No Pets Left Behind

"No Pets Left Behind" was the motto of the Colorado National  Guard during the recent September flood rescues in and around Boulder, Colorado. I listened to the drone of helicopters for days overhead as they flew to and from, rescuing people and pets from flood ravaged towns like Lyons and Jamestown. Thank God we learned from Hurricane Katrina! My husband and I went down and volunteered after Katrina with the Humane Society of the United States at a makeshift animal shelter. Sadly, we watched people who had been painfully separated from their pets coming in to search for them. They primarily left disappointed and heart broken. Many pets were re-homed after Katrina rather than reunited with their families.

September 13 Boulder Daily Camera photo

So KUDOS to the Colorado National Guard for realizing that including pets can be the deciding factor for people to choose to leave their homes and be rescued. For recognizing that our pets are our family members. Some helicopters performing rescues carried more pets than people according to a news reports on September 20, 2013 and the Associated Press. Over 800 pets were rescued by helicopter, some even carried by zip line across raging waters. Hundreds more were rescued by ground crews.

As I watched the evacuees come off the helicopters with dogs and cats in their arms, on leashes and in kennels, I choked up at the sight, so happy we learned, so proud of Colorado. This time the Red Cross had water bowls and kennels waiting!

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L.A. Passes Puppy Mill Law

Posted By Dawn Kairns, Author of  MAGGIE the dog who changed my life A Story of Love 

(Original Post on Care 2 blog, "Breaking News: L.A. Passes Puppy Mill Law" by Sharon Seltzer)

It looks like Los Angeles County didn’t want to wait for a national or statewide puppy mill law to go into effect.  On Tuesday the Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance to protect animals raised by breeders or kept in pet stores.

According to Daily News Wire Services, the law was introduced by Supervisor Michael Antonovich, “an animal lover who presents a dog or cat for adoption at virtually every board meeting he attends.”

The ordinance is an amendment to Title 10 – the code relating to the licensing of animals and animal facilities, and the care and breeding of animals.

The new ordinance will require breeders to:

• Only breed dogs that are at least 12 months old.
• Keep puppies in their possession until they are at least 8 weeks old.
• Place pregnant dogs in separate living quarters at least three days before they give birth.
• Provide nesting boxes for mother dogs and their puppies.

The new rules also make sure all puppies are microchipped or tattooed when they turn four months old.  

And pet shops will be required to inform potential pet owners where the puppies in their store come from.

The Board of Supervisors apparently had some disagreements about limiting the number of dogs a breeder could own, so they came up with this compromise.

Breeders will be limited to housing 50 unspayed or unneutered dogs unless they can prove to county officials they can properly care for more.

Those breeders will be mandated to keep stricter medical records, have staff at the facility 18 hours a day and be subject to more frequent inspections, at their own cost.

Title 10 currently requires breeders to provide “structurally sound” housing that is clean and sanitary, enclosures with solid bottoms, wholesome food, accessible clean water and proper grooming for the dogs. 

It also states no animal shall be left unattended for more than 12 consecutive hours, requires veterinary care, humane treatment and exercise.

Even with the amendments L.A.’s Title 10 is far from perfect. However it covers most of the same regulations as Missouri’s Proposition B that was passed by the voters last November. 

That law is being hacked apart by legislators and breeder associations’ who complain how its restrictions will inhibit their livelihood.