Good Article about California “Healthy Pets Act”
I mentioned when I started this that I’d get into the topics of animal rights/animal welfare. I haven’t had a lot of time to work on a coherent introduction but I haven’t forgotten about that promise. This is just a start on that subject, prompted by a good news article I read about pending legislation in California (AB 1634).
First, and most important of all, is to remember that “animal rights” is not the same as “animal welfare”. I think this is the biggest misconception out there, causing bills like the California Healthy Pets Act to be proposed and supported by well meaning people and groups. If you’re reading this blog I’m almost 100% certain that you care about animals. You’d like to see fewer animals in shelters and more loved and cared for by families. You’d never knowingly hurt an animal in your care and you probably think there should be a special place in hell for those who abuse animals. You aren’t going to be on the evening news because your home was raided and the authorities found a great horde of cats and/or dogs that are living in filthy conditions and are malnourished. At the same time, you think you and your vet should be making the decisions about what is best for your pets. You want to be able to buy a pedigreed animal from a hobby breeder. And if you’re not interested in getting a pedigree animal, you’ll adopt from a shelter.
There are a number of organizations out there (PETA and HSUS for starters) that don’t want you to be able to make your own decisions about your pets — they don’t even want you owning pets. And they are working throughout the country to push through legislation that ultimately has the goal of outlawing breeders completely. Yes, these bills generally have some clauses that on the surface will allow “good” breeders to continue, but a closer examination will reveal that the conditions and costs will almost always result in hobby breeders being unable to afford or comply with the regulations.
CA AB 1634 is one of those bills. I encourage you to go to the link and read this article:
http://news.yahoo.com:80/s/usnw/20070605/pl_usnw/_california_healthy_pets_act
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Then if you live in California, get involved in the fight against the bill. Write your senator and representative with your opposition. If you have friends or family in California, have them write. Yes, today it’s just California, but we have to fight legislation like this constantly no matter where it is.
I’ve added a link to National Animal Interest Alliance to the Resources section. If you have some time, visit their site. It’s a great site, full of information.
More to come on this in the future…