Animal rights bills pass General Assembly, VA

Animal rights bills pass General Assembly
Wytheville Enterprise Staff
Wytheville Enterprise: News >
03:14 PM
By NATE HUBBARD/Staff
The Virginia General Assembly passed a bill last week to tighten restrictions on commercial dog breeders, adding another piece of animal rights legislation to a session that saw animal welfare issues brought to the forefront of the legislative agenda.
In late February, the governing body also passed House Bill 5, which outlaws the use of gas chambers in euthanizing companion animals. In addition, the session saw the passage of a bill adding penalties to organized animal fighting activities.
Wythe County was one of the last localities in the state to stop using a gas chamber at its animal shelter.
County Administrator Cellell Dalton said Tuesday that he didn’t have the exact dates in front of him, but that the county switched to lethal injection in 2007.
The county also removed the gas chamber from the building last year.
“It’s an artifact,” Dalton said. “We realized last year that this was going to be taken away as a choice.”
When Gov. Tim Kaine signed the bill, which went into immediate application on Feb. 22, Scott County was the only remaining locality that kept gas as a method of animal euthanasia, said Lillian Clancy, one of the founders of the Virginia Voters for Animal Welfare.
Clancy’s husband, Donald Marro, said the VVAW had worked hard to get individual counties and cities to stop using their gas chambers as they waited for the General Assembly to enact the statewide ban.
“We sweated blood on that issue,” Marro said.
Marro called Wythe County “one of the stragglers” as he said only eight localities still were using gas chambers at the start of 2007.
Although those eight had dwindled to just one by the time of the bill’s passage last month, Marro said the legislation remains important as it prevents any animal shelters from reverting to the gas chamber method.
Dalton said he was happy to see the controversy surrounding the animal euthanasia issue laid to rest.
“It’s all clear, you got one choice,” he said.
Bland County was even more in the spotlight regarding last week’s passage of the bill adding new regulations to commercial dog breeders.
One of the driving forces behind the bill’s introduction was a March 2007 fire at Dogwood Kennels in Mechanicsburg that launched a controversy surrounding the conditions at the local business.
House Bill 538 was passed in its final version by the legislators on March 5 and now awaits Kaine’s signature.
The bill makes violating commercial dog breeding regulations such as waste disposal and adequate medical care a class 1 misdemeanor, punishable by a one-year jail sentence, a $2,500 fine or both.
Other requirements for breeders in the legislation include applying for a business license with their respective locality and submitting to inspections by the local animal control officer.
Pet shops also will be required to purchase their dogs from breeders licensed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Violation of the law by pet store owners is a class 1 misdemeanor offense, as well.
Bland County Administrator Jonathan Sweet said the county played no role in pushing for the passage of the bill. However, many of the regulations put into the state bill were modeled after the law Bland County passed last year.
“A lot of the issues that were brought up and considered by our Board of Supervisors were included in the legislation,” Sweet said. “Everything we did made sense.”
Although having a state regulation in place last year may have saved the county a lot of headaches from dealing with the controversy surrounding Ivan Schmucker Jr.’s desire to rebuild his kennel, Sweet said the local government can be proud of the way it handled the issue.
“The experience is invaluable,” he said. “I wouldn’t trade that experience for any easier road.”
The fire at Schmucker’s kennel and animal cruelty charges filed against Junior Horton in Carroll County helped alert the legislators to the issue, Marro said.
He added that the VVAW also has lobbied the state to pass restrictions on commercial breeders for a number of years.
“If you believe that legislation is a pro-active process, you’re going to have to go back to school,” Marro said. “This time we had Schmucker and Junior Horton to thank for helping to make our case.”
Schmucker did not return a phone message seeking comment on the bill or on his current business prospects.
After selling his remaining dogs to Best Friends Animal Society in October 2007, Schmucker said he was done with the dog breeding business and indicated that he may consider operating hunting cabins.
The house bill restricts breeders from having more than 50 dogs at least a year old at any time, although there is a provision that allows a local ordinance to permit more dogs after a public hearing.
The bill also defines commercial dog breeders as businesses that have 30 or more adult female dogs used for breeding purposes.
Based on kennel records, no remaining dog owners in Bland County would qualify as commercial breeders under the regulation, said Bland County Animal Control Officer Remona Jackson.
Bob Kane, president of the Virginia Hunting Dog Owners’ Association, said he was disappointed to see the bill pass.
“I didn’t care for the bill when it started and I didn’t care for the bill as it passed the General Assembly,” Kane said.
Kane said the bill fails to provide training for local animal control officers on how to properly inspect kennels. He also added that “adequate care” still is left largely ambiguous in the bill, meaning that the regulations will be applied differently in each county.
“It’s all going to be done on an ad-hoc basis,” he said about the inspections. “We’re going to be dealing with a patchwork of different approaches as to what accounts for ‘adequate care’ across the state.”
The bill itself states that “adequate care” means “the responsible practice of good animal husbandry, handling, production, management, confinement, feeding, watering, protection, shelter, transportation, treatment, and, when necessary, euthanasia, appropriate for the age, species, condition, size and type of the animal and the provision of veterinary care when needed to prevent suffering or impairment of health.”
There are also other definitions in the bill for things such as “adequate feed” and “adequate shelter.”
Although the bill is meant to regulate breeders only, Kane said he’s also concerned that hunting dog clubs or people that show dogs will be included in the application of the regulations created in the legislation.
“The whole thing is kind of hard to get your arms around as far as who it applies to,” he said.
After seeing the passion on both sides of the issue firsthand last year, Sweet said he just hopes the bill will help other localities around the state smoothly resolve any controversies regarding the dog breeding industry that may arise.
“We didn’t actively pursue this, but I do think it will help certain jurisdictions,” he said.
Nate Hubbard can be reached at 228-6611 or nhubbard@wythenews.com