CVAS

Animal protection groups demand solid flooring in puppy mill cages

April 17, 12:35 AM Animal Policy Examiner Katerina Lorenzatos Makris

Animal protection groups plan to gather for a candlelight vigil this Sunday in Philadelphia to demand enforcement of a law requiring solid flooring in puppy mill cages.

Demonstration organizer Bill Smith, founder of Main Line Animal Rescue (MLAR), said the “dog law,” supported by Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell and passed in 2008 bans the dangerous wire strand flooring commonly used in commercial dog breeding kennels.

Instead, the law requires safer solid or slatted flooring. Smith said the wire strand flooring is painful for the dogs’ sensitive paw pads and causes numerous injuries that his group and others often end up treating.

“The majority of the dogs that we pull from Lancaster County and other puppy mills in Pennsylvania have splayed feet,” Smith told Animal Policy Examiner in a telephone interview Friday. “And some of them are missing feet and paws because the dogs below them [in stacked cages] pulled them and bit them. It’s just very unsafe. Dogs become trapped in the wire.”

Breeders prefer the wire flooring, similar to chicken wire, because it allows urine and feces to drop out of the cages, meaning less cleanup effort.

Breeders’ groups asked for and won a one-year reprieve from the law’s enforcement, until October 2009, to give them time to comply. A further reprieve was granted to allow a nine-member panel of veterinarians, the Canine Health Board, to reconsider flooring options and to hear sales presentations from flooring manufacturers, said Smith.

By virtue of political affiliation, Gov. Rendell “controls the votes of five of the nine board members,” Smith said. “And that’s what we want him to do. We want him to step up and call his five vets. Two of them are incredible anyway, and alerted me to what was happening. We need him to contact all his vets [on the board] and say ‘listen, no more waivers, no more alternatives to solid or slatted flooring.’”

One of the types of flooring the Canine Health Board members are considering “is designed for hogs,” said Smith. “The bottom of a hog’s foot as you know is very different from the bottom of a dog’s foot. Dogs have very sensitive pads. Hogs basically carry the surfaces with them. They have hooves.”

While the health board mulls over flooring types and other provisions of the law, including a high-end temperature cap of 85 degrees for the caged dogs, Smith said the thousands of dogs held in Pennsylvania’s hundreds of commercial breeding kennels will continue to suffer.

“This is a no-brainer," said Smith. "I mean, this is just ridiculous. This is something that the people of Pennsylvania didn’t want two years ago. I don’t know why we’re still revisiting it at this point.”

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04-09-10 -- ACTION ALERT: Insist on SOLID Flooring in PA Puppy Mills
By: North Penn Puppy Mill Watch

Historically, the newly passed "Puppy Mill Bill" (known as HB-2525 when in session and now referred to Act 119 of 2008) required commercial breeding facilities (those with 60 or more dogs, those selling 60 or more dogs or those selling even one dog to a pet shop or broker for commercial resale) to upgrade all flooring in primary enclosures from wire strand surfaces to solid or slatted surfaces to protect the feet of the breeder dogs.

Throughout the legislative process, examples of what happens to the hands, feet and legs of canines forced to live on wire flooring were presented to legislators and the public. The inability to walk on solid ground, splayed toes, bowed legs, broken legs and amputated limbs due to being caught inside the wire flooring were all classic examples of how harmful wire flooring is to caged canines.

Why do breeders favor perforated floorings? It's simple: perforated flooring allows gravity to perform the majority of their housekeeping. Even though Act 119 of 2008 prohibits excessive stacking of cages, cages may still be stacked two in height meaning that there can be at least one dog upon whom daily body waste will fall if any form of perforated flooring is used.

HB-2525 passed through the House without amendment.

It wasn't until the bill reached the Senate Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee, chaired then and still by Senator Michael Brubaker (R), that the creation of the Canine Health Board was introduced. This 10 person board was charged with establishing regulations that govern flooring and environmental concerns including but not limited to: temperature, ventilation and lighting. The board was populated with veterinarians who were appointed as follows: 3 members and the board president by the Governor; 1 member by the President Pro Tempore of the Senate/Joseph Scarnatti (R); 1 member by the Minority Leader of the Senate/Robert Mellow (D); 1 member by the Majority Leader of the House/Todd Eachus (D); 1 member by the Minority Leader of the House/Samuel Smith (R); 1 member by the President of the PA Veterinary Medical Association; 1 member by the Dean of the University of Penn School of Veterinary Medicine.

By deferring passage of HB-2525 as written, the Senate essentially delayed relief for thousands of dogs across the Commonwealth by creating the Canine Health Board and many dogs, to this day, continue to suffer due to the red tape the creation of this board established.

Local advocacy groups including North Penn Puppy Mill Watch and United Against Puppy Mills opposed the creation of the Canine Health Board but the Humane Society of the United States and the ASPCA did not.

Now, more than 18 months after passage, the Canine Health Board is considering the approval of HOG FLOORING for use in the primary enclosures of large scale commercial breeding kennels. This flooring is perforated (the key as to why it's desirable by the breeders) and is covered with small raised bumps. It is designed for an animal with a cloven hoof - not the soft pads of a dog.

Solid flooring was by far one of the major achievements of Act 119 of 2008. To realize that thousands of dogs across the Commonwealth may never experience what it's like to walk on solid flooring because breeders are not willing to invest the time and labor to properly clean the cages of these animals on a daily basis - the same animals that produce their profits - is simply outrageous.

Those who believed the passage of Act 119 solved all the problems of Pennsylvania's mill dogs are sorely mistaken.

Advocates must once again take a stand and insist that the solid flooring provision of the Act be maintained and not modified in any way whatsoever.

Below is a Public Notice relating to an upcoming hearing of the Canine Health Board where revisions to the flooring provision will be reviewed and possibly modified.

If you are unable to attend the meeting, please take the time to send written testimony prior to APRIL 21 to: The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, Canine Health Board, 2301 North Cameron Street, Room 212, Harrisburg, PA 17110-9408.
Comments should include your name, address, any affilliation with an advocacy group, rescue or shelter as well why solid or slated flooring is the ONLY appropriate surface that should be used in the primary enclosure of a dog who is caged for life for the purpose of producing puppies for profit.

The Pennsylvania primary election is just around the corner. Hold YOUR state senator accountable! While individual senators do not, necessarily, have any say in decisions made by the Canine Health Board, there's no harm in letting your senator know that advocates for the mill dogs are still passionate about this issue, that it was the Pennsylvania Senate who created this board and that we will not stand to go backwards. If the Senate had passed the legislation as drafted, solid flooring would be the law and not open to modification. To find out who your senator is, click HERE.

Time is of the essence and the dogs are counting on YOU. Please speak out - help Pennsylvania's mill dogs.

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04-08-10 -- NOTICE OF PUBLIC MEETING - PA Canine Health Board
April 27, 2010 - 1 p.m.

The Canine Health Board (Board), pursuant to its authority at Section 207(i)(3)(iii) and 221(f) of the Dog Law (3 P.S. §§ 459-207(i)(3)(iii) and 459-221(f)), hereby gives notice of its public meeting scheduled for Tuesday, April 27, 2010, at 1 p.m. for the purpose of considering additional flooring options that have been submitted by commercial kennel operators.

The meeting will be held in Conference Room 309 of the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture Building, 2301 North Cameron Street, Harrisburg, PA 17110.

The Board will consider the flooring options one at a time and will take testimony and comment on each individual flooring option submitted before moving on to the next flooring option. The Board will hear testimony and comment from both proponents and opponents of the flooring options submitted. Proponents of the flooring option submitted will present their comments first and then those opposed to that flooring option will be heard.

Proponents and opponents may submit written testimony to the Board in advance of the Public Meeting. Written testimony shall be submitted to the Board by April 21, 2010. Written testimony should be submitted to: The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, Canine Health Board, 2301 North Cameron Street, Room 212, Harrisburg, PA 17110-9408.

Those wishing to present oral testimony or comment must be present at the Public Meeting.

Those presenting written or oral testimony or comment should submit or give the following information to the Board:

1. State their name and address for the record.

2. State their affiliation to any business or person for which they are testifying or offering comment.

3. State their experience or expertise related to canine health or kennel flooring issues or both.

The comment and testimony heard and considered by the Board must relate to whether the flooring option presented meets the standards established by Section 207(i)(3)(i) of the Dog Law and whether, based on animal husbandry practices, the flooring option will provide for the welfare of the dogs to be housed on that type of flooring, as required by Section 221(f) of the Dog Law (3 P.S. §§ 459-207(i)(3)(i) and 459-221(f)).

Given the extent and breadth of testimony and comment expected, the Board reserves the right to:

1. Limit the time period for each person's testimony or comment to five minutes.

2. Limit the amount of or exclude redundant or duplicative testimony or comment.

3. Take no official action on any flooring option presented, take official action at a subsequent meeting regarding any flooring option presented, or vote to decline to take official action on any flooring option presented.

Submitted by Jennifer Muller
Chairperson of the Board

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State Rep. James E. Casorio, Jr.
D-Westmoreland
www.pahouse.com/Casorio

Casorio to introduce tethering legislation

HARRISBURG, March 5 – State Rep. James E. Casorio Jr. said he will soon introduce legislation restricting the tethering of dogs in Pennsylvania.

Casorio, who was the author of the state's new commercial kennel law, said his tethering bill would protect dogs 24 hours a day as opposed to just certain times of day, would restrict tethering to an appropriate number of hours and would propose further limits on tethering during temperature and other weather extremes.

The Westmoreland County legislator said he is working with animal welfare and other groups to draft a reasonable bill that balances the protection and humane treatment of dogs with respect for responsible pet owners.

"Continuous tethering of dogs is inhumane and dangerous to both the animal and humans," Casorio said. "Dogs that are kept chained out of doors at all hours of the day and night – and in all kinds of weather – get sick and suffer injuries, and make easy targets for other animals and even thieves."

"In addition, dogs whose movement and social interaction are restricted over long periods of time and in uncomfortable conditions often become aggressive. Tethering for long periods of time is never a responsible way to treat an animal."

Casorio said his bill, in addition to placing appropriate time and other restrictions on tethering, would introduce a tiered system of penalties for owners who improperly tether their dogs, ranging from written warnings for a first offense to possible fines and jail time, as well as forfeiture of their dog, for repeated convictions.

Casorio said he has received hundreds of messages from his own constituents and residents from across the state arguing for effective tethering restrictions to be added to Pennsylvania's animal cruelty laws.

"This is an area where Pennsylvania's animal cruelty laws remain inadequate," Casorio said. "In just the past two years, we have successfully added important new protections for dogs in commercial kennels and restrictions on untrained people performing surgeries and other unnecessary and cruel procedures on animals. Putting reasonable tethering restrictions in state law is the next step we need to take."

Casorio said he expects to introduce the legislation with a number of co-sponsors later this month.

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CONTACT: Michael J. Herzing
House Democratic Communications Office
Phone: 717-787-7895
Email: mherzing@pahouse.net

Help unchain dogs in Pennsylvania and sign up to join the Coalition.....

http://www.unchainpadogs.com/Pending_Legislation.html

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