IF you have been "coasting" on legislative actions and assuming "it won't really happen, MY letters and calls aren't important, OR I don't have time or feel
like it etc...."
Well, this could well be the NEAR future of California, Texas, Connecticut or your home town
Please Cross post
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The below is exactly why there can be no compromises with Animal Radical groups.
Judy Goldberg
Greylock Poodles
Noose Set To Tighten On
Los Angeles Purebred Dogs
AKC Disqualification Shows Entire Nation The Danger of
Compromise, Apathy Or Agreeing To Biased Task Forces
by MARGO MILDE AND JOHN YATES
American sporting Dog Alliance
LOS ANGELES, CA - It will be next to impossible to own a sexually intact
registered dog or cat within the City of Los Angeles, if City Council approves a
series of recommendations by the Spay/Neuter Advisory Committee in a March 30,
2009, report. These recommendations have been sent to Los Angeles City Council
and to Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa in final form, the American Sporting Dog
Alliance has documented. Action on the recommendations could happen at any time.
It already is illegal in Los Angeles to possess a sexually intact dog that is
registered with the Field Dog Stud Book (FDSB), and the committee's
recommendations would cancel out current exemptions for approved show, field
trial, performance and breeding dogs registered with the American Kennel Club
(AKC), and also rare breed and smaller registries. The recommendations also may
affect dogs registered with the United Kennel Club (UKC), and cats registered
with the three top feline registries. Beginning this year, the ordinance has
required all dogs and cats that did not qualify for an intact exemption to be
spayed or neutered at the medically unsafe age of four months.
Now, however, it is clear that even these few exemptions are intended to be
phased out, if recommendations from the committee are approved by the City
Council. The committee's recommendations also contain a series of "Catch 22's"
that would make it virtually impossible for the owner of an intact dog to
maintain an exemption for competition, field trials and shows, even if the
registry itself maintains its exemption, documents show.
The unfolding situation in Los Angeles gives dramatic and clear proof that the
ultimate goal of all animal rights-inspired legislation is a step toward the
elimination of animal ownership in America. Each law, ordinance and regulation
is merely the first step toward a tightening of the noose in this incremental
approach to making America a nation without dogs, cats and other domesticated
animals. Each step is designed to lead to another, until no more animals are
left.
For dog owners, it means that any compromise with animal rights activists is
illogical, unwise and totally illusory. Dog owners who agree to negotiate,
participate on task forces or committees that are stacked against them,
compromise, cut deals, remain apathetic, or fail to fight hard for their rights
in the political arena, are slitting their own throats. The only alternative is
to fight back courageously against all animal rights legislation, and refuse to
quit, surrender or compromise.
That lesson applies equally to all Americans who own dogs or cats, and has
immediate meaning to Illinois, which has set up a task force to study new dog
laws, and Maine and Santa Barbara, CA, which are now in the process of having
the results rammed down their throats by task forces that were designed to have
strong animal rights biases.
The Los Angeles Committee also provides a clear lesson to dog owners about how
task forces and committees can be taken over by nonresident animal rights
extremists, who now are incorporating these committees into their nationwide
strategy. The American Sporting Dog Alliance first uncovered this strategy in
the City of Dallas, TX, which passed a repressive spay/neuter mandate last year
based on the recommendations of a committee with official status that pointedly
excluded anyone who was not an animal rights activist.
The Los Angeles Committee includes at least one person who does not live in the
city: noted animal rights extremist Judie Mancuso of Laguna Beach, CA. Mancuso
was a major force behind last year's failed effort to enact statewide mandatory
spay/neuter legislation, and is leading efforts for legislation this year.
Mancuso also works on mandatory sterilization issues nationwide, and recently
testified in Chicago, where she claimed that these ordinances do not affect the
availability of purebred dogs. The Los Angeles proposals contradict and
discredit Mancuso's statements in Chicago and elsewhere, and show clearly that
her real goal is to eliminate purebred dogs.
Here are the Los Angeles Spay/Neuter Committee report's highlights pertaining to
owning intact purebred dogs.
Almost all of America's dog and cat registries would be removed from the list of
approved registries, because they do not have official policies to protect the
health and soundness of dogs eligible for registration and used in breeding
programs, as would be required by the new recommendations.
We see this requirement as a "Catch 22" that is impossible to fulfill, because
the science of canine genetics is in its infancy and does not allow many
conditions to be predicted accurately (and thus prevented), and the Los Angeles
ordinance is essentially requiring registries to be liable (including
financially liable) for the results of matings over which they have no real
control. Private breeders of high quality dogs also would object to a distant
registry taking control of their breeding decisions, if for no other reason than
the fact that registry officials would have no first-hand knowledge of the dogs
involved, their progeny or their ancestors.
Dogs registered by the American Kennel Club (AKC), which is the nation's largest
registry, could not be kept sexually intact or bred in Los Angeles if these
recommendations are adopted. This also would apply to dogs registered through
the American Dog Breeders Association (American pit bull terriers), the
Continental Kennel Club, the American Rare Breed Association, the Australian
Shepherd Club of America and the Dog Registry of America, and possibly cats
registered by the three major feline registries.
The status of UKC-registered dogs could not be determined from the report. The
UKC already has an extensive list of breeding policies, but they are essentially
recommendations to breeders and most are not mandatory. Nor is it known if the
UKC would be willing to assume liability for the actions of breeders.
Field Dog Stud Book, which is America's oldest registry and the premiere
registry for pointers and setters bred for hunting and field trials, is not
included in the current list of approved registries and also could not possibly
meet the requirements of the committee report. It is currently illegal to own a
sexually intact FDSB-registered dog, or breed it, in the City of Los Angeles.
To obtain a breeding permit, the report recommends requiring that a dog must be
temperament tested, have Orthopedic Foundation of America certification for hip
dysplasia, meet other unspecified "health requirements," and have earned or be
earning a title in competition through an approved registry (of which there
would be none). We regard all of these as cynical "Catch 22s."
Temperament testing would be done by the animal control agency, which lacks the
expertise to evaluate dogs of most breeds and could not do a fair evaluation in
the chaotic environment of an animal control facility. Thus, many good dogs
would be set up to fail.
OFA hip certification cannot be obtained until a dog is two years old and the
Los Angeles ordinance requires dogs to be spayed at age four months (long before
they would be bred, entered in serious competition or could be certified by
OFA), and animal control personnel do not have the knowledge or experience to
evaluate genetic health problems or the ways to reduce or eliminate them.
The report also recommends that all dogs be entered into a show or competition
at least annually to qualify for an exemption (the current requirement is one
show every two years). However, this fails to account for the reality that many
dogs are kept for evaluation for a year or two before they are entered in
competition or sent to a professional trainer, an injury or illness can hold a
dog out of competition for lengthy periods, and many outstanding champions are
retired from competition early to use for breeding in order to pass on their
outstanding genetics to future generations. These dogs would have to be
sterilized, under the recommendation.
The current ordinance exempts a dog that is being trained for competition, or as
a guide, service or military dog. However, the committee report recommends
eliminating this exemption if the dog's trainer is not an officially licensed
business in the City of Los Angeles, as well as stating that dog trainers should
meet certain unspecified "qualifications" to be licensed.
The dog world is not local. Many serious breeders are themselves highly
competent and qualified trainers, and many send their dogs to trainers who are
located in other parts of the state or nation. These trainers could not qualify
for a Los Angeles business license for the simple reason that they do not live
in the city (and possibly not even in the state), and the breeders could not
qualify for a business license because they are hobbyists who are not in the
business of training dogs for the public.
Moreover, no one in the animal control department is even remotely qualified to
pass judgment on the ability or qualifications of a professional trainer.
It is doubtful if any professional trainers of field trial or hunting dogs live
within the city, as there would not be enough suitable grounds nearby, and
regulations and taxation would be prohibitive in an urban environment.
Requirements to maintain a sexually intact dog also would be tightened
generally, including mandating spay/neuter for a second offense of leash laws or
a second impoundment by animal control, shortening time limits for compliance,
denying permits to dog owners to whom even one warning had been issued, and
raising prices of intact and breeding permits (current permits cost $100 per
animal per year, and allow the holder only one litter per year per each female
animal for which a permit has been obtained).
The Los Angeles Committee report to City Council is contained in a 91-page (pdf
file) report that can be viewed at
http://www.laanimalservices.com/spayneuterlaw/committee/march09_rep.pdf . See
pdf pages 68-through-74. Look for Recommendation Twelve. This report was located
and researched by ASDA advisor and researcher Margo Milde of Glenview, IL.
The American Sporting Dog Alliance urges all Los Angeles dog owners to oppose
this report to City Council.
We also ask dog owners everywhere in America to learn from what is happening in
Los Angeles and spurn the idea of task forces, negotiations with animal rights
activists, or agreeing to compromises.
Failing to fight back courageously is the first step in participating in the
destruction of the dogs that you love, and your own freedom and basic rights as
an American.
We also challenge the purebred dog and cat registries themselves, but especially
the American Kennel Club (AKC), the largest purebred dog registry in the United
States, to vigorously oppose the Los Angeles committee's recommendations. We
also urge these registries to make adverse legislation involving any facet of
dog and cat ownership and breeding their utmost priority. We especially ask the
AKC to clearly communicate to its affiliated and member clubs the dangers of
seeking purebred or show exemptions in any proposed legislation involving dog
ownership or breeding, since, as these Los Angeles committee's recommendations
illustrate, such legal exemptions are only a sham, to be all too easily removed
by the Animal Rights zealots who seek the extinction of all purebred breeds of
dogs.
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.
