Just read this article to see how the HSUS really operates.  Does the HSUS really directly benefit animals:  I think NOT.  The HSUS is a political machine with its own very specific agenda. 

http://www.charlesadler.com/2011/02/humane-society-of-the-united-states-fraud.html

My beloved Snoop is a rescue dog.  I joke that he came for two days and stayed nine years.  He is a big black lab mix,

my constant shadow.  He is very obedient and smart as a whip.  His favorite illegal pastimes, though, are rooting through waste

baskets and garbage cans so he can eat any goodies he finds or chew up any tissues he finds.  He is an expert at clearing

the kitchen cabinets of anything that entices him including very recently my lovely T Bone steak.  I call him my gypsy lurcher.

He knows that he is wrong for after he gets into the garbage, skilled as he is at opening garbage cans, or surfs the counter

tops as he then slinks guiltily off with guilt written on his lowered face avoiding me completely.  I was so mad at him one day

for his usual counter surfing that I chased him around the house with a fly swatter!  Snoop really knows

what he is doing and he knows the repercussions; I think that perhaps he should join Tiger or now Jesse James in going to

a rehab center for his addiction!

Having Snoop in my life has been a blessing. Totally loyal to me, I have no doubt that he would protect me if needed. 

He is a great watch dog, but sometimes gets carried away in his zeal. I will adopt another rescue when the time is right,

but do not support Peta and HSUS in their campaign to end the breeding of purebred dogs as their motto in advertising

now seems to be  ”buy a purebred and sentence a shelter dog to death.”  If HSUS and Peta are so concerned about the

fate of shelter animals, why are they not running shelters or supporting shelters to help dogs directly instead of using

all the millions in donations they receive on advertising their cause and big salaries.  While I am on a roll, I will stop

as the following vignette is so sweet I wanted to race to the Delaware Humane Society shelter to be rescued.

                                                                                                 HORRORS! SNOOP AND ME ON A NO MAKE UP DAY!                          

I rescued a human today. 

Her eyes met mine as she walked down the corridor peering apprehensively  into the kennels. I felt her need instantly and knew I had to help her.  I wagged my tail, not too exuberantly,  so she wouldn’t be afraid. As she stopped at my kennel I blocked her view from a little accident I had in the back of my cage. I  didn’t want her to know that I hadn’t been walked  today.  Sometimes the shelter keepers get too busy and I didn’t want her to think poorly of them.

As she read my kennel card I hoped that she wouldn’t feel sad about my past. I only have the future
to look forward to and want to make a difference in someone’s  life. She got down on her knees and made little
kissy sounds at me. I shoved my shoulder and side of my head up against the bars to comfort her.

Gentle fingertips caressed my neck; she was desperate for companionship. A tear fell down her cheek and I raised 
my paw to assure her that all would be well. Soon my kennel door opened and her smile was so bright that I instantly
jumped into her arms.

I would promise to keep her safe. I would promise to always be by her side. I would promise to do everything I could to 
see that radiant smile and sparkle in her eyes. I was so fortunate that she came down my corridor.

So many more are out there who haven’t walked the corridors. So many more to be saved. At least I could save one. 

I rescued a human today. 

The HSUS continues to attempt to advance its agenda, but hopefully more and more of us are catching on to the fact that do not have the best interest of dogs or any other animals at heart, just its own pocketbooks and its animal rights, not welfare mind you, but rights agenda. The HSUS claims it is working to regulate and perhaps close down “puppy mills.”  Instead it is really working to regulate all breeders including the reputable ethical breeders of purebred dogs whether show dogs, service dogs, pilot dogs, working dogs, and field dogs.  The dogs that breeders do not include in their particular breeding purpose, are available to families as wonderful family dogs. All of my show dogs are also my family dogs as are the dogs of most breeders.  I want to close down the substandard breeders more than anyone as I have seen the abuses and neglect that their dogs suffer.  However, the HSUS wishes to shut down all breeders and ultimately, with PETA, end the ownership of animals. The legislation already passed or being introduced in states and communities has brought with it the violation of the civil rights of individual breeders even to impounding their dogs with trumped up charges. Some of these breeders have never been able to get their dogs back.  Please read the following closely:

from the Sportsmen’s and Animal Owners’ Voting Alliance:

A SAOVA message to sportsmen, pet owners and farmers concerned  about protecting their traditions, avocations and livelihoods from anti-hunting, anti-breeding, animal guardianship advocates. Forwarding and cross posting, with attribution, encouraged. It’s all about numbers.

Recently HSUS aired an announcement on their website congratulating
Wisconsin Governor, Jim Doyle, and the state legislature for enacting a law
“to regulate large scale puppy producing operations, known as puppy mills.”
AB 250 regulates anyone who sells more than 25 dogs or 3 litters a year.  In
HSUS language, this separates small-scale breeders from puppy mills.

HSUS continues by stating, “In addition to Wisconsin, bills to regulate
puppy mills were enacted by the 2009 state legislatures in Arizona,
Connecticut, Indiana, Maine, Nebraska, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and
Washington.”   WRONG!  In their zeal to pat themselves on the back and keep
the momentum alive for potential success in their multi-million dollar
campaign to regulate dog breeders, HSUS forgot how to count!  It seems they
also forgot to check the results as posted on their own website.  Arizona
bill HB2517, sponsored by Rep. Nancy Young Wright (D, 26), failed as did
Nebraska LB677 sponsored by Sen. Ken Haar (District 21).

In an unprecedented drive, HSUS introduced 33 commercial
breeder/regulation/licensing bills across the country from late 2008 thru
2009.  Of these 21 died, 8 passed; 4 are pending – due to either the
legislatures still in session or bills qualifying to be held over for 2010.

Full listing is available on the SAOVA website
http://www.saova.org/news/StateBreederBills2009.pdf

Numbers played a huge role in the drafting and promotion of the HSUS
commercial breeder/regulation/licensing bills – a long name to use but I am
loathe to call them “puppy mill” bills even long enough to write this
commentary. 

What is the definition of commercial or large scale dog breeding?  The
answer according to HSUS appears to depend on what the region can be
convinced to believe. To crack down on alleged puppy mills in Washington
State, HSUS determined 10 intact females was the magic number; Tennessee,
Montana Minnesota, and others used 20 as the beginning point for licensing;
North Carolina’s commercial breeder bill was set at 15, and in Illinois HSUS
determined that only by licensing breeders beginning with 3 intact females
would the state be saved from being overrun with puppy mills.  One HSUS
state director recently explained – a hobby breeder is someone with 6 who
breeds only one or two litters a year; anything more than that is a
commercial breeder/puppy mill. 

Another strategy in the HSUS legislation is to limit breeders by placing
caps on ownership.  A 25-dog magic number was proposed in legislation this
year as the limit of breedable dogs one could own in Colorado, Delaware,
Oregon, Massachusetts, and Washington. 

There is no logic to the idea that an owner can care for 25 dogs but not 26,
or even 100.  Ownership caps are nothing more than a limitation of personal
rights and the ability to build a breeding program, run a business, or earn
a living. 

USING NUMBERS TO CREATE A CRISIS

To keep legislation moving, it is always useful to have a crisis at hand.

HSUS claims there are more than 10,000 large, puppy mills housing 200,000 to
400,000 breeding dogs producing up to 4 million puppies a year.  If
Americans add approximately 8 million dogs to their households a year and
HSUS also claims nearly 50% of these come from friends, is HSUS saying the
other 50% come from substandard sources?

In Tennessee before the commercial breeder bill was enacted, HSUS claimed
10,000 puppies were for sale every day in the state.  In North Carolina,
HSUS claims their previous estimate of 200 puppy mills was in error – the
number is actually 400 and growing as the state is becoming home to breeders
fleeing states where regulatory laws have been passed.  Illinois voters were
urged to enact Chloe’s Bill to prevent before the onslaught of puppy mills
could become a blight on the State’s reputation.

The same sound bites are distributed in every state with a pending breeder
bill and the proclaimed crisis of abuse or overpopulation is NOT new.

In “The Humane Society of the U.S.: It’s Not about Animal Shelters” Daniel
Oliver writes:

“HSUS promotes restrictions on pet breeding and ownership that would sharply
limit the supply of pets and ultimately deny many responsible pet owners the
pet of their choice. It maintains that there is a ‘raging pet-overpopulation
crisis . . . an appalling overabundance of dogs and cats caused by human
carelessness and irresponsible breeding.’  Because an estimated 4.5 million
dogs and cats are euthanized each year in the U.S., HSUS has called for the
elimination of large dog breeding kennels and the enactment of mandatory pet
sterilization laws.”

Oliver continues that in 1993, HSUS proposed mandatory pet sterilization
laws and high license fees to deal with alleged pet overpopulation.  HSUS
called on local, county, and state legislators to enact either voluntary or
mandatory dog and cat breeding bans and to initiate mandatory pet
sterilization laws, including a two-year moratorium on all breeding.  For
each puppy or kitten born in violation of the moratorium, the owner or
person possessing the animal would pay a penalty of $100.

TAKING BACK THE INITIATIVE

To quote Washington, D.C. analyst Steve Kopperud, “The problem we have has
almost doubled because we have allowed the activists to define us; we have
allowed the activists to tell the public what we do and how we do it and
frankly, we’re sitting back and continuing to allow that to happen.”

We are the experts and must take back that role.  We must get our message
back to the public and to our legislators.  We can no longer afford to have
HSUS and animal rightist philosophers frame the issues, labeling us as
exploiters and legislating away our rights.  The battle will begin again in
2010 and we need to be ready. 

Keep up to date on the issues at SAOVA’s new blog:
http://saovanews.blogspot.com/

Susan Wolf

Sportsmen’s and Animal Owners’ Voting Alliance -  <http://saova.org>
http://saova.org

From a fellow breeder who is as worried as I am about the animal rights agenda and all the anti dog and anti breeding legislation being introduced or passed:

“One generation and out. We have no problems with the extinction of domestic animals. They are creations of human selective breeding.” Wayne Pacelle, CEO, Humane Society of the United States.

Please do not donate money to an organization that aims at eliminating all animal use in our country. They are NOT a Humane Society; they do not own or operate ONE pet shelter in the US, and they are NOT a national organization that “oversees” our hard-working local shelters. 

The HSUS has nothing to do with animal welfare except where it must show up to prove that it is all for animal welfare for publicity sake.  The donations sent to the HSUS are spent on lobbying for its own agenda which has to do with, in Pacelle’a own words: “the extinction of domestic animals.”  I don’t know about you, but I do not think I would like to spend my remaining years without the companionship and devotion of my dogs and cat (or my horse now that I am riding again).  I do not know how I would do without a dog to love.   Meredith              

“Freedom  is never more than one generation away from extinction.. We  didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must  be fought  for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our  children and our children’s children what it was once like  in the United States where men were free.” —–Ronald Reagan  
  

http://www.petdata.com/company/news/news050204-1.html.

Links:

Humane Society of the United States -
www.hsus.org

National Animal Control Association -
www.nacanet.org

http://bluedogstate.blogspot.com/2007_05_01_archive.html

The Mother of All Databases is already a reality:

PetData Inc., a private corporation in Irving, Texas, already collects information on law-abiding citizens who happen to own pets. They say they have already databanked
information on 2 million residents in
more than 20 U. S. communities, and
four entire counties. Matthews, North Carolina, just joined the ranks of municipalities contracts with PetData.

Your personal privacy on the auction block !

If you live in a community that outsourced animal licensing functions to PetData, you may not even realize it yet. When you vaccinate your cats and dogs for rabies, your vet forwards the details to PetData Inc.

Your name, your address, your contact information. And your dog’s, or cat’s veterinary information–including reproductive status. It all goes into for-profit PetData Inc.’s privately-owned, privately-controlled database.

PetData proudly advertises its membership in the Humane Society of the United States. It has no corporate privacy policy

If breeders stop breeding because of practices that take away their privacy and their rights, where will the general public get their next quality purebred puppy?

California tax officials target breeders via Internet:

June 29, 2009
By: Timothy Kirn
For The VIN News Service

California tax officials are surfing ­ the Internet, that is.

It is not unusual for authorities, potential employers, bankers and others to use the Internet to investigate people.

And now California tax officials are targeting potential breeders that way.

According to a letter from the California Board of Equalization, board officials visited the American Kennel Club Web site and linked to individual dog clubs to identify potential breeders living in the state.

Board officials are not sure if these dog club members are breeders, but they could be.

Tax board spokeswoman Anita Gore confirmed that 361 individuals will receive the letter. She would not say how or why those particular individuals were identified, however.

Below is my prediction of what will happen if reputable breeders stop breeding and many of us are very close with all the legislation hitting us from so many directions:

WHERE WILL YOU GET YOUR NEXT PUREBRED PUPPY???

CHOSE YOUR ANSWER FROM THE FOLLOWING:

____FROM A SHELTER (good luck in finding what you want)

____FROM AN INTERNET BREEDER (picking your puppy up at a gas station or Wal-Mart parking lot at 3:00 A.M. clandestinely because your breeder or better yet dog dealer won’t let you see where the dogs are raised)

____FROM A PET STORE (commercial breeders supply pet stores and may breed their own dogs or get from a puppy mill)

____AT A FLEA MARKET WHERE PUPPIES FROM PUPPY MILLS OR LESS THAN DESIRABLE BREEDERS ARE AVAILABLE ALONG WITH OLD FURNITURE.

____AGAIN FROM THE INTERNET (SEND YOUR PAYMENT AND YOU MAY OR MAY NOT RECEIVE THE PUPPY PROMISED TO ARRIVE BY AIR; ONLY GOD KNOWS WHERE AND HOW THESE POOR PUPPIES ARE RAISED)

YOU WILL NOT BE GETTING YOUR PUPPY FROM A REPUTABLE, CARING BREEDER WHO SIGNS THEIR PARENT CLUB CODE OF ETHICS AND WHO SPECIALIZES IN ONE OR TWO BREEDS BECAUSE OF A PASSION FOR THE BREEDS.

ALL THE LEGISLATION BEING NATIONALLY PROPOSED AND PASSED WILL END THE BREEDING OF DOGS AS WE KNOW IT. THE BOTTOM LINE OF THE ANIMAL RIGHTS MOVEMENT (JUST READ PETA’S MANIFESTO VERY, VERY CAREFULLY) IS THE END OF ANIMAL OWNERSHIP. IT IS VERY SAD AND UNFORTUNATE, THAT THE ANIMAL RIGHTS ACTIVISTS ARE REALLY TRAMPLING ALL OVER THE CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS OF BREEDERS AND DOG OWNERS.

THE ANIMAL RIGHTS MOVEMENT HAS NOT IMPROVED THE PLIGHT OF DOGS BEING BRED IN UNSEEMLY CIRCUMSTANCES AND IT HAS CERTAINLY NOT ADDED TO THE WELFARE OF DOGS WHEN PETA IS DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE EUTHANSIA OF COUNTLESS DOGS, A FACT THAT HAS BEEN WELL DOCUMENTED BY OUR MEDIA. VOLUNTARY SPAY/NEUTER IS WORKING. MANY SHELTERS NATIONWIDE ARE SUPPORTING THEMSELVES BY BRINGING IN PUPPIES AND DOGS FROM OVERSEAS, MEXICO, OR OTHER SHELTERS. OUR COUNTY HUMANE SOCIETY ALONE IS TAKING POUND DOGS SCHEDULED TO BE EUTHANIZED TO UPSTATE NEW YORK SHELTERS WHO DO NOT HAVE ENOUGH ADOPTABLE DOGS FOR THE PUBLIC SEEKING THEM. RESPONSIBLE HOBBY/SHOW BREEDERS ARE NOT THE PROBLEM IN PRODUCING DOGS WHO WIND UP IN SHELTERS, BUT WE WILL BEAR THE BRUNT OF ALL THE LEGISLATION BEING PROPOSED OR PASSED AS THE COMMERCIAL BREEDERS WILL HAVE THE FUNDS TO PAY ALL THE FEES AND THE FINES.

Where will you get your next purebred puppy?

Here’s the scoop:
On August 1st, the animal control department in Kansas City, MO, implemented a new policy when it comes to evaluating their field officers. Effective immediately, animal control officers in KCMO will be required to issue a minimum of 15 summonses and impound a minimum of  20 animals per month.

  Read it here:   http://bit.ly/tXJJc

Interesting article by Marc Folco the outdoor writer for The Standard Times. Contact him at openseason1988@aol.com

Mr. Folco really hits the mark about the agenda of HSUS and PETA, organizations who wish to jam their goals of changing the culture of mainstream America about ownership of animals, farming and livestock, hunting, meat eating, ending the enslavement of animals, and criticizing President Obama for swatting a fly. Our rights are being challenged and ended while mainstream America sleeps as one animal rights bill after another is passed in cities, communities, counties and states.  Now I hate killing Bambis, though deer herds must be thinned for many reasons) but I do stand for the rights of others to hunt.  WE MUST WAKE UP AND FIGHT FOR OUR RIGHTS! One way is to donate money to the two organizations really fighting for our rights:  Sportsmen’s and Animal Owners’ Voting Alliance (SAOVA)    and the National Alliance for the Interests of Animals  www.naiaonline.org and  http://saova.org

Mr. Folco’s Article

Open Season: Firing back at the critics

June 21, 2009 6:00 AM

I get hate mail on the average of once a week, and I don’t know why. My column shouldn’t be controversial. Hunting has been around since the caveman, and guns have been around shortly after the Chinese invented gunpowder — and our Constitution clearly states that U.S. citizens have the right to keep and bear arms if they so choose. So, hunting and owning guns are two of America’s oldest and most time-honored traditions.

Why make them — and my column — a controversy?

After 21 years of dealing with cry-baby anti-hunters and runny-nosed gun-grabbers that whine incessantly about my column, the outdoors lifestyle and the shooting sports, I’ve become thick-skinned. Their barbs don’t penetrate. Some hate mail I answer, some I don’t. Some I answer here.

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), based in Washington, threw another of its hissy-fits recently because I wrote about how the wealthy animal rights group has been investigated after soliciting donations to reunite pets with their owners during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. They took in $34 million for that purpose but only spent $7 million on it. So, a whopping $27 million of solicited funds were used for something else.

In his letter to the editor, HSUS’s Michael Markarian skirts that issue and also avoids the notion that the group is pushing to get 41 dog bills enacted in 26 states that are cloaked as eliminating puppy mills, but go to the extreme, as usual. Language in such bills has included mandatory spaying/neutering (or pay $500 per dog per year that is not spayed or neutered), reporting all puppy sales to local authorities and eliminating the practice of humane tethering.

Markarian uses diversion, and says that the group campaigns vigorously against abusive hunting practices. They also (falsely) claim that I defend inhumane practices. Inhumane? By whose standards? Those of animal rights extremists? By their standards, all hunting is inhumane and the group’s underlying agenda is to eliminate all hunting.

HSUS President and CEO Wayne Pacelle has been quoted as saying, “If we could shut down all sport hunting in a moment, we would,” as quoted by the Associated Press in Impassioned Agitator, Dec. 30, 1991. “Our goal is to get sport hunting in the same category as cock fighting and dog fighting,” as quoted in the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, Oct. 8, 1991. And, “Sport hunting — the killing of wild animals as recreation — is fundamentally at odds with the values of a humane, just and caring society,” HSUS Website 2003.

And according to a report from the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance (USSA), Pacelle recently criticized in his blog, those who disagree with the group’s agenda, practically accusing them of not being in step with American culture, the report says.

Pacelle suggests that HSUS opponents should, “start adjusting to the evolving ethos in American culture. You’ll get ahead through innovation and adaptation, not stubborn adherence to custom or current business operations.” He also stated that other animal rights groups, “miss the bigger picture, and our interest in reaching mainstream Americans.”

“Mr. Pacelle’s own words pull the curtain back and unveil the real intent of the HSUS,” stated USSA President and CEO Bud Pidgeon. “He admits to attempting to ‘mainstream’ the group — at the same time he criticizes ‘custom.’ There’s only one reason to do this and that is to fundamentally change America to correspond to the HSUS agenda.”

The HSUS is also involved in a lawsuit to stop the delisting of the gray wolf as an endangered species in the Great Lakes states, where the wolf has rebounded to thriving and healthy populations, far exceeding the goals that were established in order to remove it from the list. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service — under the both the Bush and Obama Administrations — has determined that the wolf numbers are more than sufficient for it to be delisted. But that’s not good enough for the HSUS and other animal rights groups that are spending money on the lawsuit.

Could it be that the money being donated by people who are duped into believing they are helping doggies and kitties, is being used by these groups to fund those expensive anti-hunting lawsuits which tie up the courts with nonsense? We already know that a lot of the money feathers the nests of high-paid executives at the top of these groups.
Without an animal rights agenda, they’re out of their quarter-million-dollar salaries and would be slinging tofu at a vegan joint. You want veggie fries with that?

Just this week, PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) is in an uproar because President Obama swatted a fly. So, is swatting a fly (or a mosquito) now considered inhumane and abusive by animal rights’ standards? Are we now to adhere to the animal rights doctrine that mainstream America does not swat dirty, disease-carrying insects?

I see the animal rights brigade as nothing more than a noisy band of half-baked control freaks, led like sheep by cunning executives interested only in job security, who want to dictate how we spend our leisure time, what we eat and how we raise our own private pets. If you don’t like hunting, don’t hunt.

If you don’t like meat, eat weeds. Don’t want puppies, get your dog spayed. But why are they trying to shove their ridiculous agendas down our throats and make controversy out of “truly mainstream” activities that have been “custom” for centuries? It’s a free country, and if I want to hunt, eat meat, raise a litter of puppies and stomp on a bug, I should be able to without worrying about those whiny breast-beaters trying to outlaw it all.

Another recent hate letter was from Floyd, who thought my story about feeling the effects of approaching 50 just plain stunk and he wrote, “Write a book and do an autograph session with your raccoon hat and western jacket. Your description of stink is nothing compared to your articles.”

Well written, Floyd, but I beat you to it. Already working on my book — a collection of short stories, my favorite stinky articles. Hey, I might even name it that. “My Favorite Stinky Articles, by Marc Folco.” It’s got a nice ring to it. And thanks for the idea of wearing a coonskin hat for the book signing. Don’t have a coonskin one though, so I’ll have to wear my full-length coyote hat, made from a coyote that I shot (I’ll let you pet it if you buy a book). I don’t have a western jacket either, so I hope my buckskins will do (I’ll let you play with the fringe if you buy a book).

And if my articles stink so badly, why read them? If I think a writer stinks, I’m not wasting my valuable time reading his/her putrid rubbish from start to finish. I already know that fresh pile of doggie poo the puppy left on the carpet is going to stink, so I’m not going to sniff it.

Another reader was irate because I won a couple of humor awards from the New England Outdoor Writers’ Assoc. for 2008.
“Only you would make a joke out of killing a small defenseless deer — and your ilk rewarded that story on top of it. You and your kind are callous and disgusting,” M.S. said in reference to my story about shooting “teacup whitetails,” one of the award-winners. M.S. went on to say, “You are the most politically incorrect writer I have ever read!”

Well, my stories have won more than a dozen New England and national writing awards (many of them first place), so maybe you’re the one who is lacking a sense of humor. Laughter is the best medicine. Have a dose. Ain’t we got fun! I do have to agree with one thing. You hit the nail on the head — I am politically incorrect. And proud of it.

I am a man who tells it like it is, whether readers like it or not. I don’t write by anybody’s standards except my own, and those of the newspaper of course, where I can’t slander or use profanity. I wear my heart on my sleeve and say what I feel and think. Anybody who cowers to political correctness is a rump-smoocher in my book.

The end of “My Way,” as sung by Frank Sinatra, says it nicely:

“For what is a man?
What has he got?
If not himself
Then he has not
To say the things he truly feels
And not the words of one who kneels
The record shows
I took the blows
And did it my way.”

Marc Folco is the outdoor writer for The Standard Times. Contact him at openseason1988@aol.com

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090621/SPORTS/906210384/-1/NEWSMAP

http://tinyurl.com/ns7blw

The message above was posted to West Virginia, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Missouri residents by the Sportsmen’s and Animal Owners’ Voting Alliance (SAOVA) on one of ten regional read only elists.

SAOVA is a nonpartisan volunteer group working to protect Americans from the legislative and political threats of radical animal rightists. It is the only national organization fighting this struggle for both sportsmen and animal owners, natural allies, in these arenas. Visit our website at http://saova.org for this program’s goals, methodology and list signup details.

http://www.exposeanimalrights.com/

A SAOVA message to sportsmen, pet owners and farmers concerned  about protecting their traditions, avocations and livelihoods from anti-hunting, anti-breeding, animal guardianship advocates. Forwarding and cross posting, with attribution, encouraged.
The following article from award-winning outdoor writer, Marc Folco, is well worth reading.  As an additional comment to the writer’s mention of HSUS anti-breeder legislation in the guise of eliminating puppy mills: HSUS is currently losing this state-level battle about 3 to 1; however bills are still pending in 8 states.
Susan Wolf
Sportsmen’s and Animal Owners’ Voting Alliance – http://saova.org
Issue lobbying and working to identify and elect supportive legislators

Open Season: Firing back at the critics

June 21, 2009 6:00 AM

I get hate mail on the average of once a week, and I don’t know why. My column shouldn’t be controversial.
Hunting has been around since the caveman, and guns have been around shortly after the Chinese invented gunpowder — and our Constitution clearly states that U.S. citizens have the right to keep and bear arms if they so choose. So, hunting and owning guns are two of America’s oldest and most time-honored traditions.

Why make them — and my column — a controversy?

After 21 years of dealing with cry-baby anti-hunters and runny-nosed gun-grabbers that whine incessantly about my column, the outdoors lifestyle and the shooting sports, I’ve become thick-skinned. Their barbs don’t penetrate. Some hate mail I answer, some I don’t. Some I answer here.

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), based in Washington, threw another of its hissy-fits recently because I wrote about how the wealthy animal rights group has been investigated after soliciting donations to reunite pets with their owners during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. They took in $34 million for that purpose but only spent $7 million on it. So, a whopping $27 million of solicited funds were used for something else.

In his letter to the editor, HSUS’s Michael Markarian skirts that issue and also avoids the notion that the group is pushing to get 41 dog bills enacted in 26 states that are cloaked as eliminating puppy mills, but go to the extreme, as usual. Language in such bills has included mandatory spaying/neutering (or pay $500 per dog per year that is not spayed or neutered), reporting all puppy sales to local authorities and eliminating the practice of humane tethering.

Markarian uses diversion, and says that the group campaigns vigorously against abusive hunting practices. They also (falsely) claim that I defend inhumane practices. Inhumane? By whose standards? Those of animal rights extremists? By their standards, all hunting is inhumane and the group’s underlying agenda is to eliminate all hunting.

HSUS President and CEO Wayne Pacelle has been quoted as saying, “If we could shut down all sport hunting in a moment, we would,” as quoted by the Associated Press in Impassioned Agitator, Dec. 30, 1991. “Our goal is to get sport hunting in the same category as cock fighting and dog fighting,” as quoted in the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, Oct. 8, 1991. And, “Sport hunting — the killing of wild animals as recreation — is fundamentally at odds with the values of a humane, just and caring society,” HSUS Website 2003.

And according to a report from the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance (USSA), Pacelle recently criticized in his blog, those who disagree with the group’s agenda, practically accusing them of not being in step with American culture, the report says.

Pacelle suggests that HSUS opponents should, “start adjusting to the evolving ethos in American culture. You’ll get ahead through innovation and adaptation, not stubborn adherence to custom or current business operations.” He also stated that other animal rights groups, “miss the bigger picture, and our interest in reaching mainstream Americans.”

“Mr. Pacelle’s own words pull the curtain back and unveil the real intent of the HSUS,” stated USSA President and CEO Bud Pidgeon. “He admits to attempting to ‘mainstream’ the group — at the same time he criticizes ‘custom.’ There’s only one reason to do this and that is to fundamentally change America to correspond to the HSUS agenda.”

The HSUS is also involved in a lawsuit to stop the delisting of the gray wolf as an endangered species in the Great Lakes states, where the wolf has rebounded to thriving and healthy populations, far exceeding the goals that were established in order to remove it from the list. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service — under the both the Bush and Obama Administrations — has determined that the wolf numbers are more than sufficient for it to be delisted. But that’s not good enough for the HSUS and other animal rights groups that are spending money on the lawsuit.

Could it be that the money being donated by people who are duped into believing they are helping doggies and kitties, is being used by these groups to fund those expensive anti-hunting lawsuits which tie up the courts with nonsense? We already know that a lot of the money feathers the nests of high-paid executives at the top of these groups.
Without an animal rights agenda, they’re out of their quarter-million-dollar salaries and would be slinging tofu at a vegan joint. You want veggie fries with that?

Just this week, PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) is in an uproar because President Obama swatted a fly. So, is swatting a fly (or a mosquito) now considered inhumane and abusive by animal rights’ standards? Are we now to adhere to the animal rights doctrine that mainstream America does not swat dirty, disease-carrying insects?

I see the animal rights brigade as nothing more than a noisy band of half-baked control freaks, led like sheep by cunning executives interested only in job security, who want to dictate how we spend our leisure time, what we eat and how we raise our own private pets. If you don’t like hunting, don’t hunt.

If you don’t like meat, eat weeds. Don’t want puppies, get your dog spayed. But why are they trying to shove their ridiculous agendas down our throats and make controversy out of “truly mainstream” activities that have been “custom” for centuries? It’s a free country, and if I want to hunt, eat meat, raise a litter of puppies and stomp on a bug, I should be able to without worrying about those whiny breast-beaters trying to outlaw it all.

Another recent hate letter was from Floyd, who thought my story about feeling the effects of approaching 50 just plain stunk and he wrote, “Write a book and do an autograph session with your raccoon hat and western jacket. Your description of stink is nothing compared to your articles.”

Well written, Floyd, but I beat you to it. Already working on my book — a collection of short stories, my favorite stinky articles. Hey, I might even name it that. “My Favorite Stinky Articles, by Marc Folco.” It’s got a nice ring to it. And thanks for the idea of wearing a coonskin hat for the book signing. Don’t have a coonskin one though, so I’ll have to wear my full-length coyote hat, made from a coyote that I shot (I’ll let you pet it if you buy a book). I don’t have a western jacket either, so I hope my buckskins will do (I’ll let you play with the fringe if you buy a book).

And if my articles stink so badly, why read them? If I think a writer stinks, I’m not wasting my valuable time reading his/her putrid rubbish from start to finish. I already know that fresh pile of doggie poo the puppy left on the carpet is going to stink, so I’m not going to sniff it.

Another reader was irate because I won a couple of humor awards from the New England Outdoor Writers’ Assoc. for 2008.
“Only you would make a joke out of killing a small defenseless deer — and your ilk rewarded that story on top of it. You and your kind are callous and disgusting,” M.S. said in reference to my story about shooting “teacup whitetails,” one of the award-winners. M.S. went on to say, “You are the most politically incorrect writer I have ever read!”

Well, my stories have won more than a dozen New England and national writing awards (many of them first place), so maybe you’re the one who is lacking a sense of humor. Laughter is the best medicine. Have a dose. Aint we got fun! I do have to agree with one thing. You hit the nail on the head — I am politically incorrect. And proud of it.

I am a man who tells it like it is, whether readers like it or not. I don’t write by anybody’s standards except my own, and those of the newspaper of course, where I can’t slander or use profanity. I wear my heart on my sleeve and say what I feel and think. Anybody who cowers to political correctness is a rump-smoocher in my book.

The end of “My Way,” as sung by Frank Sinatra, says it nicely:

“For what is a man?
What has he got?
If not himself
Then he has not
To say the things he truly feels
And not the words of one who kneels
The record shows
I took the blows
And did it my way.”

Marc Folco is the outdoor writer for The Standard Times. Contact him at openseason1988@aol.com
http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090621/SPORTS/906210384/-1/NEWSMAP

http://tinyurl.com/ns7blw

The message above was posted to West Virginia, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Missouri residents by the Sportsmen’s and Animal Owners’ Voting Alliance (SAOVA) on one of ten regional read only elists.

SAOVA is a nonpartisan volunteer group working to protect Americans from the legislative and political threats of radical animal rightists. It is the only national organization fighting this struggle for both sportsmen and animal owners, natural allies, in these arenas. Visit our website at http://saova.org for this program’s goals, methodology and list signup details.

FAX OR CALL THE LEGISLATORS LISTED BELOW AFTER YOU READ THE FOLLOWING WRITTEN BY JOHN YATES OF THE AMERICAN SPORTING DOG ALLIANCE.  HELP US FIGHT THE ANIMAL RIGHTISTS WHO WISH TO END DOG BREEDING AND ULTIMATELY DOG OWNERSHIP.

The Proposed Legislation Would Destroy   Almost Every Ohio Kennel

      Hearing Today – Act Now Or Lose It All

      by JOHN YATES
      American sporting Dog Alliance

http://www.americansportingdogalliance.org

      asda@csonline.net

      This report is archived at http://eaglerock814.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=47

      COLUMBUS, OH – A critical committee hearing is scheduled for TODAY (June 24, 2009) on legislation that we believe would make it impossible for anyone to raise dogs in Ohio. The House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee will take testimony on House Bill 124 beginning at 9:30 a.m. in Room 018 of the State Capitol Building. We have heard unofficial reports that testimony on another bill may push back the hearing on HB 124 until after Noon, but this cannot be confirmed officially.

      We cannot be too emphatic about the devastating nature of HB 124 and its impact on people who raise dogs in Ohio. It is very radical animal rights legislation straight from the heart of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), which is the political mouthpiece for this movement to gradually eliminate all animal ownership in America.

      If dog owners do not act decisively and in large numbers, they will have only themselves to blame if this terrible legislation is passed into law. Immediate action is required to save the dogs that you love. No excuse is good enough for failing to act now.

      Some people may think we are exaggerating and using scare tactics. We are not, and we will prove it in this report. First, we will summarize the major provisions in HB 124, and then we will provide a direct link to the actual text of this legislation so that people can read it for themselves and prove that everything we are saying is true.

      Ohio dog owners have every reason to be scared – very scared! And they have every reason to be very angry because this legislation denies innocent dog owners the basic rights and legal processes that are guaranteed to someone charged with murder or rape.

      You will no longer truly own your dogs if this legislation passes. They will become, in essence, wards of the state.

      Here are some of the major provisions of HB 124 and its companion bill, Senate Bill 95:

        a.. A Kennel Authority would be created to write regulations, administer the law and control virtually everything done by dog owners. The Authority’s politically appointed Board of Directors would be heavily weighted toward animal rights activists. Only one person who raises dogs and one person representing pet stores would be on the Board. There is no legislative or judicial oversight over the decisions of this board.

        a.. This committee would be given a free hand to design and implement all of the rules for kennel licensing, inspections and paperwork, as well as all construction, maintenance and management requirements..

        a.. The board will require every kennel owner and “any other person” who sells even one dog to obtain a tax vendor number. You must pay sales tax for selling even one dog or puppy.

        a.. Each applicant for any kind of kennel license will be subjected to a criminal background check by the state Attorney General.

        a.. Every license applicant must post insurance or a bond to cover the state’s cost of enforcing the law at the kennel.

        a.. The Board is given a completely blank check to write “any other requirements and procedures” to define and enforce the law. People with animal rights beliefs will have total control over the lives of dog owners.

        a.. Anyone who buys, offers to sell, sells or gives away nine or more dogs a year is intensely regulated and licensed as a dealer, which is called a “dog intermediary” in the legislation. Anyone who sells even one dog or puppy to a pet store also is considered a dealer.

        a.. Anyone who raises more than nine litters of puppies a year, or has 40 puppies a year, must be licensed as a “breeding kennel” and subject to extremely intense regulation. For some breeds, only four litters a year could produce 40 puppies. A “breeding dog” is defined as any dog that is not spayed or neutered, regardless of the dog’s actual purpose in a kennel.

        a.. Anyone from out of state who sells a dog or puppy to an Ohio resident must document the entire history of the dog, and provide a veterinary health certificate. This will make it very difficult for Ohioans to obtain a dog from another state.

        a.. Tail docking, ear cropping and dewclaw removal (or the removal of any other claw) can be done only by a veterinarian. Owners no longer could dock tails of newborn puppies, as has been standard practice for centuries. Owners also could be prosecuted if a dog accidentally rips off a claw, such as when hunting.

        a.. Kennel owners would no longer be allowed to treat even minor ailments or injuries, possibly even including parasites, which are now defined as a disease. All treatments must be done by a veterinarian.

        a.. No one can sell a dog at any public place, which would include field trials, dog shows and other canine gatherings. All sales must be at the kennel facility.

        a.. The state is required to inspect “any facility.upon request of a member of the public” or a public or quasi-public official. That means that animal rights activists can demand and get state inspections of the home and property of anyone who has dogs, without making or proving any allegation of a violation, and without producing proof of any kind. This will lead to continual and frightening harassment of law-abiding dogs owners by animal rights groups, and the state must respond to all requests for inspections, even if they are obviously bogus.

        a.. Inspectors are given absolute and incontestable power to enter and inspect “any public or private property” to see if a violation of the law has occurred. There is no requirement for a search warrant or probable cause (a warrant is an option method, but is not required). Anyone who refuses to allow an inspection, or hinders it, can be assessed for the entire cost to the state to investigate and prosecute, including wages and expenses for an unlimited number of state officials.

        a.. Any dog may be impounded if the state has probable cause to believe any violation of the law has occurred, but probable cause is not required to presented before a court, as is guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. A hearing before the state agency is set within five days, and the dogs could be permanently forfeited to face adoption or euthanasia. A dog owner cannot appeal to a local court, but can appeal only to the Environmental Division of the Franklin County Municipal Court, and the kennel owner must post a bond. The state agency thus becomes the cop, prosecutor, judge and jury.

        a.. Civil penalties ranging up to $15,000 can be imposed administratively (with no appeal) for violations, and separate penalties can be assigned for every dog in violation for every day it is in violation. Thus, a dog owner can be destroyed financially without ever getting his or her day in court, even for minor or accidental infractions.

        a.. The state “shall deny” a license to any person who has violated any part of the law or any rule, and that includes paperwork deficiencies, accidental mistakes and minor technical errors.

        a.. The state “shall deny” a license to anyone who “does not have the expertise or capacity to comply” with the law or regulations. That gives the state absolute power to judge the qualifications of anyone to own a dog, and no objective standards are defined. The decision is entirely subjective. There is no appeal. This also means that most poor and working class people could be denied licensure simply because they don’t have enough money to meet all of the state’s insatiable demands. This is a very real issue in today’s troubled economy, and Ohio is among the states hardest hit by the current deep recession.

        a.. No puppy under 12 weeks of age can be sold unless the litter is registered with the state. This essentially creates a database of every dog in Ohio, which many dog owners think will be used someday to mandate pet sterilization or ban certain breeds of dogs.

        a.. The law provides exacting specifications for kennel sizes, construction and temperature control, and allows the Board to create even more stringent regulations. These rules effectively prohibit a dog owner from raising puppies inside his or her own home, and also effectively ban outdoor housing in the winter for most breeds of dogs (it may exclude hunting and sled dogs, but there is some ambiguity in the language) if the water cannot be kept unfrozen 24 hours a day. The use of crates to train dogs kept in a home also is effectively banned.

        a.. Except for dogs that are continuously confined to a kennel, any dog that is found without a collar and license tag (even inside the owner’s home) can be seized, sold or killed. This would appear to include puppies, as the word “dog” is not defined.

        a.. No person or group who is licensed as a dog rescue would be allowed to breed any dogs or raise any puppies. This would destroy the breed rescue network in Ohio, as most of the participants actually raise the breed they are helping to rescue.

        a.. And reams of time-consuming paperwork and compliance documentations would be required, and minor omissions or errors could cause a license to be denied or revoked.

      It is the belief of the American Sporting Dog Alliance that the terms of HB 124 that are outlined above will combine to force almost every kennel in Ohio to close its doors. The combination of stringent rules, unreasonable liabilities and draconian enforcement measures will either result in kennels being closed by the state, or kennel owners being scared and intimidated into quitting to avoid the probability that the state would destroy their lives.

      Please do not take our word for it. We want you to read this legislation yourself and form your own conclusions.

      Here is a direct link to the actual text of HB 124: http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/bills.cfm?ID=128_HB_124 . Please read it.

      The American Sporting Dog Alliance regards this bill as an unconscionable perversion of the American concept of justice that shows utter disdain for the Bill of Rights, individual privacy or the concept of private property.

      What You Can Do About It

      Ohio dog owners are up against an array of powerful forces from the animal rights movement. They are well organized and well funded, and have been preparing for this legislation for many years.

      To stop this legislation will require an outpouring of clear opposition from several thousand Ohio dog owners, and the time for it to happen is now.

      If dog owners do not act in large numbers, there is a high probability that this terrible and destructive legislation will be passed into law.

      Please be scared. Please be angry. Please be scared and angry enough to fight back as if your life depends on it – and it does.

      Here is what you can do:

      Contact the chairman of the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee, Rep. John Domenick (D-95) and the Minority Chair, Rep. Jeff Wagner (R-81). Faxes and written letters are the best, but this should also include a phone call or email immediately, because the hearing is tomorrow. Emails alone probably are less effective, but far better than nothing.

      Here is contact information for Rep. Domenick:

      Address:
      77 S. High St
      12th Floor
      Columbus, OH 43215-6111
      Phone: (614) 466-3735
      Fax: (614) 719-6995
      Email: district95@ohr.state.oh.us

      Here is contact information for Rep. Wegner:

      Address:
      77 S. High St
      10th Floor
      Columbus, OH 43215-6111
      Phone: (614) 466-1374
      Fax: (614) 719-6981
      Email: district81@ohr.state.oh.us