, the bill still specifically targets anyone who owns or possesses more
than 10 sexually intact dogs over the age of six months. This group includes
almost all serious hobby breeders, and some of the finest kennels in
America.
The bill also effectively prohibits raising puppies in a home environment.
Here is a link to the legislative summary of the amended bill:
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/documents/billdocs/2009-10/Pdf/Bill%20Reports/House/5651-S.E%20HBR%20JUDI%2009.pdf
This link is the actual text of the amended bill:
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/documents/billdocs/2009-10/Pdf/Bills/Senate%20Bills/5651-S.E.pdf
The American Sporting Dog Alliance urges all Washington dog owners to
contact as many state senators as possible to express opposition to SB 5651.
Here is a list of all state senators, with links to pages with full contact
information: http://www.leg.wa.gov/Senate/Senators/
The American Sporting Dog Alliance represents owners, breeders and
professionals who work with breeds of dogs that are used for hunting. We
also welcome people who work with other breeds, as legislative issues affect
all of us. We are a grassroots movement working to protect the rights of dog
owners, and to assure that the traditional relationships between dogs and
humans maintains its rightful place in American society and life.
The American Sporting Dog Alliance also needs your help so that we can continue to work to protect the rights of dog owners. Your membership, participation and support are truly essential to the success of our mission. We are funded solely by your donations in order to maintain strict independence.
Please visit us on the web at http://www.americanportingdogalliance.org Our
email is asda@csonline.net.
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