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Election 2005
For Immediate Release
March 27, 2006
Virginia General Assembly Bill Risks Rabies Crisis
HB339 Dog Owner Database, was passed by a divided Virginia General Assembly and is currently on Governor Tim Kaine's desk. The bill will substantially increase the risk of rabies exposure to the state's citizens. "While the greater public health danger is an unintended consequence, there's little doubt that this bill needs to be killed," said Bob Kane, president of the Virginia Hunting Dog Owners' Association. "I only hope that Governor Kaine listens to the hundreds of pet owners, veterinarians, physicians, livestock owners and other citizens that have urged him to veto this ill-considered bill. Rabies is a terrible, fatal disease that is endemic to every Virginia county. This bill is a true threat to all."
Lori D. Leonard DVM, of Concord, Virginia agrees, " I am a veterinarian and am opposed to this bill. It is my duty to immunize animals against rabies, which then protects the public from this deadly disease. It is not my duty to report personal information on the animal-owning public to the authorities, although this bill would require all vets to do this. This sets a very dangerous precedent. People will decide against immunizing their pets at all, for fear of their information (name, address, # of animals, type of animals, etc) being publicly available. Please contact Gov. Kaine immediately and urge him to veto HB339."
HB339, introduced by Delegate Bobby Orrock of Caroline County, requires that for the first time veterinarians giving rabies vaccinations to dogs directly provide local officials with detailed owner and animal information. That information must be made publicly available.
Loudoun County resident Jim Slagle, President of the Capitol City Cocker Club, expressed his concern this way, "If this bill is not vetoed by the Governor, our state will be the first to have a public database of all dog owners, their address, number of dogs, and breeds. This information will be collected by your veterinarian and passed to the city and county when you have your dog inoculated for rabies. This data will be public record and available to anyone. At the least, everyone in the database will be deluged with solicitations from everything from vendors for dog related products to veterinarians soliciting your business. At the worst the information could be used by vindictive neighbors, your insurance company if they decide that a cocker is a vicious animal or at the very worst, you could become the target of some unhinged animal rightist campaign."
There is no way to "opt-out" of this privacy invasion, except to not vaccinate animals against rabies. California law makes the public release of such information a crime, while Florida and Texas legislatures rejected similar bills. HB339 is the first-in-the-nation bill to so dramatically infringe on pet owner privacy.
Currently Virginia law requires all dogs and cats to be vaccinated against rabies. Dog licensing is also universally required, while eleven jurisdictions license cats. Most dogs receive rabies shots, a requirement for licensing. Feline vaccination data is sparse. Feline rabies, in Virginia and nationally, far surpasses that of any other domestic animal. Reports compiled by the Virginia Department of Health document approximately 500 cases of rabies annually, most of them associated with raccoons and other wildlife. In the years 2003-2005, there were six (6) times more cat rabies cases than those involving dogs. These reports involved some of Virginia's largest forty-nine (49) counties and cities. See list and map.
Children and adults are far more likely to come into close contact with a infected dog or cat than with a rabid raccoon or skunk, making pet vaccination critically important. The last state rabies fatality occurred in Fairfax County in 2003. The most recent, widely-publicized rabid cat bite hospitalized a Rockbridge County man who was delivering "meals-on-wheels." Several years ago, the state issued a nationwide alert warning visitors that might have bitten by a rabid cat in a Fairfax County Park. Many, many more bite incidents and rabies treatments don't receive such publicity.
Kane concluded, "This bill makes absolutely no sense. It's bad public health and animal control policy. The government shouldn't be discouraging rabies vaccinations, as it's clearly doing here. The cat rabies data is overwhelming. If the governor doesn't veto HB339, he, the bill's patron and supporters will be responsible for a serious increase in canine rabies. This isn't theoretical. It's a given."
For additional information, contact Bob Kane at 540-543-2312
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The Virginia Hunting Dog Owners' Association is a statewide volunteer group of sporting, hound and mixed breed dog owners dedicated to advancing and protecting the Old Dominion's hunting traditions. For more information about VHDOA, call (540) 543-2312 or visit http://vhdoa.uplandbirddog.com/index.html
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March 27, 2006
Virginia General Assembly Bill Risks Rabies Crisis
HB339 Dog Owner Database, was passed by a divided Virginia General Assembly and is currently on Governor Tim Kaine's desk. The bill will substantially increase the risk of rabies exposure to the state's citizens. "While the greater public health danger is an unintended consequence, there's little doubt that this bill needs to be killed," said Bob Kane, president of the Virginia Hunting Dog Owners' Association. "I only hope that Governor Kaine listens to the hundreds of pet owners, veterinarians, physicians, livestock owners and other citizens that have urged him to veto this ill-considered bill. Rabies is a terrible, fatal disease that is endemic to every Virginia county. This bill is a true threat to all."
Lori D. Leonard DVM, of Concord, Virginia agrees, " I am a veterinarian and am opposed to this bill. It is my duty to immunize animals against rabies, which then protects the public from this deadly disease. It is not my duty to report personal information on the animal-owning public to the authorities, although this bill would require all vets to do this. This sets a very dangerous precedent. People will decide against immunizing their pets at all, for fear of their information (name, address, # of animals, type of animals, etc) being publicly available. Please contact Gov. Kaine immediately and urge him to veto HB339."
HB339, introduced by Delegate Bobby Orrock of Caroline County, requires that for the first time veterinarians giving rabies vaccinations to dogs directly provide local officials with detailed owner and animal information. That information must be made publicly available.
Loudoun County resident Jim Slagle, President of the Capitol City Cocker Club, expressed his concern this way, "If this bill is not vetoed by the Governor, our state will be the first to have a public database of all dog owners, their address, number of dogs, and breeds. This information will be collected by your veterinarian and passed to the city and county when you have your dog inoculated for rabies. This data will be public record and available to anyone. At the least, everyone in the database will be deluged with solicitations from everything from vendors for dog related products to veterinarians soliciting your business. At the worst the information could be used by vindictive neighbors, your insurance company if they decide that a cocker is a vicious animal or at the very worst, you could become the target of some unhinged animal rightist campaign."
There is no way to "opt-out" of this privacy invasion, except to not vaccinate animals against rabies. California law makes the public release of such information a crime, while Florida and Texas legislatures rejected similar bills. HB339 is the first-in-the-nation bill to so dramatically infringe on pet owner privacy.
Currently Virginia law requires all dogs and cats to be vaccinated against rabies. Dog licensing is also universally required, while eleven jurisdictions license cats. Most dogs receive rabies shots, a requirement for licensing. Feline vaccination data is sparse. Feline rabies, in Virginia and nationally, far surpasses that of any other domestic animal. Reports compiled by the Virginia Department of Health document approximately 500 cases of rabies annually, most of them associated with raccoons and other wildlife. In the years 2003-2005, there were six (6) times more cat rabies cases than those involving dogs. These reports involved some of Virginia's largest forty-nine (49) counties and cities. See list and map.
Children and adults are far more likely to come into close contact with a infected dog or cat than with a rabid raccoon or skunk, making pet vaccination critically important. The last state rabies fatality occurred in Fairfax County in 2003. The most recent, widely-publicized rabid cat bite hospitalized a Rockbridge County man who was delivering "meals-on-wheels." Several years ago, the state issued a nationwide alert warning visitors that might have bitten by a rabid cat in a Fairfax County Park. Many, many more bite incidents and rabies treatments don't receive such publicity.
Kane concluded, "This bill makes absolutely no sense. It's bad public health and animal control policy. The government shouldn't be discouraging rabies vaccinations, as it's clearly doing here. The cat rabies data is overwhelming. If the governor doesn't veto HB339, he, the bill's patron and supporters will be responsible for a serious increase in canine rabies. This isn't theoretical. It's a given."
For additional information, contact Bob Kane at 540-543-2312
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The Virginia Hunting Dog Owners' Association is a statewide volunteer group of sporting, hound and mixed breed dog owners dedicated to advancing and protecting the Old Dominion's hunting traditions. For more information about VHDOA, call (540) 543-2312 or visit http://vhdoa.uplandbirddog.com/index.html
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Copyright © 2006 VHDOA