[ SHOWGSD-L ] Disaster predicted for Chicago should MSN be enacted (ASDA
- From: Stormy435@xxxxxxx
- To: showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2008 13:42:40 EDT
Note** This is a few days old, and as always, I suggest that those concerned
check with MANY sources, not accepting just one post or report. For just a
couple of examples, in the last few days, it was reported that LAAS ACtechs are
not being laid off, and while AKC is not "formally" approved, their COE
(hmmmm:) and approval by AC was to be voted on by City Council (yesterday, I
believe...may have the date wrong) Stormy
Subject: Disaster predicted for Chicago should MSN be enacted (ASDA
article)
FORWARDING PERMITTED AND ENCOURAGED
LET'S GET THE WORD OUT!!!
Mr. John Yates of the American Sporting Dog Alliance has just
completed a well-researched article which forecasts disaster in
Chicago should Mandatory Spay/Neuter be enacted here. His predictions
are based on solid evidence from statistics and and other factual
data gathered in the wake of passage of Mandatory Spay/Neuter and
other anti-pet breeder and anti-pet owner legislation in Los Angeles
CA and Louisville KY.
Permission to crosspost and forward granted.
Margo Milde
AKC Legislative Liaison - Rand Park Dog Training Club Inc
AKC Legislative Liaison - Agility Ability Club of IL
Health Education Chair - Staffordshire Bull Terrier Club of America
Subject: Forced Dog Sterilization In Trouble
Date: Fri, 22 Aug 2008 20:57:12 -0400
New Evidence Points To Disaster If
Chicago Passes Pet Sterilization Law
Los Angeles, Louisville In Deep Trouble - Is Dallas Next?
by JOHN YATES
American Sporting Dog Alliance
http://www.americanhttp://www.amerihttp://
asda@xxxxxxxxxxxx
CHICAGO, IL - Aldermen supporting an ordinance calling for the
sterilization of all pets say they want to model the program after
the City of Los Angeles, which passed a similar ordinance earlier
this year.
If Los Angeles is the model, then the City of Chicago will be in deep
financial trouble, according to a recent audit of the Los Angeles
animal control program. The Los Angeles program has been virtually
bankrupted in only six months, and the ordinance hasn't even taken
effect yet, according to the audit report.
Chicago will be in even deeper trouble if it follows in the footsteps
of Louisville, KY, which also passed an ordinance this year that
imposes high license fees for intact dogs, financial records from
that city show. The entire fiscal backbone of Louisville's animal
control program has collapsed, and the Louisville shelter system has
become a slaughterhouse since the ordinance was passed.
That's bad news for the Chicago city budget, which already is trying
to make up a $50 million shortfall for this year. But there is even
worse news for the highly evolved and successful network of private
animal shelters in Chicago.
Those private shelters may stand to lose $40,000 in vital Maddie's
Fund money immediately, and many times that amount in the future.
Maddie's Fund's policy is not to award grants to communities to help
implement mandatory spay and neuter ordinances, internal documents show.
The irony is that Chicago has one of the best sheltering systems on
Earth, formed around the Chicago Animal Shelter Alliance. CASA is a
coalition of municipal and private shelters in the city, and works
closely with other shelters in the metropolitan area.
CASA's success has been nothing short of spectacular, and the city is
very close to achieving coveted no-kill status honestly, with no
manipulation of statistics. The CASA 2007 annual report shows that
only 445 healthy dogs were euthanized, and both shelter admissions
and euthanasia rates continued a 12-year-long unbroken string of
major improvements.
It is no exaggeration to say that the CASA program is working
perfectly. Now the city aldermen want to fix it, when it certainly
isn't broken. The aldermen are being prodded by the PAWS program,
which is the smallest shelter program in the city but by far the
wealthiest and most visible.
PAWS founder and Chairman Paula Fasseas is a disciple of the radical
Humane Society of the United States. HSUS is working toward a long-
range goal of eliminating animals from American life. PAWS recently
completed a luxurious $9 million shelter to house only 70 animals in
separate rooms. Crystal chandeliers adorn the lobby, and fund-raisers
are diamond-studded black tie affairs. Fasseas has a lot of clout in
Chicago, and a lot of political influence with some members of City
Council.
Based on new evidence from Los Angeles and Louisville, the ordinance
that is being pushed by PAWS and HSUS is likely to destroy the
success of the CASA sheltering system. This new evidence reiterates
the lessons learned by every other American community that has passed
a spay and neuter mandate: It will be a disaster. No one has been
able to make this grand scheme of the animal rights movement actually
work.
There also is a strong message in the new evidence for the City of
Dallas, which passed a similar ordinance in July. Dallas just hired a
new program manager for $100,000 a year, a retreaded shelter manager
named Kent Robertson, who was unable to make changes in Dallas before
he moved to Houston to oversee a similar ordinance there that has
failed totally and left the shelter system in chaos. License sales in
Houston have plummeted, while shelter admissions and euthanasia rates
have soared. Now, Robertson is coming back to Dallas to try the same
approach, even as it is failing in Los Angeles and Louisville.
The Los Angeles Audit
The City of Los Angeles passed an ordinance this year that mandates
spaying and neutering of virtually all dogs. In theory, the ordinance
allows for owners of intact dogs used for show, performance events or
breeding to buy expensive special licenses, provided they work
through an approved registry. Thus far, no dog registry, including
the American Kennel Club, has been approved.
The ordinance is supposed to take effect October 1 but animal control
revenues have already plunged, an August 19 audit by City Controller
Laura Chick shows.
According to the audit report, license sales and revenues have
dropped substantially and the program's budget is drenched in red ink.
Chick's fiscal audit found the Los Angeles Animal Services Department
has lost "millions of dollars" in revenue by failing to license and
renew the licenses of hundreds of thousands of dogs.
A reported 27 animal control officers will have to be laid off, the
city doesn't have the money to open a new $14 million satellite
shelter, there has been no money to pay for any of the required
community outreach and no money is available to enforce the new
ordinance
"If you don't put something behind (the ordinance), then it's a feel-
good gesture, and we don't want to be a city that does empty feel-
good gestures," City Controller Chick said. "I always think that
legislators should research, not only the outcomes and impacts ...
but should always research and ask questions about enforcement.
Otherwise we, government, run the danger of enacting legislation that
is not going to be enforced, which to me is the clearest of messages
to our citizenry and our public -- go ahead and be a scofflaw,
nothing's going to happen."
Los Angeles also has stalled on a plan to create satellite centers
for spay and neuter procedures, as veterinarians simply aren't
signing up to do the job, the audit shows.
In a related matter, the Staffordshire Bull Terrier Club of America
recently performed an analysis of animal control costs, which showed
that 90-percent of the budget is for fixed costs to maintain and
operate facilities, pay for administration, operate vehicles and pay
for bare bones staffing, regardless of the number of animals housed.
Louisville Evidence
The Louisville Kennel Club has obtained and is analyzing fiscal data
for the city's animal control program, as part of evidence gathering
for a federal lawsuit against the new ordinance. The ordinance
requires owners of unsterilized pets to pay high license fees and
submit to home inspections.
Here are some of the preliminary results for Louisville:
The city shelter was built to house 80 animals. It has been flooded
with abandoned pets, and now has to care for between 400 and 450
animals.
Euthanasia rates have risen to 70-percent since the ordinance was
passed.
Less that 10-percent of the animals brought to the shelter are
reclaimed by their owners.
Revenues from the sale of licenses for unaltered pets have fallen by
48-percent.
Staff time is stretched thin by a 30-percent increase in the number
of required investigations.
A part of the ordinance dealing with dangerous dogs has led to the
identification of only 28 dogs (in a city of 700,000 people) that
fall under this category.
Costs to city government are skyrocketing.
The Louisville Kennel Club is analyzing all of the data, and will
release a full report soon.
Maddie's Fund Losses
Maddie's Fund is a national philanthropic organization dedicated to
supporting "no-kill" shelters and programs. "No-kill" means a goal of
not euthanizing any healthy or adoptable animals.
A policy statement says: "Maddie's Fund® does not provide funding for
government programs, including state and local animal care and
control mandates. This policy applies to mandatory spay/neuter laws,
as well as to other requirements imposed by federal, state and local
legislation.l
Grants from Maddie's Fund have been a vital element in starting and
improving many no-kill shelters around the country, and Chicago's
Tree House Humane Society has been approved for a $40,000 starter
grant. This is the initial grant, and much larger grants normally
would follow.
Maddie's Fund reportedly has funded several other Chicago programs in
the past.
Because of the policy statement, it appears that all Maddie's Fund
grants to Chicago would be in danger of being lost if this ordinance
is approved.
Most members of CASA have not announced a position on the new
ordinance. PAWS is the only Chicago group that publicly supports it.
However, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals (the nation's largest animal sheltering organization)Anima
Chicago Veterinary Medical Association and the Illinois State
Veterinary Medical Association staunchly oppose spay and neuter
mandates.
The American Sporting Dog Alliance also is totally opposed to this
ordinance, as is a local association of Chicago dog owners that is in
the process of organizing.
What You Can Do To Help
It is very important for dog owners to take action before City
Council meets again in early September. This ordinance can be stopped
if strong opposition arises from every neighborhood in Chicago, and
from all segments of the dog community.
Please contact local organizers to coordinate with us and the newly
forming Chicago group. They are Karen Perry
(ouilmette4@sbcglobaouilm), Margo Milde (mrm1206@xxxxxxxxx) and
Michele Smith (msmith@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx).
Next, please contact your friends and members and officers of any
clubs or organizations you belong to that can help. These include dog
clubs, sportsmen's clubs, farmers' groups and firearms rights
organizations. Hunters, farmers and firearms enthusiasts know that
these kinds of laws stem from animal rights groups that also want to
eliminate hunting, raising animals for food and the right to keep and
bear arms.
It is very important to contact members of the City Council as soon
as possible. Letters sent by surface mail are the most effective,
followed by faxes and phone calls. Emails are the least effective.
Even if they are brief, personal letters are much more effective than
form letters.
Here is a link to the web pages of each of the aldermen, where you
will find contact information: http://egov.http://egov.<whttp://eg ;
webportal/portalProwebportal/pweb
programIdS6879154&channelId=channelId=&<wbr>topChannel<wbr>topCha
The American Sporting Dog Alliance represents owners, hobby breeders
and professionals who work with all breeds of dogs, and especially
with a focus on the breeds that are used for hunting. 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. Please
visit us on the web at http://www.americanhttp://www.amerihttp://w ;
Our email is ASDA@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Complete directions to join by mail
or online are found at the bottom left of each page.
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 the donations of our
members, and maintain strict independence.
PLEASE CROSS-POST AND FORWARD THIS REPORT TO YOUR FRIENDS
Have You Joined Yet?
The American Sporting Dog Alliance
http://www.americanhttp://www.amerihttp://
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