I received the attached from the Houston SPCA. Please take a few minuted to write the House Committee on Licensing and Administrative Procedures before they meet at 8:00 AM on April 1, 2009.

THANK YOU!


Dear Houston SPCA Supporter,

Thank you to those of you who have responded to our recent Action Alerts. Your actions are making a difference!!

The Houston SPCA works tirelessly to protect all the animals in our community. Last year we investigated over 14,000 cases of animal cruelty. Too often, we are called to the scene of a puppy mill and witness the horrible conditions these innocent victims are forced to live in.

Law enforcement officials are limited by the current laws in the State of Texas. That is why we come to you once again to help us protect the animals. We need your voice to be heard and together our team and YOU can speak out for the innocent.

Background
The vast majority of retail pet stores and internet pet sellers acquire their inventory from commercial breeding facilities known as puppy mills (or, in the case of cats, kitten mills). Also, many puppy mills sell direct to the public through newspaper ads and the Internet. As the name suggests, these mills operate like factories, engaging in a cycle of continuous breeding for profit to the detriment of the animals.

The mill operator’s single-minded focus on profit leads to woefully inadequate care and attention to breeding dogs and puppies. Too often, the animals are kept in unhealthy conditions, and in overcrowded, filthy and badly designed cages and kennels. Generally located outside, these living spaces offer little to no protection from severe weather.

Puppy mill operators offer little care to their animals and often fail to provide adequate food and water. Veterinary care is rarely provided, and breeding females tend to be malnourished, ill and covered with sores. Sadly, breeding females are forced into repeated cycles of pregnancy and remain confined until they are no longer capable of breeding and then discarded or destroyed.

Although puppies bred in these mills are advertised and sold as companion animals, the conditions under which they’ve been produced often make them ill-suited to bring the joy and companionship that the purchaser is seeking. Inbreeding is a common practice in puppy mills. Lack of socialization, especially toward humans, is another common symptom of the puppy mill environment, resulting in behavioral issues such as extreme timidity or aggressiveness.

Little or no regulation is currently in place to require minimum care standards. At the federal level, puppy mill operators remain unregulated if they only sell directly to consumers (such as with Internet sales). Even when licensed by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) under federal law, the breeding operation often remains below minimum animal welfare standards because USDA inspections are few and fines are usually insubstantial. To take up the slack, many states have enacted legislation to address puppy mills by requiring breeders to obtain licenses and provide minimum standards of treatment and housing for the animals in their possession. Texas, unfortunately, is among the states with no current licensing or regulation in place for puppy mills.

In addition to the inhumane treatment of animals, the lack of licensing and regulation has allowed the operators of the puppy mills to avoid state and local sales tax on the sale of their animals. The resulting monetary loss to the state is significant.

What HB 3180 Will Do:
The bill will provide for the licensing and regulation of commercial dog and cat breeders and will regulate the retail sale of dogs and cats. For purposes of the bill, a commercial breeder will be defined as a person having eleven or more breeding female dogs or cats.

It should be noted that this bill does not attempt to license hobby breeders or in any way regulate a hobby breeder’s facility. Further, it does not in any way prohibit or limit the commercial breeding or sale of dogs or cats; it merely licenses and regulates large scale commercial breeding facilities.

The bill designates the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) as the regulatory agency to administer the licensing and regulation of commercial breeders.

The initial license fee and subsequent license fees will be established by TDLR to cover the cost of their administration and enforcement of the statute. A commercial breeder’s license will not be transferable and will be valid for one year. A license holder will be subject to inspections and will be required to file annual reports regarding its operations for the past year.

TDLR will establish standards of care and confinement which must be followed by a license holder and will include rules for proper feeding, watering, housing, care (including veterinary care), grooming, treatment, transportation and disposition of dogs and cats to ensure the overall health and welfare of each animal in the facility.

The bill also includes protection for consumers. All retail sales of dogs and cats will require the seller to furnish the buyer with information about the breed, age and health of the animal, along with a statement of the buyer’s rights. Buyers will have the right to obtain reimbursement for veterinary expenses and/or the value of the animal if the animal becomes sick or dies within twenty days after the animal is purchased.

Criminal and civil penalties can be imposed for violation of the statute or any rules adopted thereunder.

Action Needed:
HB 3180 will be heard at a hearing before the House Committee on Licensing and Administrative Procedures at 8:00 AM, April 1, 2009. Rep. Senfronia Thompson, who is the author of this bill, is also the Vice Chair of this Committee. Please contact her and thank her for bringing this bill. Also contact the other members of this Committee and ask them to support this bill.

Last but not least, contact your veterinarian and ask him/her to call Texas Veterinary Medical Association and request TVMA to endorse this bill. It would also be helpful if your vet would contact the Committee members and voice his/her support for this bill. The contact information for the Committee is as follows:



Representatives Email 512 Phone/Fax

Edmund Kuempel (Chair) edmund.kuempel@house.state.tx.us 463-0602/480-0391

Senfronia Thompson (V-Chair) senfronial.thompson@house.state.tx.us 463-0720/463-6306

Warren Chisum warren.chisum@house.state.tx.us 463-0736/463-0211

Charlie Geren charlie.geren@house.state.tx.us 463-0610/463-8310

Roland Gutierrez roland.gutierrez@house.state.tx.us 463-0452/463-1447

Mike Hamilton mike.hamilton@house.state.tx.us 463-0412/463-1915

Delwin Jones delwin.jones@house.state.tx.us 463-0542/463-0671

Jose Menendez jose.menendez@house.state.tx.us 463-0634/463-7668

Chente Quintanilla chente.quintanilla@house.state.tx.us 463-0613/463-1237



PLEASE CALL, WRITE/FAX OR EMAIL EACH OF THEM TO SUPPORT THE BILL. ASK YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS TO DO THE SAME. AS ALWAYS, PLEASE BE COURTEOUS AND POLITE WHEN COMMUNICATING WITH REPRESENTATIVES AND THEIR STAFF.




The Animals Need You and We Need You!








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