6/8/08

The regional meeting co-hosted by VFHS (Virginia Federation of Humane Societies) and VAW (Virginians for Animal Welfare) met at 11 am on Sunday, 6/8/08, at the Railroad Depot in Culpeper, VA.

In attendance: * denotes member of Virginia Voters for Animal Welfare Board of Di-rectors

Benji Brackman
Ellen Broomfield
*Lillian Clancy
Marcie Corbin
Patricia Dahl
Maureen Federico
June Fiamengo
Karen Flynn
Dotty Gallegos
Rose Given
Debra Griggs
Carole Heller
Virginia Kilmer
*Don Marro
Joanne McCleary
Melanie Myers
Franklin Schmidt
Judy Shupp
*Pat Weakland
Samantha Whitesides
Caren Wilson

This meeting was hosted by Samantha Whiteside of the Culpeper Humane Society. Vir-ginia Kilmer of VFHS served as the meeting facilitator. Virginia urged support of all animal welfare organizations throughout Virginia and asked everyone to go to the VFHS website (www.VFHS.org) learn more about them.

Don Marro spoke about the differences between VVAW and VAW, noting that VVAW is a lobbying organization working to change animal welfare laws in Virginia. These laws are either inadequate or not properly enforced. VAW is the non-profit arm of the organization intended to research issues and to educate the public regarding animal wel-fare issues. That is a three-pronged task and requires
(1) collecting content and context information such as budgets, license compli-ance, Court Watch, promoting topical seminars, etc.
(2) evaluating legislation regarding responsible government; responsible pet own-ership; and responsible breeding.
(3) promoting unity, such as is demonstrated here today, between humane socie-ties, animal welfare groups and animal control associations throughout the state.

Samantha Whitesides and Karen Flynn of the Humane Society of Culpeper spoke about the focus of their group including adoption, spay/neuter, and their new trap/neuter/release (TNR) program. Samantha has also been working with Culpeper County to encourage them to adopt a similar TNR effort, but a roadblock has arisen. Samantha hopes the Hu-mane Society and Culpeper County will both work to provide relief for the county’s free-roaming cats.

It is not clear how Culpeper County or the office of the State Vet will characterize the TNR program. It has been suggested by the State Vet that TNR is illegal and constitutes abandonment. However, there is no legislation that covers it currently and the Attorney General has never provided an opinion on the question.

Pat Weakland indicated that Richmond County does provide funds for the Richmond County Shelter’s TNR program. Patricia Dahl, an ACO in Orange County, indicated that her office sometimes works with Culpeper helping transfer animals seeking adoption via PetSmart.

A review of 2008 legislation followed.

Kathy Strouse, the legislative liaison of VACA (Virginia Animal Control Association) reviewed animal bills from the 2008 session in a video presentation.

Bills which passed

House bills
HB 5 eliminate use of gas chambers
HB 207 limits pound inspections to areas where animals are housed
HB 537 allows county treasurers to destroy receipts regarding rabies vacci-nations after registering the information
HB 538 defines commercial breeders and allows for inspections by ACOs
HB 655 allows Judges discretion to determine whether or not a dog is dan-gerous
HB 656 animal fighting bill
HB 999 requires an alleged abuser to post bond for housing and care of im-pounded animal while case is pending in court.
HB 1331 recodify all animal law

Senate Bills
SB 26 makes dog fighting a RICO offense (i.e., steep penalties)
SB 532 animal fighting
SB 663 allows increase of fees for habitual offenders

Bills which failed

House bills
HB 217 tethering (withdrawn)
HB 334 making it a felony to steal a cat
HB 533 prohibited driving with a dog in one’s lap
HB 306 requires new animal control officers to attend the training academy within one year of hire (presently within 2 years) and attend con-tinuing education classes
HB 1057 regarding cockfighting

Senate Bills
SB 438 humane education

Kathy wishes in 2009 to address and again bring before the legislature the training of ACOs and extension of protective orders to pets.

The second video speaker was Sharon Adams, Executive Director of the Virginia Beach SPCA, who addressed HB 538, the puppymill bill. The bill focuses on the “breed for greed” issue and addresses limitations on commercial breeding, disposal and housing in humane conditions of dogs.

The third video was by Debra Griggs who spoke about HB 673, the “Water Bill”, which requires enough water to be consistently available for dogs with a fine up to $250.

Don Marro then spoke about the need for involvement, unity and persistence. It took 5 years for the gas chamber bill to be successful. The bond bill now allows shelters to charge offenders for the cost of housing and caring for animals. The RICO bill now in-cludes dogfighting and permits a fine of up to $1 million and 20 years imprisonment for a dogfighting conviction. The passage of these bills is the result of animal welfare organi-zations throughout the state working together for legislative change.

Virginia Kilmer then called for input from the attendees to put together an agenda for 2009 legislative issues.

The list follows with the “lead” on each issue identified.

1. tethering – Debra Griggs

2. humane investigators – Lillian Clancy

3. spay/neuter – addresses making breeders releasing agencies and therefore require spay/neuter for most animals; this also includes issues about s/n prior to adoption – Pat Weakland

4. license fee cap change – Don Marro

5. TNR – Samantha Whitesides

Samantha also wants every county to have disaster preparedness program.

There followed a brief discussion regarding regulation of interstate importation of ani-mals for retail sale. It was noted that importation from other states is an interstate com-merce issue. Once animals are inside Virginia, their sale can then be regulated.

6. identification of hunting dogs by microchip – no head

7. breeder limitations – addresses “designer dogs” – no head

8. humane education – no head

Meeting attendees were encouraged to sign up for topics of interest from the list above, and by so doing, indicating a willingness to be part of a group to work on specific issues.

The meeting was adjourned at 1:10.