ATTENTION
VOTERS!!
LOHV
Endorsements for the November 2010 Election are in progress
- and those we've made are available now. Click our Elections link
to see those that we've posted so far, and stay tuned for
more as election season approaches.
Practicing
Medicine - on animals - without a license? HB
39 seeks to put an end to the torture caused by puppy
millers performing their own medical treatments, usually
without anesthesia or antibiotics - on the dogs unfortunate
enough to be in their
"care". Click here to
read more about the bill and find out who to contact and
how to reach them.
NEW DOG TETHERING
BILL! Call your PA House Representative
to ask him or her to support HB1254.
<click here to find out more about the bill & find your rep>
CAFO
STOPPED IN ITS TRACKS - Educated, angry
voters helped convince township officials to ignore
the PA Attorney General and the greedy desires of a
single agribusiness and retain zoning that prevents
the expansion of an already toxic pig farm into a 4400-pig
CAFO in Peach Bottom, PA. Knowledge
is power, and this is proof. Of course, the farmer
continues to seek a zoning change to allow his expansion
to occur, but the citizens will not stop fighting this,
and they will continue to have the LOHV's unwaivering
support.
HELP
END FACTORY FARMING! Find
out about CAFOs — Confined
Animal Feeding Operations. You
can help change the future for thousands of hogs (and
ultimately many other species of farmed animals) right
here in Lancaster County by sending in a public
comment, pertaining to a local farm (Dale Rohrer's
Lexington Acres) that's not only abusing
animals, but destroying the environment and putting
human lives at risk through tainted water.
Visit
the LOHV's sponsored website, LititzWater.org for
more information, more links, and ways you can help.
Call
Senator Mike Brubaker (717-787-4420), and
ask him to pursue legislation that would put an end
to factory farming in Pennsylvania. This form of farming
is dangerous to people, the planet, and of course,
to the animals -- and it's not the
only way to run a profitable farm. Several other states
-- Arizona, Colorado, Florida, and California -- are
leading the way in improving conditions on factory
farms, working toward eliminating the "factory" aspect
entirely.
Will PA lead, follow, or continue
to set some of the worst examples when it comes to
protecting the people, the animals, and the planet?
The
Dog Law, HB2525, is law in Pennsylvania. It
was passed by the House on September 17th, with a vote
of 181 to 17, and the amendments that would have stripped
it of its power to help dogs were voted down by similarly
large margins. This was great news.
Then the
Senate got the bill, where amendments were
tacked on to protect breeders from expenditures --
giving breeders with a clean record up to three years
to comply with the law. Not surprisingly, many of the
worst kennels have clean records, due to too few inspectors
-- the recently-raided "Almost Heaven" kennel
had a clean record for years before the raid. To further
weaken the bill, a Canine Advisory board has been added
as a level of bureaucracy, sure to give breeders many
ways to avoid making improvements. The board will make
decisions on kennel features that the law should have
set in stone -- for ventilation, temperature, etc...
-- which leaves many dogs at the mercy of the PVMA
vets appointed to the board, who'll be influenced by
breeder organizations rather than what's best for the
dogs.
The law is better than nothing, but
the work is not finished. We must
remain vigilant on behalf of Pennsylvania's mill dogs,
and hope that subsequent legislation can be sponsored
to fill in the holes created by the Senate's amendments.
Click HERE to
see a list of the House and Senate votes and the names
of those legislators who worked to amend the bill. Do
not forget these names.
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