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ESSENTIAL DESTINATIONS
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SEPTEMBER 2005
New state legislation
The North Carolina legislature on August 17, 2005 incorporated into the state budget a set of standards for animal shelters, to take effect on October 1, which will require that euthanasia technicians be properly trained and forbid use of any methods to kill animals other than lethal injection and carbon monoxide. “The majority of counties in the Carolinas and in the Charlotte region use gas to kill most animals, even though the method is banned by at least two states,” wrote Michelle Crouch of the Charlotte Observer. “Most use lethal injection to put down sick and young animals, but say they can’t afford to use it every time.”
Earlier, North Carolina Governor Mike Easley signed a bill requiring petting zoos to be licensed and inspected. The bill was introduced after 108 children suffered e- coli infections after visiting petting zoos at the North Carolina State Fair in 2004.
Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich on August 12, 2005 vetoed a bill which would have allowed fur trappers to use cable snares, banned in the state for more than 50 years. Blagojevich on August 22 endorsed into law a bill establishing a fund for subsidized dog and cat sterilization, supported by a surcharge of $3.00 on rabies vaccinations. American SPCA senior director of legal training and legislation Ledy VanKavage predicted that the surcharge would “generate around $2.5 million a year.”
Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski on July 11, 2005 signed into law a bill allowing students to opt out of classroom dissection for ethical reasons, and requiring school districts to notify parents and students in advance if dissection is part of a class curriculum.
Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle on June 25 signed into law a bill that allows pet keepers to establish trust funds to provide posthumous care to their animals.
Maine Governor John Baldacci on June 17 endorsed a bill re-establishing the Maine felony penalty for aggravated cruelty to animals, accidentally erased in 2004 as result of a legislative drafting error.
Anti-freeze manufactured after July 1, 2005 and sold in New Mexico after January 1, 2006 must contain a bittering agent, under legislation recently endorsed by New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson. The New Mexico law parallels laws passed earlier in California and Oregon.
The South Dakota Legislature’s Rules Review Committee on August 29 authorized a puma hunting season, to open on October 1. The committee set a quota of 25 puma, with the season to end either on December 15 or whenever five breeding-age females have been killed. South Dakota has an estimated population of 165 pumas. California is now the only one of the westernmost 11 states which does not permit puma hunting.
The California state senate on August 29 sent to Governor Arnold Schwarznegger a bill to ban remote-control hunting via the Internet. Eight other states have banned the practice within the past year. Proposed bans are pending in the legislatures of 10 other states and in the U.S. Congress.
The Indiana Department of Natural Resources on August 11 announced that it will ban hunting deer within fenced enclosures, effective January 1, 2006. Indiana DNR director Kyle Hupfer also banned hunts of exotic species in enclosed areas. “There are about 225 deer or elk farms in Indiana, with 125 farms also permitted to have other exotic species,” Associated Press reported. Hupfer’s orders were promptly challenged in a lawsuit by game farmer Rodney Bruce, of Corydon, who with Indiana Deer & Elk Farmers’ Association representative Donald Blinzinger, former chief of staff for the Indiana Republican party, contends that captive-raised deer are not “wildlife” but “private property.” Shooting captive wildlife came to public notice in Indiana in January 2005 when game farmer Russell G. Bellar of Peru, Indiana pleaded guilty to three of 38 federal charges brought against him for allegedly violating wildlife and drug laws. Bellar in May 2005 was sentenced to serve 366 days in prison and to pay fines, restitution, and court fees of more than $570,000.
Ordinances & orders
Ordinances against prolonged dog tethering were passed in August 2005 by the city councils of Los Angeles, Savvanah, and smaller communities including Dania Beach, Florida, and Parker, Colorado. Anti-tethering ordinances were also passed by the commissioners of Orange County, Florida, and DeKalb County, Georgia. Anti-tethering efforts are coordinated nationally by Dogs Deserve Better, founded by Pennsylvania artist Tammy Sneath Grimes, who is also the ANIMAL PEOPLE assistant web developer. Prolonged tethering, besides being cruel to the dogs, causes dogs to develop an exaggerated sense of territoriality, leading to more frequent and more severe attacks.
As of August 26, 2005 the Massachusetts Department of Agricult-ural Resources requires all individuals, businesses, and nonprofit organizations who import animals into the state to be registered and have quarantine facilities, under an emergency order issued on May 26. This “comes on the heels of a deadly canine flu epidemic that ripped through Revere’s Wonderland dog track, killing 18 greyhounds,” noted Scott Van Voorhis of the Boston Herald, but Massachusetts assistant agriculture commissioner Kent Lage attributed the rule to the 2004 import of a rabid puppy from Puerto Rico by members of the Save-A-Sato Foundation.