Here's what I've drafted so far. Feel free to use it in any way you see
fit.

********************************

Please oppose HB 1570, a bill to make spay and neuter of most dogs and cats
mandatory in the Commonwealth of Virgina. This bill is based on a
fundamentally-flawed concept that has never worked anywhere and cannot be
fixed by amendments.

Mandatory spay/neuter laws for dogs and cats has been imposed in numerous
jurisdictions across America already. Despite claims to the contrary,
these laws have always been failures. There is no example of a mandatory
spay/neuter law that has reduced shelter intake or euthanasia rates, though
proponents try to spin the numbers and claim otherwise. These laws have
instead increased costs to cash-strapped governments, with no public
benefit.

Santa Cruz County, CA saw its animal control costs double since its
mandatory spay/neuter law went into effect. While held up as an example of
success, Santa Cruz County's shelter impounds and euthanasia rates are no
better and in some cases worse than those in neighboring counties that
don't have mandatory spay/neuter laws.

San Mateo County, CA had the nation's first mandatory spay/neuter law. It
is as a "disappointment" by its biggest backer, the Peninsula Humane
Society. The PHS learned from experience that mandatory spay/neuter laws
don't work, so they do not support a law that would impose it statewide in
California.

Los Angeles saw their animal control costs increase by 269% after they
passed a spay/neuter mandate. They still kill tens of thousands of dogs
and cats each year.

Like other mandatory spay/neuter bills, Virginia HB 1570 is written in such
a way to make it appear on the surface to have reasonable exclusions, when
it does not.

In HB 1570, it's not the owner of a dog or cat would have to satisfy an
exemption, but rather the breeder of this dog or cat who has to provide the
documented proof. The bill's exemptions are all based not on whether you
are a responsible pet owner, but rather what kind of breeder your dog or
cat came from. If your breeder doesn't provide this intrusive and
unprecedented proof that they are one of the breeders HB 1570 recognizes,
or doesn't do it to the satisfaction of your local Animal Control
authorities, you will be required to spay/neuter your dog or cat.

It is fundamentally wrong to make your dog or cat subject to mandatory
surgery depending on what kind of breeder you got your dog or cat from.

It is fundamentally unworkable to make your rights dependent on your
breeder having to provide unprecedented proof that your dog or cat should
be eligible for an exemption to forced sterilization.

HB 1570 provides for exemptions for dogs and cats that were bred by a
"hobby breeder", "breed improver", or "fancier breeder" that on the surface
that appear reasonable. But they fall apart on closer inspection.

A "hobby breeder" can only breed one litter. After that, the exclusion
wouldn't apply. Serious and responsible hobby breeding involves more than
a one time litter.

A "fancier breeder" has to be able to prove they show in certain sanctioned
dog or cat shows on a regular basis. What's "regular"? Every
single weekend? It might be, if your an ACO looking to wiggle around this
one. Anyway, it wouldn't apply to the vast majority of responsible
breeders, since most don't participate in these shows on anybody's
definition of a regular basis, if ever.

A "breed improver" breeder has to be able to prove they don't derive income
from breeding. Does the breeder of your dog or cat give
all of her pups or kittens away for free? If not, she is deriving income
from breeding and your dog or cat would not meet this exemption. In a
large majority of cases, responsible breeders have costs that exceed
breeding income. But that makes no difference with respect to this bill,
since it's not "net income" or "profits" that the bill mentions, but just
"income".

This bill could potentially be amended to add "net" in front of "income" so
that it is clear that only dogs and cats produced by "breed
improver" breeders who make a profit are impacted. But this won't work
either. How are you supposed to prove that the breeder of your puppy or
kitten doesn't derive profits from their breeding program? Short of you
turning over to your ACO the audited financial records of your breeder's
breeding program, nothing could prove this. This is unworkable.

The odds are high that many animal control managers won't believe any
breeder who says they lose money on breeding. This point has been argued
without success hundreds of thousands of times. Many of those who would be
empowered to decide if your dog or cat gets spared from forced
sterilization commonly use the phrase "greedy breeders" or "greeders" not
to describe puppy millers, but ALL breeders. These argue vehemently that
there is no such thing as responsible breeding. They are captives of
ideology, immune to facts.

Finally, why should it matter? Whether or not your breeder turns a profit
should not determine whether your dog or cat can keep its reproductive
organs. Surgery for your dog or cat should always be your decision, in
consultation with your veterinarian.

Surgery is a serious medical decision. As the American Veterinary Medical
Assocation said in a recent report on the question of whether dogs and cats
should be spayed or neutered "Pets should be considered individually, with
the understanding that for these pets, population control is a less
important concern than is health of each animal." * This report lists the
many adverse health affects associated with spay and neuter, including
increased risks of bone cancer, prostate cancer, hemangiosarcoma,
orthopedic disorders, hypothyroidism, urinary tract cancers, obesity,
urinary incontinence, and adverse reactions to vaccines. As this AVMA
report says, risks and benefits must be weighed against each other, on a
case by case basis, with the needs of the individual patient determining
the decision. Not a government mandate.

Rather than impose a strategy such as mandatory spay/neuter that has failed
everywhere it has been attempted, the Commonwealth of Virgina should
leverage the success that Charlotteville, VA has had in its animal
shelters. This is the No Kill Equation as advanced by the No Kill
Advocacy Center. Charlottesville, VA is saving 92% of the dogs and cats
admitted to its open admissions shelter, making it a leader in nation that
routinely kills 50% of dogs and cats admitted. This success can only be
accomplished when animal lovers within a community work cooperatively to
save lives. This cooperative spirit has never occurred, and cannot occur,
when government attempts to impose draconian spay/neuter mandates on dog
and cat owners. These laws divide the community of animal lovers, and
make No Kill success impossible.

I urge that HB 1570 be withdrawn or defeated. It cannot be fixed by
amendments.

[your signature]

* Kustritz MV. Determining the optimal age for gonadectomy of dogs and
cats. J Am Vet Med Assoc. 2007 Dec 1;231(11):1665-75.