Virginia Kennel Legislation Improved "“ But Not Enough
by JOHN YATES
American Sporting Dog Alliance
RICHMOND, Va. "“ The Senate Agriculture Committee on Monday approved several major changes in proposed legislation about commercial dog breeding kennels, but the results remain far short of what is needed to protect the rights of legitimate and conscientious dog breeders. The measure goes before the Senate Appropriations Committee tomorrow, Feb. 27, and then to the floor of the full Senate for a vote.
The purpose of the legislation is to severely restrict large breeding kennels, if not to effectively outlaw them. The American Sporting Dog Alliance (ASDA) maintains that a large majority of breeding kennels are well run businesses that take excellent care of their dogs. ASDA also maintains that existing federal regulations require licensure of all commercial kennels, along with inspections by teams of veterinarians and enforcement officers, and compliance with 60 pages of dog care regulations. They also provide for license revocations, heavy fines and confiscation of dogs from deficient kennels.
ASDA maintains that additional state regulations are not needed, and that the answer to correcting any alleged deficiencies in federal enforcement is not to create an additional layer of state bureaucracy that unfairly penalizes or outlaws well-run operations.
In a nutshell, the Virginia legislation is a plan to find kennels that do not have required federal licenses, and then to force them to become federally licensed. This is not the job of state government. The legislation also seeks to eliminate large breeding kennels that have more than 50 adult dogs, or at least make it virtually impossible for them to survive. ASDA maintains that the number of dogs has no relationship to the quality of care the dogs receive, that such restrictions set dangerous precedents for all kinds of agriculture, and that the state has no right to interfere with legitimate businesses that already are federally regulated.
The most significant positive change in the legislation was the removal of language that would have required state dog wardens to make inspections to ensure compliance with federal regulations. This would have required the state to enforce all federal regulations, including the 60 pages of performance standards. Donnita Ackley of the Virginia Hunting Dog Owners"™ Association played a vital role in convincing the Agriculture Committee that state dogs wardens are not trained or financed to handle such detailed inspections. Ms. Ackley"™s and ASDA"™s comments also helped to convince the Committee of the inappropriateness of having a state unilaterally enforce federal regulations.
Other changes include an improvement in the language about kennel size limitations. In setting a maximum of 50 adult dogs for a kennel, the Committee agreed to include only dogs used for breeding. Prior versions of the legislation would have counted dogs used for hunting or competition, and also in a kennel for boarding or professional training.
The revised legislation caps the number at 50 adult breeding dogs, but now provides an option for larger kennels only if they are authorized by a local ordinance following a public hearing. ASDA maintains that this is a wholly unwarranted interference with legitimate businesses, that regulation should be based on quality of care rather than size, and that regulation by numbers sets a dangerous precedent for agriculture. If this provision is allowed to stand, it could lead to setting caps on the sizes of dairy herds, laying flocks and other farm activities.
Moreover, ASDA maintains, no legitimate business should be required to seek governmental approval for its existence at any level if it follows reasonable regulations, and no owner of a legitimate existing business should be required to face an emotionally volatile public hearing that almost certainly will include inflammatory, damaging and unwarranted defamation of character from outside animal rights interests. Local elected officials also should not be subjected to such pressures. Animal rights groups are well known for using tactics that resemble witch-hunts, and also have been known to advocate illegal, harassing and even terroristic tactics.
Another improvement was to redefine a commercial kennel as having 30 adult females that are used for breeding, which is an increase of 10 from the initial legislation. The initial legislation would have included many kennels that are not primarily breeding kennels. The legislation also was improved by redefining breeding adults as over one year of age. The original legislation included dogs older than four months old, which could not have been bred.
ASDA continues to object to a limitation forbidding the breeding of any female under 18 months of age. A dog is fully mature at a year of age, and most vertinarians use the standard of reaching its second heat cycle as a minimum age for breeding. Dogs typically come into heat at about 11 months of age, and about every six months thereafter. Thus, the requirement for 18 months of age means that most breeders would be required to wait until a dog"™s third heat cycle. This is an unwarranted intrusion and expense to the breeders, as no evidence has been shown that that it is unsafe or undesirable to breed a dog during its second heat cycle. In the absence of evidence, this provision is both unnecessary and unfairly burdensome.
Nor has any evidence been shown that an annual veterinary examination should be required to breed a female. The health of breeding animals already is extensively regulated on the federal level. This also sets a dangerous precedent for all forms of animal husbandry, and represents a significant and wholly unwarranted expense for kennel owners.
The Senate Agriculture Committee took no action to remove clearly unconstitutional portions of the legislation, which open a breeder"™s home, records, bank accounts and facilities to inspection by a variety of governmental officials without a warrant or showing probable cause that there has been any violation of laws. This draconian provision gives every policeman, dog warden, state official, and health inspector an unrestricted right to intrude on a person"™s privacy on the pretense of a kennel inspection. The right to privacy and protection from unreasonable searches is constitutionally guaranteed to all Americans.
The American Sporting Dog Alliance urges every Virginian to contact her or his senator immediately to voice opposition to this legislation. A prompt response is essential. Here is a link for how to reach your senator: http://leg1.state.va.us/081/mbr/MBR.HTM. Here is a link for how to reach senators who sit on the Appropriations Committee: http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?081+com+H2 .
Virginia Legislation Update
