We don’t need more legislation for every single scenario in the world. Education is the best answer. If they want to put it into the DMV handbook, fine, but I don’t need someone to legislate how my dog will ride in my car. I’m a responsible person – my dog rides in the back in a bed I’ve made for her. As a responsible person, I’m sick of people like you telling me that I have to harness my dog because one in 2,000,000 people might have an accident because they are irresponsible.

I am a student at De Anza College in Cupertino, CA. For our final project in our English class, we had to choose an active bill and track it’s progress. Being an animal rights supporter and a vegetarian for the last five years, I was very intrigued by AB 2098, the bill to protect nonambulatory animals. Like you, I support the bill, and believe animals in slaughterhouses need much more protection and care than they receive.

I believe this bill should be passed, as animals do not deserve to live in pain while diseased and suffering. It is a small solace to know the animal will be euthanized or humanely killed (as if there is such a thing.)

If it were up to me, slaughterhouses would not exist at all. I believe this bill is a small step in the right direction, and could hopefully open our societies eyes to the unspeakable amount of cruelty these animals endure.

If you’d like more information on the meat industry, slaughterhouses, or to learn how to change your lifestyle to become more kind to animals, visit http://www.goveg.com

Thank you,
Cara Favilla

I tried “growing” a spring salad once using a friend’s theory regarding the cultivation of a Mesclun garden. My plan was to harvest a tasty selection of vegetables. Unfortunately, whatever it was that was fermenting made that portion of my yard smell like a site for hazardous waste.

I definitely succeeded in keeping deer and aphids away. Cats, on the other hand, were in paradise. When I looked at fish emulsion, and other blends of vegetable fertilization, as alternative fragrances (for the garden), I knew that I had to destroy what apparently was turning into the equivalent of a chemical imbalance.

Oddly enough, I don’t recall planting lettuce amongst this group of botanical infestation… Maybe I will try it again. I am now wiser. (Translation: I have a gardener.).

Ms. Eisnitz has pretty much awakened me to the taste varieties of lettuce.

The bill, as it is written, doesn’t provide for real exemptions for show dogs. I show dogs and know enough to know how impossible the standards are. Also, each county would be able to make their independent decisions about which “valid” dog registries (or cat registries) they will recognize. Most counties (including Contra Costa) don’t issue breeder permits, so that’s a myth. Which means, you have to breed enough to qualify for a federal permit, which means enough to qualify as a commercial breeder. THAT means that you can’t raise a litter in your home – all facilities have to be at least 200 yards from where people live. So, you get unsocialized puppies instead of pups raised in a loving hobby breeeder’s living room. Hobby breeders don’t make money as it is. They’ll just quit in California and your choice will be to get a pup from a puppy mill (you won’t realize it, but that’s where it’ll come from).

Hobby breeders follow their pups for life, are there for you when you have questions, when your pup has a behavior problem, etc. Who will you call for your puppy mill pup? The shelter? Good luck to you then.

I include the above quote because it applies so well in the case of Mandatory Spay/Neuter laws.

The proponents of Mandatory Spay/Neuter state that this policy will save money. However, everywhere this type of legislation has been tried, governments have experienced the opposite effect. Furthermore, the common sense test should be applied here. If a lowering of euthanasia rates will lead to a savings in the Animal Control budgets, why have we seen no evidence of it thus far? Euthanasia rates have been dropping steadily over the past 30 years. For instance, in California, rates are down by 59% over just the past 10 years (according to the State’s statistics), yet Animal Control costs continue to go up. The discrepancies in facts just don’t add up for the proponents of Mandatory Spay/Neuter.

Mandatory Spay/Neuter is the most recent in a string of anti-dog legislation by the Animal Rights activists who seek to end the ownership of animals. It is an extremist agenda and an impractical one.

And what will be accomplished with Mandatory Spay/Neuter? Puppy millers will increase their market share and the people looking for pets will be forced to buy from these unscrupulous producers of unhealthy and inferior dogs and cats. The influx of illegally smuggled puppies and kittens from Mexico will increase – yet another source of unhealthy pets for consumers left with nowhere else to turn because the ethical hobby breeder will have been outlawed by Mandatory Spay/Neuter, while puppy mills are provided the first exemption under that bill. The unintended consequence will be a windfall for puppy and kitten mills, thereby promoting these inhumane businesses.

The proponents of early spay/neuter completely ignore the long-term health consequences for dogs from this surgery. Spaying/neutering at an extremely young age has been shown to increase the risks of bone cancer, certain heart cancers and skeletal injuries such as ACL and CCL ligament tears. Please feel free to check the veracity of that statement by reading the report found at this link: http://www.naiaonline.org/pdfs/LongTermHealthEffectsOfSpayNeuterInDogs.pdf

In summary, Mandatory Spay/Neuter laws are unhealthy for pets, financially detrimental to the families who own pets and will be financially negative for any jurisdiction which passes such a law due to loss of revenue from the dog and cat shows. Mandatory Spay/Neuter laws are a bad bargain and you should not make it.

Pat in Antioch