The New Year
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On A Loose Lead What will happen in 2010? I wish I could tell you all is well. Beginning in January the clouds will part, the sun will shine and we can all go back to our old lives. Nope! It ain’t gonna happen! Our world has changed. As I said when I created PetPAC, “we have to be in this for the long haul”. For years we have been sitting on the sidelines, while others have had to bear the fight against our rights to pet ownership. With the emergence of mandatory spay and neuter laws the threat against us became very real and very immediate. Thousands of us came together. PetPAC and other groups provided the leadership and training to mount a political battle. In California we won handily. But, now we are faced with other threats. Not just in California either. There is anti-pet legislation in every one of the fifty states. So, where do we go from here? First, let me try to layout the problem. There is a movement within the United States to eliminate pet ownership. Pure and simple. As crazy as it sounds, it is quite real. All the anti pet legislation, all the moves to install breed specific laws, mandatory spay and neuter, breed bans, restrictive breeding fees; all the talk of so called pet overpopulation, a lack of available homes for our pets, the tragedy of killing that goes on in our animal shelters---all funnels down to one thing: The extinction of our dogs and cats, birds and rabbits, horses and reptiles as family pets. It’s very simple. Here it is: "If indeed the property status of animals were to be abolished, what would be the legal and practical effects on the commercial use of animals? What would happen to the animals themselves--should they be put in sanctuaries, sterilized, or permitted to move towards extinction?" Their strategy is simple. Chip away at our legal rights. Initiate legislation that takes away those rights---a little at a time. This may take form by legislation that increases animal cruelty laws to include what are now legal activities, such as: setting ever reducing caps of pet ownership, reducing your right to sell pets, stripping away your due process rights, running over your legal protections, invading your privacy, intimidation by government agents or policies to give up your legal protections. All in the name of stopping animal cruelty. At the same time, create national public relation programs to wean us and our children away from pets. Continue to push the so-called pet overpopulation. There is no pet overpopulation. If there were, we would see starving dogs and cats on our city’s streets. Pet shops would have to close down because no pets were wanted. Pets would be purchased only from animal shelters. Pure bred dog and cat breeders would have no one to sell their pet quality puppies and kittens to. Portray purebred dog and cat breeders as uncaring merchants who produce thousands of unwanted animals, make millions from puppy sales, pay no taxes and allow their puppies to end up in shelters. Create confusion and guilt by denigrating terms such as, “puppy mills”, “backyard breeders”, and “irresponsible breeders”. Continuously accuse them of mistreatment, disease and death of puppies. So, what are we to do? Well, we can continue to do what we have been doing. That is accepting their intimidation, guilt, and extortion. Or, we can continue to bury our heads in the sand, fight amongst ourselves, let others do the fighting, or just sit there in fear like a deer in the headlights. Or, we can draw a line in the sand, turn and fight. That is what PetPAC is doing. It doesn’t matter what the issue is. We need to do the research to ferret out the real intentions of the threat. Even if the legislation sounds logical on the surface, the proof is in the pudding. Stop judging those of us who are leading the charge, through your own biases. Judge us by what is the best for our community. Stop, stop, stop calling for an all out jihad against so-called puppy mills, backyard breeders and pet shops. There is no way in hell that we can produce enough pets to satisfy the desire for them. There is no way we can interfere with interstate commerce without it interfering with us. There is no way we can stop legal commercial sales of pets. The real threat to our existence is the animal extremist movement. In my belief it is PETA, HSUS and hundreds of their satellites that want to eliminate pets. They will do anything including lying, cheating, misleading, intimidating, threatening and buying their way to victory. I have seen this first hand in their legislation, in their messages, in their testimony and in live debates. We need to stop feeling guilty. After all, we breed the best dogs and cats in the world. We breed for perfection of the breed, for the elimination of imperfection, elimination of disease and the wonder our pets bring to us. Can we win this battle? Of course we can. In fact, we have won some battles already. The key is this: Build bigger and stronger coalitions. The dog and cat fancy cannot win this war alone. Of the 400 or so dog clubs in California, only about half actually contribute to winning. Where are the others? If you are one of the 71,000 + who support PetPAC, here are some specifics:
2010 will be a repeat of the last three years. But, believe this. With your help we are getting stronger. We are turning the tide. If we continue to band together, to require openness and honesty from our leaders, then support them regardless of setbacks, we will be successful.
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