10/15/06

VVAW met at 11 am on Sunday, 10/15/06, at Second Street Restaurant in Newport News, VA.

In attendance:

Briscolino, Meredith

*Clancy, Lillian

Coalgate, Jerry

Colon, Charisse

Confer, Cindy

Furman, Gail

Galvin, Kathy

Greene, Susan

*Griggs, Debra

Horton, Kathy

James, Ashley

James, Phillip

*Marro, Donald

Mascarello, Erica

Peterson, Nancy

Pittman, Tina

Scott, Stephanie

Sharp, Strother

Smith, Jacque

Traylor, Margaret

Traylor, Waverley

Weakland, Betty

*Weakland, Pat

Welch, Bill

Zarske, Ginger

* before name denotes Member, Board of Directors for Virginia Voters for Animal Welfare and for Virginians for Animal Welfare

The meeting was arranged and hosted by Debra Griggs.  Thank you, Debra.

The meeting began by each board member in attendance giving a brief background of themselves and their experience in animal welfare.

1.   Waverley Traylor and his wife Margaret were introduced.

Waverley spoke of their growing Santa Paws program, a program which provides special treats on Christmas Day for the pets of needy people.  Starting small, the program now has a good following including local media.  In 2005, 98 baskets were delivered.  The Traylors started delivering at 5:30 am and finished at 8pm on Christmas Day, refilling their van three times. 

Because there is a need all year, a Pet Food Bank has also been established.

Erica Mascarello asked what measure was used to determine needy families.  Waverley worked with social services to build a list.

2.   Waverley discussed the elimination of gas chambers in Isle of Wight, the county in which he serves as an ACO.

His county had an 80% euthanasia rate four years ago, but it stands now at 28%.  Gas was used although the ACOs were certified to do EBI.  However, it was not easy to euthanize all by EBI, so gas was still used.  Waverley then got a veterinarian to train them to use pre-euthanasia sedation, and this eliminated any reason for using gas any longer.  The ACOs then refused to use gas, and so the transition was not done by a legislative process, but by insiders saying “no” to using gas.  Unfortunately, Traylor says his county lost a good opportunity to get favorable PR by promoting this decision.  He noted that the chamber is still on site but is now used to store dishes.

While conceding better and more animal laws are needed, Waverley says it is more important to get those already on the books aggressively enforced, so he encourages everyone to work with both the public and law enforcement.  When someone calls with a complaint, Waverley gives out their Board of Supervisor’s name and number, asking the caller to contact them if he cannot help, or if there needs to be new ordinances, or existing ordinances more forcefully enforced.  He said the need to push is constant.

Debra Griggs asked whether Waverley’s job was at risk when he said he would no longer gas.  No, it wasn’t, he answered.  Actually demonstrating the practicality of EBI removed all arguments for continuing with gas.

Ginger Zarske asked for and received more details about the mechanics of sedation and the drugs used.

3.   Don asked how Isle of Wight reduced their euthanasia rate so dramatically. 

Waverley said: 

a.   they started working on various adoption programs including posting information on the county website and on Petfinders

b.   they began cooperating with several animal organizations in the region such as Heritage Humane in Williamsburg and the Virginia Beach SPCA, working out arrangements for animal transfer from IOW to other places

c.   3 vets helped with s/n prior to adoption, with the new owner picking up the pet at the vet and paying there

d.   animals were taken to the Farmers Market weekly to encourage adoptions

e.   vets volunteered their services to come in weekly and check the health of the animals

f.   screening for health problems including heartworm became the deciding factor when an animal needed to be put down, keeping the healthy animals available for adoption.

Don said these are ordinary people doing extraordinary things.

Debra Griggs asked if any would be interested in reconvening and bringing an ACO to a meeting such as this.  There was widespread enthusiasm and interest in so doing.

4.   Don gave some VVAW history, and the rationale for going beyond baby steps.  There is so much euthanasia, so much money spent on pet overpopulation of animals, and a worsening problem with cats.  Inspections and animal records reporting is inadequate, and State Vet leadership in gas chambers elimination is unlikely.  Privatization of the inspections and reporting activities of the State Vet is being sought.

5.   A discussion of the concept of enabling legislation, the Dillon rule, and cities vs. counties took place led by Don, Bill Welch, and Pat Weakland.

6.   Gail Furman wants to support those who vote animal friendly.  She asked what to do about the vote of a local legislator, Sen. Williams. 

Don indicated that previously Sen. Williams has opposed humane education.  Don feels his constituents should let him know this is not what they want.

Ashley James has worked for Sen. Williams and talked of the need of legislators in general to support each other in the legislature.

Bill Welch encouraged contact of legislators, and Debra Griggs offered that constituents have the right to call their legislators, have the right to request a meeting, and to get a meeting.  Debra will attend meetings with others, saying legislators need to hear the voices.

7.   Gail asked if there was interest in getting newspaper coverage of VVAW efforts.  Don suggested that Waverley said it best when he described the media caravan following his Santa Paws effort – that media coverage “explodes” the number of supporters for a program and builds their enthusiasm.

8.   Jerry Coalgate spoke of the difficulty in trying to make change.

9.   gas chamber initiative

Don reiterated that elimination of gas chambers is the signature issue this session.

The Chair of the House Ag Sub-Committee, Bobby Orrock, may not support this bill unless his committee colleagues want it passed.

10.   dealer permits bill

Ginger Zarske asked how one would check for a license to sell animals – the dealer permit.  Don answered that it could be done in random checks, in advertisements or by whatever cross-referencing the local jurisdictions decide to use.

Ashley spoke of a business license (not always required by a jurisdiction) vs. a dealer permit (the VVAW bill would make a dealer permit mandatory).

Waverley said the difference is the intent – the purpose of sale - with no dollar component to the dealer permit.

11.   dog fighting bill

Gail said federal employees would likely not be considered public employees for purposes of this bill.

Don agreed that public employees are state, county and city employees.

12.   releasing agencies bill

Jerry Coalgate and Don prefer to have mandatory chipping as part of the bill, but it was removed to make the bill more likely to be passed. 

They suggested that chipping might be a separate bill.

Pat Weakland indicated his support of chipping and suggested Jerry find a patron for such a bill.

Waverley suggests chipping can be added later and asked that the “front end” not be “increased”.

Don says he will talk with previous patrons of the releasing agency bill (Del. Terry Kilgore and Sen. Roscoe Williams) and defer to them should they want to include chipping.

Strother Sharp wondered if spay/neuter can be postponed by having the adopter pay a “healthy” deposit on the animal.  If all had to pay such a deposit, would that change things?  Debra Griggs answered by saying the law currently reads that sterilization must be done within 30 days of adoption except for special circumstances.

13.   humane investigator bill

Debra Griggs suggested that constituents of Terri Suit ask her to patron since Del. Suit is the person who patroned the bill to eliminate the program.

14.   humane education bill

Don said the description of this bill in the handout will be changed so the Dept. of Education creates and implements the humane ed curriculum.  The bill was opposed last year by the Farm Bureau.

Margaret Traylor said the SOLs are so important.  Don said that some SOLs are due for revision in 2007 and that might be a basis for a bill, not merely a study resolution as was the case in the 2006 initiative.

Nancy Peterson says Sen. Williams opposes humane ed if it is not part of the SOLs as the teachers are overwhelmed with what they currently must do.

15.   Meredith Briscolino wondered about the effectiveness of a petition vs. individual emails.

Don wants to avoid canned responses to these issues.

Ashley said from her experience, if the same letter is seen repeatedly, the message is often deleted.  She advocates sending something which will require a legislator to work to make a response.

16.  vet tax credit bill

Ginger wondered if services donated aren’t already deductible.

The difference between a tax deduction and a tax credit was described.  This bill would provide a tax credit.

17.   abuse fines bill

Don says this bill intends to remove some of the prosecutorial and/or judicial discretion which results in wrist-slapping when a more serious penalty would be more of a deterrent and more fitting.

18.   $3 rabies surcharge bill

Don feels this bill could be tricky as the group charged with collection may not be willing to collect.

He noted that low cost clinics and community rabies clinics would be exempt from the surcharge.

Debra Griggs asked if the vet community is on board with this initiative, postulating that perhaps, if done in tandem with the vet tax credit bill, the vets might support it.

19.   tethering bill

Waverley said enforcement of such a bill is more easily accomplished in town rather than out in the open country.  He did not know the VACA stand on tethering but said he would be attending  the VACA conference next week.

Debra Griggs said tethering is not being eliminated with this bill but rather a higher standard of care is being set.

Debra asked if she reports a tethering infraction to an ACO, will the ACO then do something.  Waverley responded by saying it is an enforcement nightmare.  Debra asked if she might work with Waverley to come up with suitable the bill language.

Don feels that the bill should be enacted if it produces better owner behavior, i.e., more responsible owners.

20.   license fee cap bill

Don indicated that the requirement for vets to report rabies inoculations may provide the right basis for a higher cap on the cost of dog and cat licenses.

21.   Louisiana evacuation bill

Bill Welch asked whether VVAW would offer a bill similar to that in Louisiana about evacuation, describing the Louisiana bill as more specific than the recently passed federal bill.  He said Sharon Adams/Virginia Beach SPCA is working on such a bill.

Don said we will support such a bill.