Permission given to cross post WIDELY!!!!!!!!.
>
>This article is written by Joyce Miller of Dallas, Texas. Be sure
>to read the last line a second time.
>Joanne
>
>
>Right now, animal rights people have fanned out across the country to
>make what got tabled in California happen city by city, town by town,
>state by state. The approach is to local animal services organization;
>the agenda is new animal laws that will have a startling effect on our
>ability to enjoy our dogs. The AR volunteers work within the animal
>services in city after city, town after town, to get a proposed law
>put together that is extreme to say the least, and they can do all of
>this within animal services without worrying about open meeting laws.
>After all, the AR people are simply volunteers helping the staff. By
>the time a community gets any inkling that these laws are about to hit
>the stage, it's just about too late to stop them. At the most, people
>try to get some of the most severe terms relaxed.
>Right now, there is a law proposed in Florida to make collecting
>animal semen illegal.
>Now that I have your attention, let me share with you what is
>currently being recommended in Dallas, what Animal Services and the
>City Council are assuming will be law by the end of the month, and to
>date, nothing in the local newspapers, the local news programs, or
>even a copy of the actual proposed law. Unlike San Antonio, the
>previous last city to fall to these tactics, the AKC kennel club
>registered in Dallas, the Texas Kennel Club, has hired an animal
>lawyer to help them fight this legislation. But to date, without any
>news coverage, very few residents know what is about to happen and how
>it will affect their enjoyment of their dogs.
>1. Pet limits. Dallas has never had limits on the number of pets a
>resident may own. As with most communities, there are plenty of laws
>on the books that can handle households that have too many pets that
>are creating a neighborhood nuisance or constituting cruelty to
>animals. Under the proposed new laws, the limit will be either five or
>six pets (no one seems able to get a consistent reading on the
>number). That is dogs, cats or combination in a single family home.
>2. Mandatory spay neuter by four months of age. Owner of unspayed or
>unneutered dogs and cats over 4 months of age commits an offense if
>the owner does not have a Breeder Permit issued annually for each
>individual animal. (Only dog and cat show breeders qualify for this
>permit). Owner cannot have a say in their dog being put under
>anesthesia, being made a perennial puppy by losing the hormones needed
>for balanced growth of body and mind, etc.
>3. Breeder permits/licenses (and the only article that has mentioned
>anything about this law was a quote by the acting director of animal
>services, a man who has won an award of some kind of merit from PeTA:
>in that article, this man stated that he would not allow any breeder
>permits in residential neighborhoods). So what will a breeder license
>look like in Dallas if the law is passed without changes. It appears
>that there will be:
>A. Breeder permit/license to keep an intact dog or cat. Breeders
>can apply to Animal Services for a breeder permit/license. Such
>applications must be approved by the director of Animal Services.
>B. Each dog or cat approved for a permit must be registered with
>a national registry (approved by the animal services director) AND
>whose owner is a member of a purebred dog or cat club (also approved
>by the animal services director). The club must have a code of ethics
>restricting breeding dogs and cats with genetic defects and life
>threatening health problems for approval.
>C.The breeder permit will be $500 annually for EACH intact
>animal; the animal's license will be an additional fee.
>D. This permit will not be available to any other pet owner. And
>as mentioned above, it is unlikely that the current Animal Services
>administration will allow any of these permits/licenses in residential
>neighborhoods. This means that sports people, performance people, SAR
>people, hunting people will have to have their animals neutered.
>E. Anyone who gets a breeder permit agrees that Animal Services
>has the right to send in someone to make unannounced inspections of
>their premises at any time and the breeders must admit them.
>F.. No one else can legally breed animals in Dallas.
>4. No tethering of any dogs if the owner is not present.
>5. Confined dogs must have crates or runs or pens that meet
>confinement requirements of 150 feet pen size per dog
>6. Foster Care Providers must obtain a form from the director to apply
>for a permit (notarized by the legal owner and one occupant of the
>dwelling unit) to keep up to 10 dogs, cats or any combination which
>authorizes unannounced inspections of premises and this permit must be
>approved by the director.
>When I first read these proposed ideas, I thought that they were
>making them so outrageous so they would have wiggle room in order to
>reduce things like the permit fee for breeders etc. But given the fact
>that hearings are going into their second week (only on Wednesdays),
>there has been no media coverage, and proponents are saying that they
>expect these to be law by the end of the month, I suspect that the
>final law could be quite close to what is outlined above.
>The first that I heard about it was in March, and I heard about it
>from two people who are very involved with the kennel club and with
>getting people to attend hearings. No cost assessments/analyses have
>been done. Animal Services is currently underfunded, and the mayor has
>made it clear that there will be no increase in their funding for
>these laws.
>So, here we are discussing different ways of training, recognizing the
>work that goes into having an obedience or agility champion, knowing
>what the dogs need maturity to participate in any serious sport or
>work, and all the while, across the country, more and more of these
>laws are becoming law with little or no fanfare.
>Here in Dallas, the proponents are saying that this will solve the
>problem of loose dogs breeding randomly, but the only people that will
>be caught up are the residential breeders whose dogs never run loose
>and never breed randomly. With the requirement that a breeder belong
>to a breed club approved by animal services, this is also meant to do
>away with mixed breeds.
>Do, please, check out what may be happening in your city or town, and
>be ready to fight for your right to decide when and if your dog will
>be neutered, the right of careful breeders to breed to their breed
>standards, etc. Dallas breeders and animal lovers are making a valiant
>effort, and they are grateful for the help of the Texas Kennel Club,
>but this is very, very serious. And it sounds like it will come to a
>city or town near you.

(jan cooper) jan4rott@rott-n-chatter.com
www.rott-n-chatter.com/laws/breedspecific.html
The OLDEST BSL site in the world
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The Lord will never give us more than he knows we can bear..