AKC Sells Out Dog Owners

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AKC Sells Out Dog Owners

Withdraws Opposition to California’s AB 1634,
Which Remains Dangerous To All Pet Owners

by JOHN YATES
American Sporting Dog Alliance
http://www.americansportingdogalliance.org
asda@csonline.net

SACRAMENTO, CA – The American Kennel Club Board of Directors voted unanimously this week to withdraw its opposition to legislation that will wreak havoc on California dog owners and set a dangerous precedent for many other states to follow.

It is urgent for all California dog owners to fax their state senator immediately to clearly state your continued opposition to AB 1634, which is now called the “California Responsible Pet Ownership Act,” as a final Senate vote is expected on Monday, August 18. Please let your senator know that AKC does not speak for you.

It also is urgent for dog owners in all 50 states to contact AKC officers today and ask them to publicly renounce this legislation prior to the Senate vote. It also is appropriate for nonresidents to let elected officials know what this legislation will mean for tourism, field trials, performance events and field trials.

If passed into law, this legislation will unleash a reign of terror against California dog owners by animal rights activists. The result could be the destruction of a lifetime labor of love for any fancier who is accused of any violation of any law pertaining to animals. For example, the amended legislation allows for unproven allegations to result in the forced sterilization of every dog in a kennel after three complaints for barking or noise.

Animal rights extremists will find it easy to destroy an entire kennel through noise ordinances alone. It’s easy to make dogs bark, especially when their owners are not at home. All that it would take is a phone call to complain to authorities for the civil penalties to kick in. All of the dogs in a kennel would have to be spayed or neutered after the third time this happens. It is a dream scenario for animal rights fanatics.

As with previous versions of the legislation, dog owners will be denied the right to contest civil penalties in court or to appeal them. No provisions are contained in the legislation to require a hearing or allow for an appeal. Civil penalties apply when a citation is filed.

The AKC negotiated in secret with Rep. Lloyd Levine and agreed to a “compromise” on AB 1634, which continues to be staunchly opposed by virtually all kennel clubs and dog owners’ organizations in the state. Levine is allied with some of the most radical animal rights groups in California, and has stated publicly that he wants to see almost every dog and cat in the state spayed or neutered.

In cutting the deal with Levine, AKC slapped the face of every member of its affiliated clubs in California and signaled a willingness to work against the interests and beliefs of dog owners nationwide.

As justification for the deal, an AKC announcement said the legislation simply requires dog owners to follow the law and be responsible. The American Sporting Dog Alliance rejects this position, because current laws already address animal control problems and mandate penalties for noncompliance. There is no reason to make owners of intact animals into second-class citizens by imposing a double penalty and endangering their dogs.

Perhaps the greatest error committed by AKC was to create division and disunity in the ranks of dog owners. This is cause for celebration among the animal rights groups, as their most successful tactic has been to divide and conquer animal owners. AKC stumbled into the trap they set.

Animal rights groups have targeted AKC as the weak link in dog owners’ advocacy groups, and are portraying the lumbering and toothless giant as the voice of all dog owners. AKC has come under sharp attack for its main function as a registry for purebred dogs, and has shown an increasing tendency to compromise with the very groups that want to destroy it. Animal rights groups oppose dog breeding in any form and regard every compromise as a victory that carries them one step closer to their long-range goal of eliminating animals from American life.

The American Sporting Dog Alliance is asking dog owners in every state to inform the AKC that compromising our rights of pet ownership is not acceptable to us, and that we expect the organization to stand with us on the frontlines of the battle against animal rights legislation.

Contact information for state senators and AKC officers will be provided at the bottom of this report.

AKC apparently won two concessions in the “compromise.”

The first is that Levine inserted a provision to exempt nonresidents from the law if they can prove that their dogs are temporarily in California for shows, events, training and other legal activities. Prior versions of the bill would have made it unsafe to bring dogs into the state for AKC-sanctioned events, which would have hit AKC in the pocketbook. However, Levine also gained the assurance that his draconian law would not hurt tourism in California, thus making it more politically palatable to elected officials.

The “compromise” also eliminated a provision to allow anyone to make an anonymous complaint about dog owners, which could have led to citations and forced sterilization.

However, Levine gave up almost nothing in real terms.

Here is a summary of the key points in the current version of AB 1634:

· Any law enforcement official (police, animal control officers, sheriffs, humane police officers, etc.) is authorized to file citations for any offense of any existing law or municipal ordinance pertaining to animals. These include violations of licensing, leash, animal cruelty and excessive barking laws.

· Citations have two components. The first component is the alleged violation of existing law, which requires proof and a guilty plea or verdict to kick in fines or jail terms provided by existing laws. The second component is for a civil penalty, which kicks in by the citation itself. No proof or conviction is required for the civil penalty to apply, and the legislation provides for no way to challenge or appeal it.

· For dogs, the civil penalty for any citation alleging a violation of a law is set at $50 for the first offense, $100 plus mandatory microchipping for the second offense, and mandatory forced sterilization for a third offense. There is no way to contest or appeal these civil penalties. For cats, microchipping and sterilization are mandated for the second offense.

· The legislation also is rife with ambiguity, which would allow each law enforcement officer, magistrate and judge wide latitude to interpret the law. One ambiguous part of the legislation could be interpreted to make the ownership of an intact dog that is found to be roaming at large a violation of the law. It says: “A person who owns or possesses within the state any intact dog that is properly licensed, as required by law, but whose dog is at large may be cited, and, if cited, shall pay a civil penalty as provided in this section.” A literal reading of that sentence allows people to be cited for the ownership of an intact dog regardless of the circumstances. A dog may escape confinement for purely accidental reasons such as a mail carrier forgetting to close a gate, or a young child opening a door.

· We expect hunting and field trial dogs to be at the greatest risk. In theory, it is possible to a hunting or field trial dog that gets lost to be cited three times for a single occurrence. It could be cited for roaming at large, not wearing a collar and license tag (animal rights extremist will stalk field trials and public hunting areas to remove tags and collars), and for animal cruelty if the dog is overheated, appears tired or appears thin because of athletic conditioning.

· The civil penalties would apply to any intact dog that is not licensed or improperly licensed, which could mean a licensed dog that slips a collar, or is not wearing a collar and tag at home or at a dog show or field trial.

· Those two provisions make dog owners especially vulnerable to tactics used by some animal rights extremists, who often kidnap dogs and take them to shelters, turn dogs loose and call animal control officers, or remove the collars and license tags from dogs. Hunting dogs have been targeted most often by these tactics.

· And the only exemptions for waiving microchipping or sterilization mandates are a signed statement from a veterinarian saying that it would endanger the dog’s health.

Here is a link to the revised legislation: http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/07-08/bil ... n_v88.html. Please read it for yourself.

What You Can Do

Please telephone or FAX your California state senator. Let your senator know that you oppose AB 1634 in its current form, and that AKC does not represent you on this legislation. Here is a list of each senator’s fax number (courtesy of Cat Fanciers of America). Because the vote could come early Monday, Faxes are the most reliable means of communication. Phone calls are a second choice.

California State Senators

Capitol Capitol
Senator Telephone Fax
---------------------------- ------------ ------------
DEMOCRATS:
Elaine Alquist 916-651-4013 916-324-0283
Ron Calderon 916-651-4030 916-327-8755
Gilbert Cedillo 916-651-4022 916-327-8817
Ellen Corbett 916-651-4010 916-327-2433
Louis Correa 916-651-4034 916-323-2323
Bob Dutton 916-651-4031 916-327-2272
Tom Harman 916-651-4035 916-445-9263
Shiela Kuehl 916-651-4023 916-324-4823
Alan Lowenthal 916-651-4027 916-327-9113
Mike Machado 916-651-4005 916-323-2304
Abel Maldonado 916-651-4015 916-445-8081
Denise Moreno Ducheny 916-651-4040 916-327-3522
Gloria Negrete McLeod 916-651-4032 916-445-0128
Jenny Oropeza 916-651-4028 916-323-6056
Alex Padilla 916-651-4020 916-324-6645
Don Perata 916-651-4009 916-327-1997
Mark Ridley-Thomas 916-651-4026 916-445-8899
Gloria Romero 916-651-4024 916-445-0485
Jack Scott 916-651-4021 916-324-7543
Joseph Simitian 916-651-4011 916-323-4529
Darrell Steinberg 916-651-4006 916-323-2263
Tom Torlakson 916-651-4007 916-445-2527
Edward Vincent 916-651-4025 916-445-3712
Patricia Wiggins 916-651-4002 916-323-6958
Leland Yee 916-651-4008 916-327-2186

REPUBLICANS:
Sam Aanestad 916-651-4004 916-445-7750
"bleep" Ackerman 916-651-4033 916-445-9754
Roy Ashburn 916-651-4018 916-322-3304
James Battin 916-651-4037 916-327-2187
Dave Cogdill 916-651-4014 916-327-3523
Dave Cox 916-651-4001 916-324-2680
Jeff Denham 916-651-4012 916-445-0773
Dean Florez 916-651-4016 916-327-5989
Dennis Hollingsworth 916-651-4036 916-447-9008
Christine Kehoe 916-651-4039 916-327-2188
Bob Margett 916-651-4029 916-324-0922
Tom McClintock 916-651-4019 916-324-7544
Carole Migden 916-651-4003 916-445-4722
George Runner 916-651-4017 916-445-4662
Mark Wyland 916-651-4038 916-446-7382

Here is the Governor’s phone and fax numbers. Please let him know how you feel.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger: Phone 916-445-2841 Fax: 916-558-3160

In addition, we are urging dog owners in every state to contact AKC board members and officers and express your strong disagreement with the board’s decision to withdraw its opposition to AB 1634. Please ask them to oppose this legislation and make sure that every senator knows about it before they can vote on Monday.

Here is AKC contact information:

Name Email Alternate Email Telephone
Dennis B. Sprung, President dbs@akc.org 516-637-6567
Ronald H. Menaker, Chairman rhm@akc.org rmenrmen@aol.com 201-848-7042
David C. Merriam, Vice Chairman dcm@akc.org dmerriam@mindspring.com 760-639-5253
Dr. William R. Newman dansdad@pennswoods.net
Dr. Carmen L. Battaglia clb@akc.org cbattaglia@mindspring.com 770-998-3679
Dr. Thomas M. Davies dunwich@samnet.net
Steven D. Gladstone sdg@cwcorgi.com 570-839-2552
Patricia C. Scully pcs@akc.org pat_scully@bd.com 845-357-1812
Dr. J. Charles Garvin jcg@akc.org jcgarvin@adelphia.net 740-383-8050
Dr. Patricia H. Haines phh@akc.org ofkpointer@aol.com
Nina Schaefer osakanuc@aol.com pennafeddogclubs@aol.com 215- 402 9989
Patti L. Strand naia@involved.com NAIA@naiaonline.org 503-761-1139
Walter F. Goodman wfg@akc.org wfgoodman@mindspring.com 305-758-5766
Ken Marden kam@akc.org kmarden@earthlink.net 207-549-4783

The American Sporting Dog Alliance represents owners, hobby breeders and professionals who work with breeds of dogs that are used for hunting. We are a grassroots movement working to protect the rights of dog owners, and to assure that the traditional relationships between dogs and humans maintains its rightful place in American society and life. Please visit us on the web at http://www.americansportingdogalliance.org. Our email is ASDA@csonline.net. Complete directions to join by mail or online are found at the bottom left of each page.

The American Sporting Dog Alliance also needs your help so that we can continue to work to protect the rights of dog owners. Your membership, participation and support are truly essential to the success of our mission. We are funded solely by the donations of our members, and maintain strict independence.

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