Dear Companion Pet Lovers ~
Companion pets play important roles in all aspects of our lives. As a team of dedicated animal advocates based throughout Ohio, we understand this truly unique and irreplaceable relationship. We help support community-based programs and services benefiting our animal community through sponsorship of various fundraisers held throughout the calendar year. For more information on pet events benefiting the rescue community, please visit our News and Events page.
Make Your Voice Heard!
Now more than ever, our state elected officials need to hear from us (the voters!) on legislation impacting the welfare of OH's animals:
HB 55 (formerly HB 418) - To amend sections 959.99, 2152.19, 2903.213, 2903.214, 2919.26, 3113.31, 4732.141, and 4757.33 and to enact section 4731.284 of the Ohio Revised Code to revise the penalties and sentencing provisions regarding violations of the cruelty to animals statutes and to include the protection of companion animals in temporary protection orders, domestic violence protection orders, anti-stalking protection orders, and related protection orders. Since 2004, Ohio Dog Auctions have grown into anything but run of the mill. The majority of breeders who participate in this event are raising large numbers of puppies for profit in mills - mass dog breeding establishments with living conditions characterized by overcrowding, filth, and lack of food, water, shelter and little to no veterinary care. These two important bills have recently been introduced in Congress and need the support of your United States Representative: The Horse Transportation Safety Act of 2009 (H.R. 305) will ban the use of double-decker livestock trailers in the interstate transportation of horses. While current law prohibits the use of these trailers in transporting horses to slaughter, a loophole exists that allows their transportation to any other non-slaughter location, e.g. feedlots, auctions and other facilities. These low-ceiling double-decker trailers were not designed for horses, and horses forced onto them must endure having their heads bent over for hours upon hours in overcrowded conditions while suffering a high risk of sustaining injury or even death. The Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act (H.R. 503) will end the slaughter of horses for human consumption and the domestic and international transport of live horses or horseflesh for human consumption. To read more about this wonderful organization, please click here - > http://www.vetsforequinewelfare.org/about-us.php. Taxpayers are encouraged to write their legislators asking for a FULL RETURN of the misappropriated monies, particularly the most recent $49 million that was misappropriated in 2008 to 2,500 wealthy farmers that were ineligible to receive said payments or to entities that had little to do with farming or agriculture.
HB 70 - To amend section 959.99 of the Revised Code to increase the penalty for violation of the prohibition against cruel treatment of a companion animal by the animal's custodian or caretaker to a felony of the fifth degree.
HB 79 - To amend section 955.11 of the Revised Code to remove pit bulls from the definition of "vicious dog" in state law.
SB 95 - To amend sections 955.02, 955.10, 955.12, 955.20, 955.26, and 1901.183 and to enact sections 956.01, 956.011, 956.02 to 956.08, 956.081, 956.09 to 956.20, 956.98, and 956.99 of the Revised Code to establish licensing requirements and standards of care for certain dog breeding kennels, dog intermediaries, and animal rescues for dogs.
HB 108 - To amend section 959.99 of the Revised Code to increase the penalty for cockfighting.
HB 124 - To amend sections 955.02, 955.10, 955.12, 955.20, 955.26, and 1901.183 and to enact sections 956.01, 956.011, 956.02 to 956.08, 956.081, 956.09 to 956.20, 956.98, and 956.99 of the Revised Code to establish licensing requirements and standards of care for certain dog breeding kennels, dog intermediaries, and animal rescues for dogs.
HB 366 - To amend sections 955.11 and 955.221 of the Ohio Revised Code to remove pit bulls from the definition of "vicious dog" in state law and to authorize the adoption of local ordinances or resolutions that define "dangerous dog" and "vicious dog" more broadly than state law defines those terms.
HJR 2 - Proposing to enact Section 1 of Article XIV of the Constitution of the State of Ohio to create the Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board.
SJR 6 - Proposing to enact Section 1 of Article XIV of the Constitution of the State of Ohio to create the Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board.
To locate your legislator in the Ohio General Assembly House and/or Senate, click here.
Support a Ban on Ohio Dog Auctions!
For more information on our efforts to ban dog auctions in Ohio, we invite you to visit the website - Coalition to Ban Ohio Dog Auctions.
Watch the HBO Documentary, "Death on a Factory Farm"!
Each year, ten billion animals are raised for consumption in the U.S., mostly on sprawling, industrialized farms, where virtually no federal laws mandate how the animals are treated - though guidelines exist - and state laws are ineffective. As a result, animals are frequently subjected to what many consider cruel treatment and inhumane conditions in the interest of economic efficiency. DEATH ON A FACTORY FARM chronicles an investigation into alleged abuses that took place at a hog farm in Creston, Ohio. This shocking documentary is produced by Tom Simon (a seven-time Emmy® winner) and Sarah Teale, producer of the 2006 HBO special "Dealing Dogs," which received two Emmy® nominations, including Best Documentary.
Three years in the making, DEATH ON A FACTORY FARM follows the undercover investigation of Wiles Hog Farm by the animal rights group The Humane Farming Association (HFA), and the resulting court case against it. The organization received a tip from an employee at the farm that animals were being abused, including a claim that hogs were being hung by chains and strangled to death as a form of euthanasia. HFA then turned to an undercover investigator (also featured in "Dealing Dogs") going by the name "Pete," who wore a hidden camera while he worked as a farmhand at Wiles.
Over the course of six weeks, Pete secretly filmed numerous disturbing scenes, including piglets being tossed into crates from across a room, impregnated sows held in pens that don't allow them to move, an unhealthy piglet being slammed against a wall to euthanize it, and a sick sow being hung by a chain from a forklift until it choked to death. Having obtained this key evidence, Pete concluded the investigation and quit his job.
HFA brought the footage to the Wayne County Sheriff's Department, which subsequently raided the farm. Prosecutors filed ten criminal charges of animal cruelty against Ken Wiles (the owner of the farm), his son Joe, and Dusty Stroud, a farm employee who participated in hanging the sow.
In the trial that followed, prosecution and defense waged a tense battle over the legality and morality of practices rarely seen by the public and described by the presiding judge as "distasteful and offensive," but defended by Ken Wiles and other members of the tight-knit Ohio farming community as the commonplace reality of producing livestock for consumption.
For more information on show times, we invite you to visit the website - DEATH ON A FCTORY FARM.
In 2007, state courts closed
Pro-horse slaughter organizations and individuals have consistently fought the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act and Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act, claiming there is a huge "unwanted horse" population in the
Their premise is that slaughter improves horse welfare -- offering a "humane" way to dispose of these animals, a "necessary evil" without which horses would be subjected to neglect, abandonment and abuse. In truth, no hard data exists to back claims about a burgeoning population of "unwanted horses." It is clear that killer buyers working for slaughterhouses are outbidding other buyers at auction because they have financial incentive. The market for slaughter horses is set by the international demand for their meat in other countries, not by the number of supposedly unwanted horses!
A truly humane veterinary organization has emerged to counter the unsubstantiated claims of these veterinary and industry organizations. Veterinarians for Equine Welfare (VEW) was founded by a group of leading veterinarians to help educate the public about horse slaughter from a veterinary position. "Horse owners currently have two options when their horse has reached the end of his or her trail: They can pay to do the right thing (re-home or euthanasia) or be paid to do the wrong thing (send to slaughter). A few thoughtless folks choose to do the latter, and it should not be an option." -- VEW co-founder Dr. Nicholas Dodman.
Tell your senators to co-sponsor and support H.R. 305 and H.R. 503!
Morgan and Gallegly to Co-Chair Congressional Animal Protection Caucus!
Reps. Jim Morgan (D-VA) and Elton Gallegly (R-CA) announced February 18, that they will co-chair the newly formed "Congressional Animal Protection Caucus (CAPC)," a bipartisan organization committed to raising awareness of animal welfare issues in Congress. CAPC replaces the Friends of Animals Caucus that existed in previous Congress.
Through non-partisan forums and briefings, CAPC will seek to highlight important issues affecting animals and upcoming animal welfare legislation. CAPC will also track the progress of relevant legislation, provide members of Congress with dependable information and attempt to build broad coalitions in support of humane animal welfare laws.
In the 110th Congress, the caucus was instrumental in the passing of tougher animal fighting legislation and tightening animal welfare regulations in the 2008 Farm Bill. Priorities for the 11th Congress include legislation banning the slaughter of horses, stronger regulations on Internet sales of puppies and legislation requiring accurate labels on all fur products.
Tell your senators to support the Congressional Animal Protection Caucus!
USDA Misappropriates Over ONE BILLION in Taxpayer Dollars!
Three separate reports by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) indicate that between the years 1999 to 2008, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) misappropriated over a BILLION in taxpayers dollars!
A July 9, 2007 report and a July 24, 2007 report state that not only were millions given away to farming entities that exceeded income limits established by the legislature or to entities that had little to do with farming, but also that 1.1 BILLION in farm payments made from 1999 to 2005 were given to 170,000 DECEASED individuals!
GOA Reports:
July 9, 2007 Report;
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d07818.pdf
July 24, 2007 Report;
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d071137t.pdf
2008 report (indicated that $49 million was similarly misappropriated to 2,500 farmers above the income means or to entities having little to do with farming and/or agriculture):
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d0967.pdf
The GAO, ignoring the "lost money" issue, has confirmed that from this point forward, the USDA should review all tax returns prior to the granting of farm subsidies, noting that about 1.8 million farmers receive over 20 BILLION dollars annually in farm subsidies.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner announced March 19, 2009 that beginning with the 2009 crop year, all farm program participants will be required to sign a separate form granting the IRS the authority to provide income information to USDA to verify that their incomes do not exceed limits established in the 2008 farm bill.
Concerned about claims of "invasion of privacy rights," Vilsack stated that the USDA Farm Service Agency will not receive producers’ actual tax data and that the agency will adhere to all disclosure and Privacy Act rules.
The 2008 farm bill makes farmers ineligible for the direct payments program if their adjusted gross income from farming for the past three years averaged more than $750,000 or their nonfarm income exceeded $500,000. Landowners also are ineligible for conservation payments if their nonfarm average gross income exceeded $1 million for the last three years unless two-thirds of it came from farming.
Vilsack said, one of the goals of this administration is to make certain that USDA payments are not issued to individuals and entities that exceed income eligibility limits established by law. Once this verification system is fully operational, high-income individuals and entities will be identified by USDA before farm program payments are actually disbursed to them.
Geithner added, “This cooperation between the Treasury Department and USDA will implement reforms from the 2008 farm bill to ensure payments go only to those who need them and are supposed to receive them. The goal is to limit excessive payments while providing for fairness to family farmers.”
USDA Contact:
http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/!ut/p/_s.7_0_A/7_0_1OB?navtype=MA&navid=CONTACT_US
U.S. Department of the Treasury;
http://www.ustreas.gov/
Governmet Accountability Office (GAO):
http://www.gao.gov/
U.S. House of Representatives;
http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW_by_State.shtml
U.S.Senate;
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
http://finance.senate.gov/index.html
(202) 224 - 4515
