Bend Over, Dallas Dog Owners

Received today from the RPOA (Responsible Pet Owners' Alliance):

Martin Kralik has given RPOA permission to forward his message below to our subscribers. Dallas Democracy in action -- NOT! Those of you who've experienced the same treatment elsewhere can empathize. Permission to crosspost.
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What was supposed to happen:

* 144 speakers - some for and some opposed - were supposed to be given 3 minutes each to speak to the city council before the vote on the new animal ordinances. Also, a majority of 19 more speakers, listed regarding the animal ordinance, were supposed to be given 3 minutes each to speak after the vote. I have the lists.

What actually happened:

* Upon seeing the council chambers full of passionate people, Mayor Leppert
decided to limit each side to 15 minutes total (that's five 3-minute speeches) and said those 'against' should go first. He gave us 2 minutes to organize since the agenda-sequence-of-speakers, at that point, was thrown out. This gave the other side 'for the ordinances' 15+ minutes to organize. Speakers who had worked long and hard to shoehorn their speeches into 2-3 minutes in reality only got 30 seconds to one minute to make their point. Then, any others who had not spoken were given 30 seconds to say something limited to one point. Those speaking for the ordinance were routinely given more time before they were cut off.

* Then each council member spoke:

1. Elba Garcia, of course nattered on the longest about how all were in agreement that they had to do something now and they must pass the ordinances.

2. Rasansky -he's totally for the ordinances - saying the 'Breeders' had to step up and pay.

3. Leppert blindly followed Elba

4. Neumann said he was for it but asked the city Secretary to define the plan of implementation i.e., pass the ordinance and then define the plan. yeah that makes sense???

5. Kadane pointed out they had no plan and didn't know the cost - they should continue the nite raids and get the loose dogs off the street but hold off and re-analyze/define a better set of ordinances after more research.

6. Caraway and his constituents want the loose dogs off the streets now.

7. Ron Natinsky - Questioned Forest Turner (Animal Control) at length about how did they arrive at 360,000+/- dogs in Dallas, 50,000+/- of which are licensed now, leaving how many of the roughly 310,000 are loose roaming dogs?, and how many are pets? They have no idea. Specifically if Dallas covers roughly 385 square miles, distributing the 310,000 across 385 square miles would be roughly 800 - almost 1000 dogs per square mile (simple math). He asked Forest whether he saw anything close to 800 animals when they recently went on their nite raid to catch loose dogs. They caught 22 and 40 or so got away - No where near 800 seen. GOOD ARGUMENT! Ron suggested since they don't know what they are doing, that they pass the 'tether/vicious' dog amendments and throw out the mandatory sterilization/limits/breeder registration till later. After Ron passed out an adjusted ordinance to the members with these changes made, Elba complained about being given only 3 minutes to consider the changes and refused to even look at it - so much for working together as a real council.

8. The adjusted ordinance from Natinsky was quickly rejected by a majority vote.

9. Back to the new ordinances(whatever version they had today) - final vote was Kadane, Natinsky and Angela Hunt voted against, and the rest voted to pass the new ordinances.

I am outraged at how easily the mayor, knowing full well how passionate people were about this, threw us under the bus and went on with his agenda.

My speech - 2 minutes long - which I did not get a chance to make, follows -
* My name is Martin Kralik and I've lived in Preston Hollow in north Dallas for 23 years. I'm a law abiding citizen. I have been a responsible pet owner all my life, and I'm involved in rescue.

* I'm trying to stay in Dallas but you will drive me out with these new ordinances, for which I was given NO representation on the Shelter Committee.

* Why have there been NO REAL public hearings on this? Why are there NO responsible pet owners on the animal commission? The entire Dallas community of some of the most reputable breeders in the nation, and very knowledgeable fanciers and members of dog owners' organizations who call Dallas home, has been shut out and ignored by your animal commission.

* The proposed ordinances ignore the main problems (as stated by several council members) of roaming aggressive loose animals, and an underfunded Animal Control Department i.e. 8 trucks to cover 385 square miles and many unfilled staff vacancies???

* Beside ignoring the main problem of loose animals, the new ordinances mandate that I be subjected to UNCONSTITUTIONAL SEARCHES AND SEIZURES in my home.

* I think it is outrageous that Dallas wants to TAX/PUNISH me with fees/taxes/fines/procedures because the city is not willing to enforce existing laws on the relatively few irresponsible people who actually cause the loose dog problems.

* Many City Council members and your animal committee chairman admit all these mandatory sterilization/limits/registration/micro chipping procedures will NOT correct the Dallas loose animal problem.

* Regarding the problem of Dallas' overcrowded animal shelters, many states including New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, Illinois, Colorado, California, Oregon, Washington, Wisconsin and Connecticut have a huge pet shortage and are importing thousands of dogs from many states to supply adoptable pets. You could empty the Dallas shelter and start over! Has anyone even checked this out??? The answer is no, and it reflects the mismanagement of the shelter program.

* I urge you to reject these ordinances and give representation to the vast community of responsible pet owners in creating equitable solutions to Dallas' animal problems.

I still go back to there have been NO REAL public hearings on this.

I think a large part of the Dallas dog/cat community has no idea that now if they want an intact animal for any reason, the registration/breeders license they are required by law to buy, authorizes the city to conduct unannounced unconstitutional searches and seizures IN YOUR HOME. (How will this work with the Castle Doctrine?)

Where can we go from here?
I'm ready to fight.
Martin Kralik
Dallas resident

Time to Follow That Thought

Hmmmmm....taking the advice from the post just previous to this, I guess it's time to lift a leg on the Dallas City Council. Three of them would be exempt from the yellow stream - those being Sheffie Kadane, Ron Natinsky (who even offered an alternative ordinance that contained some common sense!), and Angela Hunt. The rest of the council can drown in it - accepting the propaganda of the whacked-out animal rights movement (whose goal is to eliminate pets from the earth) which was spewed forth from the opposition, including those that had been appointed to the Animal Shelter Committee. Yes...you heard right, they have put card-carrying PeTA members on the shelter committee as opposed to folks with animal husbandry experience who really do care about animals. We all know what the PeTA faction preaches..."better dead than fed"...witnessed by their 97% euthanization rate. This is their first step towards the elimination of animal ownership in Dallas. They've already managed to criminalize it. What a sad, sad day.

Link to Dallas Morning News article

the A/R Shadow Falls on Dallas

Permission given to cross post.
This article is written by Joyce Miller of Dallas, Texas.

Be sure to read the last line a second time.

Right now, animal rights people have fanned out across the country to make what got tabled in California happen city by city, town by town, state by state. The approach is to local animal services organization; the agenda is new animal laws that will have a startling effect on our ability to enjoy our dogs.

The AR volunteers work within the animal services in city after city, town after town, to get a proposed law put together that is extreme to say the least, and they can do all of this within animal services without worrying about open meeting laws. After all, the AR people are simply volunteers helping the staff. By the time a community gets any inkling that these laws are about to hit the stage, it's just about too late to stop them.

At the most, people try to get some of the most severe terms relaxed. Right now, there is a law proposed in Florida to make collecting animal semen illegal.

Now that I have your attention, let me share with you what is currently being recommended in Dallas, what Animal Services and the City Council are assuming will be law by the end of the month, and to date, nothing in the local newspapers, the local news programs, or even a copy of the actual proposed law.

Unlike San Antonio, the previous last city to fall to these tactics, the AKC kennel club registered in Dallas, the Texas Kennel Club, has hired an animal lawyer to help them fight this legislation. But to date, without any news coverage, very few residents know what is about to happen and how it will affect their enjoyment of their dogs.

1. Pet limits. Dallas has never had limits on the number of pets a resident may own. As with most communities, there are plenty of laws on the books that can handle households that have too many pets that are creating a neighborhood nuisance or constituting cruelty to animals. Under the proposed new laws, the limit will be either five or six pets (no one seems able to get a consistent reading on the number). That is dogs, cats or combination in a single family home.

2. Mandatory spay neuter by four months of age. Owner of unspayed or unneutered dogs and cats over 4 months of age commits an offense if the owner does not have a Breeder Permit issued annually for each individual animal. (Only dog and cat show breeders qualify for this permit). Owner cannot have a say in their dog being put under anesthesia, being made a perennial puppy by losing the hormones needed for balanced growth of body and mind, etc.

3. Breeder permits/licenses (and the only article that has mentioned anything about this law was a quote by the acting director of animal services, a man who has won an award of some kind of merit from PeTA: in that article, this man stated that he would not allow any breeder permits in residential neighborhoods). So what will a breeder license look like in Dallas if the law is passed without changes. It appears that there will be:

A. Breeder permit/license to keep an intact dog or cat. Breeders can apply to Animal Services for a breeder permit/license. Such applications must be approved by the director of Animal Services.

B. Each dog or cat approved for a permit must be registered with a national registry (approved by the animal services director) AND whose owner is a member of a purebred dog or cat club (also approved by the animal services director). The club must have a code of ethics restricting breeding dogs and cats with genetic defects and life threatening health problems for approval.

C.The breeder permit will be $500 annually for EACH intact animal; the animal's license will be an additional fee.

D. This permit will not be available to any other pet owner. And as mentioned above, it is unlikely that the current Animal Services administration will allow any of these permits/licenses in residential neighborhoods. This means that sports people, performance people, SAR people, hunting people will have to have their animals neutered.

E. Anyone who gets a breeder permit agrees that Animal Services has the right to send in someone to make unannounced inspections of their premises at any time and the breeders must admit them.

F.. No one else can legally breed animals in Dallas.

4. No tethering of any dogs if the owner is not present.

5. Confined dogs must have crates or runs or pens that meet confinement requirements of 150 feet pen size per dog

6. Foster Care Providers must obtain a form from the director to apply for a permit (notarized by the legal owner and one occupant of the dwelling unit) to keep up to 10 dogs, cats or any combination which authorizes unannounced inspections of premises and this permit must be approved by the director.

When I first read these proposed ideas, I thought that they were making them so outrageous so they would have wiggle room in order to reduce things like the permit fee for breeders etc. But given the fact that hearings are going into their second week (only on Wednesdays), there has been no media coverage, and proponents are saying that they expect these to be law by the end of the month, I suspect that the final law could be quite close to what is outlined above.

The first that I heard about it was in March, and I heard about it from two people who are very involved with the kennel club and with getting people to attend hearings. No cost assessments/analyses have been done. Animal Services is currently underfunded, and the mayor has made it clear that there will be no increase in their funding for these laws.

So, here we are discussing different ways of training, recognizing the work that goes into having an obedience or agility champion, knowing what the dogs need maturity to participate in any serious sport or work, and all the while, across the country, more and more of these laws are becoming law with little or no fanfare.

Here in Dallas, the proponents are saying that this will solve the problem of loose dogs breeding randomly, but the only people that will be caught up are the residential breeders whose dogs never run loose and never breed randomly. With the requirement that a breeder belong to a breed club approved by animal services, this is also meant to do away with mixed breeds.

Do, please, check out what may be happening in your city or town, and be ready to fight for your right to decide when and if your dog will be neutered, the right of careful breeders to breed to their breed standards, etc. Dallas breeders and animal lovers are making a valiant effort, and they are grateful for the help of the Texas Kennel Club, but this is very, very serious. And it sounds like it will come to a city or town near you.

Joyce Miller of Dallas, Texas