New state legislation
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2005:
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
Agricultural 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.
