12/16/07

VVAW met at 11 am on Sunday, 12/16/07, at the Reston Community Center in Reston, VA.

In attendance: * denotes member of Virginia Voters for Animal Welfare Board of Directors
Diana Artemis
*Lillian Clancy
Tracy Coppola
Kim Herman
Grace Holden
*Don Marro
Lewis Leiter
Ron Litz
Kim Lockhart
Lisa Qualls
Jason Redisch
Karin Redisch
Lynn Reid
Holly Sternberg
Betty Weakland
*Pat Weakland

Don Marro brought the meeting to order. Each person introduced themselves and gave a brief background of themselves and their experience in animal welfare.

1. background
Don provided a brief backgrounder on VVAW, indicating that VVAW addresses companion animal issues legislatively, and seeks to be a catalyst for action.

It has taken several years for VVAW to become known, and although we have tried repeatedly to collaborate with other groups, with few exceptions, it has been a lonely fight.

VVAW will continue to push on as many bills and topics as there are patrons to get them passed. All bills fall within the rubric of responsible government, responsible ownership, and responsible breeding.

VVAW wants to undertake more educational activities similar to the Peter Marsh weekend last September, and to build funds to be able to grow spay/neuter programs.

2. humane ed
Don discussed the humane ed bills and what happened historically with them. An early humane ed bill was backed by Sen. Russ Potts, who was then head of the Senate Education Committee; it sought to have a week in February designated as Humane Ed week and to put humane ed in the “character ed” section of SOLs. It failed, with the array of opposition the same as it has been to many VVAW bills. Opposition calls VVAW bills the first step on the slippery slope to some terrible outcome - no pets, no meat, no farms, etc. – you fill in the blank. The challenge has be-come what to say to the opposition so they are not so afraid of working with VVAW. Opposi-tion is primarily from hunters, the Farm Bureau, veterinarians, and breeders.

Kim Herman opined that the opposition is correct – that the goals of VVAW are on the contin-uum of animal welfare that goes from companion animals to all other animals.

Lisa Qualls said if VVAW supporters talk about animals, then the speaker risks being stereo-typed as going well beyond companion animals.

Holly Sternberg also felt that there is a continuum and she is further along on it than VVAW is.

Don responded to the contrary, saying that the VVAW mission is companion animals only, whatever the personal feelings of anyone; our brief is limited to companion animals.

Tracy Coppola says she feels factory farms will never go away. She says legislation needs to be sold as a moderate approach, emphasizing, in justifying that legislation, the way it affects chil-dren/humans.

Don said that this was only part of the rationale, that we have posited the financial (quantitative) and the behavioral (qualitative) issues both, and further that we will retire from the fray when there are no longer any excess companion animals.

Don further noted that our options are to convert by persuasion or to overwhelm by volume of supporters.

Don insisted that VVAW must have no hidden agenda and that our limited focus must be re-peated emphatically and often.

Don continued that we thought Sen. Whipple would once again patron the humane ed bill, but now as Chair of the Senate Rules Committee she has told us her plate is too full. Constituents were encouraged to contact her and ask for her support.

3. BSL
Ron Litz talked of the situation in Loudoun County where pits and pit mixes are euthanized based on breed despite the Attorney General opinion that breed may not be the basis for killing. Loudoun County has purportedly stopped killing on that basis, but instead now kills based on the results of behavior evaluation. The general feeling is that this is a subterfuge and that this “tem-perament testing” is skewed to ensure pits and pit mixes fail.

4. privatization
The Loudoun County situation prompted a discussion of the desire for privatization of certain functions of the State Vet, inspections of facilities being the driving component. With the law allowing civil fines to be levied at $1K/day per infraction, such fines alone could support the program.

Pat Weakland encouraged Ron Litz to work through the newly elected members of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors.

Ron is trying to do that but needs a much larger group to accomplish what needs to be done; he wants several hundred to attend meeting, not 5-6 people.

5. releasing agencies
Lisa Qualls asked why the State Vet doesn’t support this and other VVAW bills.

Don listed some of the organizations which do not support including VFDC&B (Virginia Fed-eration of Dog Clubs & Breeders), VVMA (Virginia Veterinary Medical Association), VHDOA (Virginia Hunting Dog Owners Association), and lukewarm and uneven support from VACA (Virginia Animal Control Association).

Don recalled that we had been hoodwinked before by VFDC&B and VVMA, but behaved hon-orably. With our blessing, Del Kilgore pulled the releasing agencies bill the first time it was in-troduced because we had been promised VFDC&B support and VVMA support, but didn’t get either.

6. form letters
Diana Artemis asked if there couldn’t be form letters to be sent out to protest or support various bills.

Don suggested instead that it would be faster and more effective for groups to call their legisla-tors and simply ask them to oppose (or support) a given bill.

7. lobby day in Richmond
Diana Artemis asked if VVAW couldn’t join other groups in Richmond on Martin Luther King Day as a way to lobby.

Don said by that time, all decisions will have been made and the effort will lack any immediate impact. The bills will have been assigned to committees by then, so the influence that needs to be felt should be completed by the end of the year at best or before session starts (1/9/08) at worst.

8. bill language
Lewis Leiter helped Pat Weakland with some language for the dealer section of the releasing agencies bill.

9. gas chambers
Pat Weakland provided a brief history of the VVAW effort to outlaw gas chambers over several years and the refusal of VVAW’s offer of funding to help in the transition, followed the very next year by an ephemeral promise of funding that was accepted.

VVAW will continue to push a bill to eliminate gas in the event Del. Orrock should decide to pull the gas chamber ban bill he has filed at the last minute.

10. abuse fines
Tracy Coppola indicated AHA will support this bill and wants to work with the patron on it.

11. surcharge on pet purchase
Lisa Qualls asked if there couldn’t be a surcharge on the purchase (not adoption) of a pet as a way to fund s/n. Such a charge could be required by breeders, licensed or not, and pet shops.

12. license fee cap
Lewis Leiter said there was a substantial penalty for failure to buy a dog license.

13. Court Watch
The development of a Court Watch type program which would have speakers and seminar-type presentations was briefly discussed.

14. getting bills/ordinances enacted
Don suggested contacting legislators and those who influence the legislators such as ACOs, vets, Boards of Supervisors, and Treasurers for revenue and measures. Reaching these same groups is an alternative, working with them to pass ordinances locally if statewide adoption is not accom-plished.

15. definitions
Lisa Qualls said we need to be clearer that companion animals are the only focus of VVAW.

The meeting was adjourned at 1 pm.