[ SHOWGSD-L ] FWD: ASDA Report to Dog Owners
- From: Stormy435@xxxxxxx
- To: showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 18 Oct 2008 15:18:54 EDT
My purpose is forwarding this is for everybody to see how widespread the
efforts of the Animal Rights groups are in the U.S. This report is way over
the
top in self congratulations, and that bothers me no end. So as you read it,
remember that ASDA was a PART of much of what they appear to be taking as a
WHOLE. Thanks.
Stormy
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
American Sporting Dog Alliance
October 2008 Newsletter
http://www.americansportingdogalliance.org
asda@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Dog Owners Stare Down HSUS And PETA
The American Sporting Dog Alliance has been at the forefront of
defending dog owners' rights this year in 12 states and federally in
the face of powerful challenges from extremely well funded and
organized animal rights groups.
Thus far, we have won 10 victories, suffered one defeat, and also
won two partial victories that fell short of our goals. The jury is
still out in three states and on one federal bill. We are preparing
for battle in six additional states and the November elections, and
we have provided assistance to local groups in eight other states.
In every battle, we have been significantly outgunned in money and
manpower by radical animal rights groups such as the Humane Society
of the United States (HSUS) and People for the Ethical Treatment of
Animals (PETA). HSUS, PETA and their allies poured millions of
dollars, thousands of staff hours and hundreds of volunteers into
many of these battles, but dog owners were equal to the challenge.
We won far more often than we lost.
The American Sporting Dog Alliance has refined a strategy that has
proven to be very effective:
· Research the issues. Find out the facts and counter the
fabrications of the animal rights groups with the truth. Give dog
owners the ammunition they need to communicate with elected
officials.
· Reach out to thousands of dog owners with our reports,
encourage them to take action as citizens, and let them know how
they can do it. We have done this through our email database, which
now has more than 75,000 email addresses of dog owners, and also
through posting on more than 300 message boards. We believe our
reports now reach well over 125,000 dog owners around the country.
We want to double this number over the coming year.
· Our outreach plan concentrates on locating dog owners who
are not affiliated with existing organizations and who are not
already politically active on animal rights issues. We estimate that
less than one percent of America's dog owners are politically active
on animal rights issues. Rather than preaching to the choir, we
focus on finding and involving the "silent majority" of dog owners.
· We develop local leadership teams in each state, county or
city where we work. We believe local people should call the shots
and make the decision, and see ourselves in a supportive role to
assist them in any way we can. We also have put together strong
teams of attorneys and veterinarians to serve local groups as
consultants and advisors on the issues.
· We reach out to existing groups that have many dog owners
among their membership. These include sportsmen's clubs, firearms
rights advocacy groups, field trial clubs, show clubs, performance
clubs, breed clubs, animal rescue groups, local animal welfare
groups, and farmers' organizations.
· We also work with existing state, local and national dog
owners' organizations, and offer our assistance to any group that
fights to protect the rights of dog owners. We regard our work as
complimentary to the efforts of existing groups and always offer to
work collaboratively with them.
· And we form positive relationships with many elected
officials on the local, state and federal level. Our goal is to
develop open lines of communication with public officials in order
to help them to fully understand the issues and the views of their
constituents.
Here is a summary of the work we have done this year, beginning with
pending issues. If you would like more information on any of these
issues or want to help us work toward defeating them, please contact
us at asda@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Federal Legislation
We did groundbreaking research on the recently introduced Puppy
Uniform Protection Statute, or "PUPS." Our research exposed HSUS
lies about this legislation in their reports to Congress and to the
public, and our analysis was sent to our entire database to give dog
owners a way to take action.
This legislation, H.R. 6949 and S. 3519, is sponsored by animal
rights sympathizers Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Rep. Sam Farr (D-
CA). We expect them to push for passage in the "lame duck" session
following the November election.
HSUS and the sponsors claim that the bill would affect only people
who sell more than 50 puppies or dogs a year. This simply isn't
true, and they know it.
In fact, the legislation requires federal licensure for anyone who
raises 50 dogs a year, which includes many kennels that do not do
any breeding. Most professional trainers and handlers of field
trial, show, obedience or performance dogs would have more than 50
dogs in their kennels over the course of a year. In fact, many
trainers and handlers who employ helpers would have more than 50
dogs at any given time, and most do not breed at all. A boarding
kennel, dog daycare service, hound hunt club, hunting plantation or
circus could be included under a definition that they "raise" more
than 50 dogs per year.
Earlier this year, we worked to defeat an amendment to the Farm Bill
by Sen. Durbin that would have required virtually anyone who raises
a litter of puppies to be federally licensed and inspected.
Chicago and Illinois
We are working with a very strong team of local people in Chicago to
defeat two planned ordinances that would devastate everyone who
raises dogs there.
One proposed ordinance mandates the forced sterilization of dogs and
cats in Chicago and provides draconian rules for "dangerous" dogs.
The second ordinance defines virtually anyone who raises dogs as
a "pet retailer" and subjecting them to expensive licensing,
inspections and intensive regulation.
In response, we have done groundbreaking research about Chicago
animal shelters, dog bite statistics, dog fighting and the animal
rights group ties of people who support the ordinance. Our research
has shown conclusively that Chicago animal shelters have done a
tremendous job, and virtually no healthy and adoptable dogs are
euthanized in the entire metropolitan area. We also have shown that
the incidence of dog bites has dropped dramatically, and that dog
fighting is not a significant problem in the city.
Our local team of activists has been very successful in gaining
support from the Chicago and statewide associations of
veterinarians, many people involved in the rescue movement, animal
shelter leaders and other animal welfare professionals.
However, they need your help as these ordinances near formal
introduction in City Council. We are urging Chicagoans and area
residents to volunteer their assistance. Please contact us at
asda@xxxxxxxxxxxx or our Chicago team: Michele Smith
(msmith@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx), Karen Perry (ouilmette4@xxxxxxxxxxxxx) and
Margo Milde (mrm1206@xxxxxxxxx). Your assistance is vital!
The Chicago ordinances are the tip of a very large iceberg. HSUS
has named a new Illinois statewide director, and also has opened an
office in Wisconsin. We also are receiving reports that HSUS has
begun a "puppy mill" campaign in Indiana.
Dog owners in all of those states can expect serious HSUS-sponsored
animal rights legislation in the coming months. We know that
Illinois will face a possible puppy "lemon law" in the very near
future, which will make breeders liable for complaints by puppy
buyers. Some "lemon law" legislation is fair, but other proposals
are aimed at conscientious breeders by making it too risky to sell a
puppy.
Massachusetts
Animal rights groups have played every dirty political trick in the
books to gain rapid consideration of devastating legislation by
bypassing the normal legislative review process.
HB 5092 mandates spaying or neutering of all dogs in the state that
don't meet the almost impossible requirements for an exemption,
proposes a $500 annual license fee for all intact dogs that can gain
an exemption, refuses to recognize dogs from many registries such as
the Field Dog Stud Book (America's oldest registry), allows
seizures, forced sterilization and euthanasia of dogs for even one
minor animal control law violation, bans tethering, and paves the
way to ban specific breeds of dogs.
These provisions would destroy the breeding of purebred dogs in the
state.
The Massachusetts legislature's Joint Commission on Municipalities
and Regional Government has set an October 23 hearing on House Bill
5092. We are organizing dog owners to voice vigorous opposition.
Ohio
If it were not for the possibility of political dirty tricks, we
could declare victory on three different pieces of Ohio legislation.
However, we know that animal rights groups rely on political dirty
tricks to accomplish their hidden agenda that leads to the
elimination of animal ownership in America.
Working with the Ohio Valley Dog Owners Association and the newly
forming Ohio Federation of Dog Clubs, we have been able to stop all
three bills in the Legislature as the current session expired.
However, the Legislature has scheduled several weeks of a "lame
duck" session following the November election, and these sessions
are when much political mischief occurs. Controversial legislation
often passes during "lame duck" sessions, as many elected officials
will not be returning to office in January and the rest of them will
not face re-election for at least two years.
We have worked in Ohio to block breed-specific legislation, and also
HB 223 (SB 173), which would destroy the breeding of purebred dogs
in the state. In the House, we failed to stop HB 446, which creates
many harmful animal control measures, but thus far we have been able
to stall it in the Senate.
All three bills are dead if the Legislature doesn't do anything in
the "Lame Duck" session. But anything can happen in "Lame Duck"
sessions.
Thus, we are urging dog owners to exercise extreme vigilance. Also,
we will make the identities of elected officials who support these
three bills available to Ohio voters prior to the election. Please
contact us to help at asda@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
We are deeply indebted to our Ohio leadership team, which includes
veterinarian Lori Hunt and volunteers Becky Dunlap and Kendra Anne
Bobulski. All three of these volunteers have worked very hard for
Ohio dog owners, and their efforts have played a major role in
helping us to reach dog owners in California, New Mexico, New York,
Massachusetts, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Pennsylvania. Both
also have been active in helping to form the new Ohio Federation,
and we have lent this group our entire Ohio database.
No one has contributed more to the fight to preserve the rights of
dog owners than Ms. Dunlap and Ms. Bobulski. They truly are heroes.
Also in Ohio, we have been very active in helping field trialers to
maintain their use of public lands.
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania is our home state, and terrible animal rights
legislation in 2006-2007 was a major factor in the formation of the
American Sporting Dog Alliance.
Since then, we have been uncompromising and relentless in our
efforts to protect Pennsylvania dog owners from animal rights
legislation aimed at destroying us. It has been an uphill battle, as
Gov. Ed Rendell has fully embraced the animal rights agenda.
HB 2525 was signed into law last week. It regulates commercial
kennels, and also sets the regulatory and law enforcement framework
for regulating all kennels and dogs in Pennsylvania. While we remain
opposed to several parts of this law, we also played the leading
role in making it much better than Rendell's initial proposal.
We kept fighting long after all other dog owners' groups took
positions of varying degrees of "non-opposition" to the legislation.
Our success can be measured in several crucial Senate amendments to
the legislation that were made after other dog owners' organizations
quit fighting.
That success was noteworthy because, to our knowledge, it was the
first time ever that animal rights legislation was significantly
improved because it infringed on the Bill or Rights and the federal
and state Constitutions. This was the major thrust of our objections.
The Senate amendments completely addressed all of our constitutional
concerns, and several senators have credited us with making them
aware of these issues.
We also played the leading role in stopping HB 2532, which would
have imposed untenable restrictions on breeders who dock tails or
clip dewclaws on newborn puppies, which is standard practice
worldwide. This bill also maintained prohibitions against ear
cropping.
The American Sporting Dog Alliance was the only dog owners'
organization to vigorously oppose HB 2532 from the beginning.
Because of our concerns, the Senate allowed HB 2532 to die.
We expect that Rendell will introduce very tough dog and kennel
regulations next year, as well as other kinds of animal rights
legislation. To help, please join and support our Pennsylvania team
by contacting us at asda@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Also in Pennsylvania, we fought to maintain the grouse study area
near State College, and advocated for effective land management for
wildlife on grouse trial grounds in the Allegheny National Forest
near Marienville.
California
California has been a battleground state this year, and HSUS and
PETA threw everything they had into several key battles.
We won. They lost. Period.
The biggest victory was the total and complete defeat of AB 1634. We
worked with several excellent California organizations to help to
defeat the original bill, which would have mandated the forced
sterilization of all dogs and cats. Then we helped to defeat amended
versions that would have turned animal rights activists into
vigilantes, and a later version that would have given frightening
power to animal control and animal cruelty officers.
Our efforts injected the voices of thousands of dog owners into this
debate, and it convinced the state Senate to defeat this legislation
by a wide margin.
We wish to thank our advisory board members Mike Spies, veterinarian
Dr. Charles Hjerpe and attorney Tom Griffin for their invaluable
assistance.
Our research and outreach to dog owners also played a major role in
the defeat of spay and neuter mandates in Kern and Santa Barbara
Counties.
The Kern County supervisors rejected a spay/neuter mandate outright.
We made them aware of the results of our investigations into their
shelter and animal control system.
In Santa Barbara County, the supervisors rejected a mandate and
appointed a committee to study non-mandatory measures following our
reports about the facts of the issue and active involvement by our
local team of Susan Sakauye and Allison Iwamoto, and the valiant
efforts of the local kennel club.
However, animal rights extremists are now trying to take over the
committee and exclude participation by dog owners and dog ownership
advocates. The chairman is veterinarian Ron Faoro. Faoro, and animal
rights extremist who was discredited by the state association of
veterinarians for falsely claiming their endorsement of AB 1634, is
now trying to bring back mandatory measures to the committee,
despite the supervisors' directive.
Please contact us to take an active role in the Santa Barbara
situation, at asda@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
We also are offering our support to groups that are trying to
overturn the Los Angeles mandatory spay/neuter ordinance in court,
and our upcoming research reports will detail the most extreme
possible form of animal rights fanaticism in the sheltering system
in Los Angeles.
Other States
· New York - Our research and outreach efforts derailed a
sneak attack by animal rights group supporters in the Legislature to
make hobby dog breeders into highly regulated "pet dealers." This
legislation, which also would have affected professional trainers,
handlers and others, was killed in committee following a massive
outcry from dog owners.
· Michigan - We joined forces with statewide groups to stop HB
6395 in its tracks. Our reports and outreach efforts contributed
strongly to an outpouring of opposition from dog owners, which
caused the sponsor to kill this legislation.
· Oklahoma - We played the lead role in derailing devastating
kennel legislation that would have destroyed the hobby breeding of
purebred dogs. We also joined forces with farm and ranch
organizations, and key legislators, that will be an effective
defense against future animal rights legislation. Our reports
exposed the fraudulent journalism in the Tulsa newspaper that was
nothing more than animal rights propaganda.
· Wisconsin - We backed up great statewide organizations to
defeat kennel, breeding and "lemon law" legislation that would have
destroyed hobby breeding. Our outreach efforts yielded hundreds of
letters to legislators from dog owners, as well as numerous personal
contacts. However, we expect this legislation to be back again next
year, and are urging Wisconsin dog owners to maintain extreme
vigilance.
· Dallas - We lost a major fight in Dallas, with the enactment
of a tough spay/neuter mandate. If Pennsylvania proves that some
elected officials will listen to logic and reason, Dallas proves
that some will not. We conclusively proved that the forces behind
this ordinance represent a takeover of community groups by radical
PETA and HSUS activists. We also conclusively proved that shelter
statistics do not show a need for this ordinance, and also that
existing leash laws are the answer to roaming dogs. But a majority
on City Council refused to listen to the facts, and several council
members were clearly animal rights group sympathizers. With 20-20
hindsight, the error we made was that local leadership failed to
fully reach out to Black, Hispanic and low-income neighborhoods,
whose representatives on Council formed the key swing votes to
decide the issue. Instead, dog ownership advocates were pigeonholed
as elitists and as a small minority in the city. The good news is
that the Texas Rifle Association did a great job in Dallas, and have
proven to be a staunch ally of animal owners.
· Texas - We are working with Texas groups to overturn
spay/neuter mandates in Dallas, San Antonio and Houston, and also to
defeat expected 2009 state legislation from an energized animal
rights group constituency.
· Connecticut - We stopped statewide mandatory spay/neuter
legislation in its tracks. The proposed sponsor killed the bill when
dog owners created a firestorm. We also discredited and neutralized
a task force to link animal abuse and domestic violence, which would
have imposed the animal rights agenda in schools, the criminal
justice system and social service agencies. We also won a great ally
in Gov. Jody Rell.
· Virginia - Working with several great statewide groups, we
were able to help improve kennel legislation in Virginia
significantly to exclude most sporting kennels. We are now assisting
statewide groups in a state study that could lead to severe
restrictions on hunting with hounds.
· Next Projects - Our agenda includes expanded efforts to help
stop bad kennel laws and zoning ordinances in New Jersey, kennel
laws in Maine, and spay/neuter mandates in Arizona, New Mexico and
Nevada. We also plan to offer additional assistance to Florida
groups that are trying to overturn spay/neuter mandates in Volusia
and Palm Beach Counties, and to stop destructive ordinances in
several other counties.
We Need You!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The American Sporting Dog Alliance needs you!
In fact, we can't do our job without you.
We need you to volunteer to help.
We need your leadership.
We need your donations.
We need your ideas.
We need your commitment.
Without you, we will fail. With your support, we will continue to
beat back challenges from animal rights groups and protect the
rights of dog owners.
The challenges we will face in the coming year are extreme. Inaction
and apathy won't cut it anymore.
The American Sporting Dog Alliance represents owners, breeders and
professionals who work with breeds of dogs that are used for
hunting. We welcome people who work with other breeds, too, 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 the donations of our
members, and maintain strict independence.
Please visit us on the web at
http://www.americansportingdogalliance.org. Our email is
ASDA@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Complete directions to join by mail or online are
found at the bottom left of each page.
PLEASE CROSS-POST AND FORWARD THIS REPORT TO YOUR FRIENDS
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