Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Vote No on Missouri's Prop B

Ballot issue breeds contempt between dog breeders, animal-rights activists


KansasCity.com

By JASON NOBLE

JEFFERSON CITY
The forces for and against Missouri’s Proposition B are making their cases with cute and cuddly puppies.

But make no mistake, the contest to convince voters is a down and dirty dogfight.

Prop B on the Nov. 2 statewide ballot will ask voters whether to enact the “Puppy Mill Cruelty Prevention Act,” a set of laws that would substantially sharpen regulations on dog breeders.

Proponents, led by national animal-rights groups, contend new laws are critical to ensure humane treatment within Missouri’s vast dog-breeding industry.

“The regulations on the books now … ensure that dogs in these facilities survive, but don’t do much more than that,” said Barbara Schmitz, campaign manager for Missourians for the Protection of Dogs. “We’re trying to insert animal-welfare provisions into the large-scale breeding equation.”

Breeders and animal-agriculture trade groups counter that the laws will devastate reputable family businesses and raise the price of puppies at pet stores, but do nothing to stop bad breeders.

“What this does is make regulation so strict on breeders that it will basically put them out of business,” said Anita Andrews, director of the Alliance for Truth, a campaign opposing the ballot measure.   Read More

The HSUS doesn’t want people using animals for any reason, not as pets or as sources of food.  If this bill passes it helps them on both fronts.  They know this will hurt people who raise dogs in turn making it harder for people to have dogs for pets.  It will also get their foot in the door on the livestock front and further their argument that eating meat is wrong.  HSUS is nothing but a fundraising machine and in order to keep that machine running they must continually push onerous regulations on people who use animals by distorting the truth.  Please let your friends and family in Missouri know they should vote NO on Prop B.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Come on: don't adopt this apocalyptic rhetoric and maybe people outside of agriculture will actually listen to you.
The HSUS raises money so that it can work to effect change/ legislate against the cruelest practices. Do you disagree with their mandate that animals should be able to stretch their limbs? Really?
Of course they advocate vegetarianism, just as you all advocate meat eating. But what they want is the worst confinement systems phased out and cruelty eliminated. They don't want puppy mills. They're not banning all pets.
The best of ag. producers could actually work with HSUS instead of against them. It's the nasty corporations with half million chickens in cages that need to end, and you shouldn't side with them. That is not agriculture at all.