[ SHOWGSD-L ] from Dog Law Advisory Board meeting, 12-13-06]
- From: "Ginger Cleary" <cleary1414@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Showgsd-L@Freelists. Org" <showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 28 Dec 2006 00:31:56 -0500
-----Original Message-----
Permission to crosspost was granted by the author
*Report on the Dog Law Advisory Meeting, December 13, 2006*
Well over 200 people attended the meeting in the VIP Hall of the
Agricultural Building in Harrisburg. The vast majority was Amish and
Mennonite people, both men and women, some of whom told me that they
were there to send a message to the Governor.
Governor Rendell opened the meeting with a 15 minute summary of his
reasons for calling the meeting. He told the Board that he expects them
to be advocates for the changes that are being presented and that he
wants them to generate letter writing campaigns in favor of the
proposals, both regulatory and legislative. All the Board members,
except the person representing the hunters were present. He was off
shooting clay pigeons. In addition, Senator Elect Mike Brubaker,
R-Lancaster Co, was at the table. He will be the new Chair of the
Senate Agriculture Committee. We do not know who will chair the House
Agriculture Committee since the final seat in the house is still undecided.
The Governor stated that it is not his goal to put â??puppy breeders out
of businessâ?? but he did remark that the Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement
appears to be â??undermanned and outgunnedâ??. He announced administrative
changes that will add 9 new people to the Bureau of Dog Law
Enforcement. He noted that the computer system upgrade, (which he did
not acknowledge was initiated under the previous DLAB about 2 years
ago), is complete.
He summarized the proposed regulatory changes and outlined some
Legislative initiatives which he plans to introduce. These include
Civil Penalties for licensed and unlicensed kennels , stronger penalties
for violations, provisions for seizure of dogs, requiring the accused
violator to post a bond to pay for holding his/her dogs pending the
court proceeding and a requirement of a surety bond in order to obtain a
kennel license. He also plans to initiate regulatory changes to allow
additional â??at largeâ?? members to be appointed to the DLAB but for the
moment he plans to appoint such people as a â??Citizens Advisory
Committeeâ??.
Jesse Smith, the newly appointed Special Deputy Secretary overseeing the
Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement, then reviewed the agenda and said that
the Bureau will work with regulations, legislation, enforcement and
education. She stated that there are 1500 licensed kennels in
Pennsylvania. Later in the meeting she noted that the record keeping
requirements in the regulations would probably â??not survive public
commentâ??.
Mary Bender, Director of the BDLE, reviewed the operations of the
Bureau, noting that there is a shortfall of revenue over expenses of
about $500,000. The money to cover this shortfall will come from the
restricted account. She also noted that the fund to cover damage claims
by coyotes of $20,000 was exhausted early in the summer of 2006 although
the claims continue to be filed. Later in the meeting she mentioned
that the new Kennel License renewal form will ask if the facility
complies with local zoning laws and the BDLE will notify the community
that a kennel license has been granted. We should be prepared to point
out that the kennel license (even as defined in the regulations) does
not necessarily mean that there is a physical facility â?? years ago it
was determined that the license was simply a method of licensing dogs in
groups rather than as individuals. We sought this determination because,
while many communities will allow 26 or more dogs, they do not allow
businesses in residential areas.
Board members then asked questions about the coyote situation, licensing
dogs in Philadelphia, the qualifications and responsibilities of the Dog
Wardens, more efficient issuance of licenses, grants and reimbursements
to shelters (shelters presently get $20 per stray dog delivered to their
facility) and the fees paid to the county treasurers when they sell
licenses.
DLAB members comments came from Tom Hickey (regions covered by Wardens),
Ms. Newbold (coyote damage should not be from dog law funds), Deborah
Lefko (Philadelphia dog licenses), Janet Mulwenny(coyote sheep predation
is the greatest cause of loss), Dr. Reiser (dog warden duties and
qualifications), Cindy Stark (financial shortfall), Dr. Newton (source
of funds for new hires), Larry Breech(electronic license renewals), Ms.
Bednaric (additional money collected at time of license sales), Ms.
Watson (damage reimbursements are market value less 10%), Ms West
(shelter payments), Mr. Hickey (how are increased sales of licenses
generated), Linda Lowney (Boarding kennels sell licenses), John Gibbel
(where does the DLAC fit into the process?). Cindy Miller read a
prepared statement which has been sent to the PFDC elist and will be
posted on its website. Linda Lowney remarked that it might be more
useful to have a Standard Operating Procedure required for each kennel.
She also noted that most kennel owners no longer keep paper records but
enter all data on computers. She suggested that requirements relate
form to function, since each type of kennel has different needs. Mary
Remer commented on the need for protections for small breeders. Mr.
Gibbel asked for evidence that there really is a â??puppy mill problemâ??
and asked that the problems cited be verified. Ms. Newbold asked if
stacked crates required pans separating each one form the one below â??
they do.
Senator-elect Brubaker asked how much money is in the restricted fund
and it was reported to be $15,000,000. Jesse Smith stated that fee
increases are not contemplated.
David Kennedy summarized the process which will be followed for these
proposed regulatory revisions. A rather daunting analysis of this
process is available at http://www.irrc.state.pa.us/soon.pdf
. We will try to keep everyone
informed about where we are in this process as we go along. Please
remember that personally I do not think that process is necessarily
progress.
Speakers from the floor included Shih Tzu breeder Laura Gidesko (sp),
Amy Wimmisberger (sp), Bob Yarnell (noting that the estimated fiscal
impact in the document is totally unrealistic), Ann Irwin (source of
funds for shelter grants), Jim Holt/AKC (asked if public comments be
posted during the comment period), Jonna Seaton, Larry Martz (a Beagle
breeder), Sonya Deeter (Pet dog trainer), Helen Ebersole (United Against
puppy Mills was concerned about unlicensed kennels), Shirley McClaren
(kennels should be judged by a Performance Standard),
The public Comment period will last 60 days, starting when the proposed
regulations are posted in the PA Bulletin on December 16. All comments
must be in writing (Ms. Smith reminded the DLAB that they must put all
their comments in writing also â?? I wonder what happened to keeping
minutes of the meeting?), and sent to the BDLE, 2301 N. Cameron Street,
Harrisburg, PA 17110-9408, to the attention of Mary Bender. Emails will
be accepted but should be followed by a fax or letter.
When asked about the source of the information which was used to back up
the new regulations Jesse Smith and others stated that kennel operators
had been consulted (much laughter from the audience followed this
remark), that the regulations were consistent with AWA standards, that
the Military Dog Training Manual was consulted and regulations in other
states were reviewed. A list of the licensed kennels is available on
the BDLE website.
It was noted that there is no definition of â??establishmentâ?? in the Dog
Law. There was also concern about the â??temporary housingâ?? definition,
especially as it relates to dogs which a kennel owner might co-own with
another breeder in the state. We see a serious problem with this.
The general response from the members of the DLAB and the public was
either suspicion or negative. I did not hear one single positive
comment on the proposed changes to the regulations. There was
significant polite applause for the comments made by most of the speakers.
Please forgive the many misspellings of the names and send me
corrections. You may crosspost this.
Nina Schaefer
*
*
PROPOSED RULEMAKING
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
[7 PA. CODE CHS. 21, 23, 25 AND 27]
Dog Law Enforcement
[36 Pa.B. 7596]
[Saturday, December 16, 2006]
http://www.pabulletin.com/secure/data/vol36/36-50/2452.html
§ 21.14. Kennel licensure provisions.
(ii) An establishment that utilizes temporary homes and meets the
threshold criteria of keeping, harboring, boarding, sheltering,
selling, giving away or in any way transferring a cumulative total of
26 or more dogs of any age in any 1 calendar year shall obtain a
kennel license, provide tags for the dogs in the temporary homes and
maintain records meeting the criteria established in paragraph (5).
The establishments shall be considered under the category established
by paragraph (5)(iii)(B), regarding boarding kennel class I through
boarding kennel class III and nonprofit kennel licensees. In
addition, the records must set forth the location of each temporary
home at which establishment dogs are kept, harbored, boarded,
sheltered, sold, given away or in any way transferred, a description
of each dog, a cumulative total of dogs housed at each temporary
establishment, and the date each dog was transferred to the temporary
home. Each temporary home utilized by the establishment shall be
treated as a separate kennel location. All temporary homes shall be
subject to inspection by the Department.
(iii) A temporary home that keeps, harbors, boards, shelters,
sells, gives away or in any way transfers a cumulative total of 26 or
more dogs of any age in any 1 calendar year becomes a kennel and
shall meet the kennel licensure requirements of the act and this
chapter.
(iv) An establishment or temporary home that does not keep,
harbor, board, shelter, sell, give away or in any way transfer a
cumulative total of 26 or more dogs in any 1 calendar year, shall
adhere to the individual licensure requirements in sections 201--205
of the act (3 P. S. §§ 459-201--459-205) or each dog shall display
the kennel tags of the licensed kennel for which the dogs are being
kept as required in subparagraph (ii).
----------------------------------------
Ginger Cleary - Rome, GA www.rihadin.com
"It is not the function of our Government to keep the citizen from falling
into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the Government from
falling into error."United States Supreme Court, American Communications
Association v. Douds, 339 US 382 (1950)
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