Virginia Hunting Dog Owner's Association

----- Original Message -----
From: vhdoa.earthlink.net
To: S_VHDOA
Sent: Tuesday, August 08, 2006 8:28 PM
Subject: Virginia Dog Owner Database News Story

Dear Virginia Dog Owners,

In the clearest indication yet that the supporters of HB339's Mandatory Dog Owner Database aren't finished, the Associated Press story here appeared in many state newspapers today. The story was written by Edie Gross of the Fredericksburg Free-Lance Star, Delegate Bobby Orrock's hometown print media outlet. Make no mistake, the Humane Society of the U.S., Virginia Animal Control Association, Virginia Federation of Humane Societies and Virginia Voters for Animal Welfare want several things very badly next year in Richmond. The anti's goals are to raise the cost of intact (not sterilized) dog tags to very high levels, and to be able to identify the owner of every dog in the state for license enforcement and other purposes.

If dog license fees were set to cover local animal control and shelter-pound costs, they'd be ~$90 each in most areas of Virginia. "Make'm pay, make'm pay" was heard again and again last January and February. Such a huge fee increase is politically impossible, except incrementally, probably fixed in Richmond, or otherwise forced on the localities. Any fee jump invariably reduces current tag sales, which are estimated 30% of all dogs today. About 85-90% of our dogs are believed to be vaccinated against rabies.

Arguing that breedable dogs cause all manner of society's problems, starting with pet "overpopulation," the organized anti's have implemented intact fees of $25-$150 across the country. Norfolk is at $25, Durham's at $75, Los Angeles County's at $65, Orange County's at $75 and Albuquerque's at $150. Sacramento County has proposed a jump from $30 to $150, holding its sterilized fee at $15. Riverside County, California has an unknown intact fee increase and mandatory microchipping of all pets pending. Invariably, these penalty fees for intact animals are ignored and very hard to enforce. To counter this, Sacramento County has added a Virginia- type rabies information reporting system in its proposal, in an effort to tax all intact dogs that are vaccinated against the disease.

This AP story badly lacks balance. It's patently obvious that Delegate Orrock constructed this dog attack identification rationale for his bill out of whole cloth and Gross just printed it w/o thought. Never before, in the 2006 General Assembly or since, has he ever used this logic for HB339. You don't license cats, as he proposed to do, because of Mrs. Sullivan's death and at no time was there any doubt to whom those pit bulls belonged. Further, the other two dog attack fatalities last year in Virginia involved family dogs. This is total post-hoc rationalization and the argument he'll likely employ to justifying expensive mandatory microchipping of all rabies vaccinated dogs next session. This story is soft soap nonsense with dramatically overstated noncompliance figures.

As if your personal property and real estate tax bills come with a "polite reminder."

<"We think the majority of the lack of compliance is because of the inconvenience of going down to get a license," Escobar said. "The vast majority of my pet owners are thrilled to death that this is going to be so easy."
As introduced, HB339 required veterinarians to sell rabies tags, making it "so easy" for owners to buy them. Escobar and VVMA yelled, screamed and fought against it. What hypocrisy!

Hanover County's Scott Miller, the treasurers' group president, was against HB339. That's not mentioned in the story, nor did Gross interview the treasurers who have spoken out publicly complaining about the bill's implementation cost and the fact they'll loose money, if the fees aren't increased. There's no mention of HB339's initial higher fees for all but Norfolk residents, the fierce objections to the bill by thousands of dog owners, or the fact that California proposes to use a HB339 type database to require the microchipping of all dogs and their sterilization, or the purchase of a $150 intact fee.

Old Dominion dog owners resent this veterinarian-supplied "gotcha" database and its gross violation of personal privacy. Your personal information MUST be made publicly available to insurance companies, other commercial interests, all activists and any nosey busybody. Failure to obtain rabies shots runs the risk of creating increased incidence of rabies. Rabies is endemic in our state as illustrated by the 1000 girl scouts in northern Virginia that may need $2000 rabies treatments and the serious rabies outbreak in Surry County. HB339 is simply a bad bill on many levels. Governor Kaine delayed its implementation 12 months so that the General Assembly could rewrite it, if it choose to do so.

I can't help but wonder if this Star story isn't an effort forestall any HB339 rewrite and prepare people for round #2, microchipping, cat licensure and higher intact pet fees. The Star has come a long way from its "Snoopy, go home" anti-HB339 op-ed here.

We know what the anti's are probably up to. The major question that remains is have the Virginia Federation of Dog Clubs and Breeders' member delegates made enough difference in its management direction to prevent a repeat of the debacle for which it was responsible in the 2006 General Assembly session? Your Club Shouldn't be Supporting the Virginia Federation of Dog Clubs and Breeders

You may be interested in my Dog Press interview, posted today.

Freely forward and cross post.

Sincerely,
Bob Kane
Virginia Hunting Dog Owners' Association
http://vhdoa.uplandbirddog.com/

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The message above was posted to Virginia residents by the Virginia Hunting Dog Owners' Association (VHDOA).

VHDOA is a nonpartisan volunteer group working to protect sportsmen and hunting dog owners from the legislative and political threats of radical animal rightists. We lobby the General Assembly and Congress, when necessary. It is the largest Virginia organization fighting this struggle and has an established record of accomplishments for both sportsmen and dog owners in these arenas. Visit our website at http://vhdoa.uplandbirddog.com/ for our mission statement, goals, legislative track record and elist signup details.

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