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Originally Posted by wildcard  I have not heard any response as to why the UDSA regulations in place for either large or small volume breeders who sell to brokers, put in place pursuant to the federal Animal Welfare Act, are not adequate. I added a link to the site in a previous post. Pretty stringent housing and care requirements... If mills are operating under the radar of the USDA, we are back to enforcement, not needing more laws.
Basically, we have a situation where breeders who sell to brokers are covered by federal law. Then we have an animal neglect and cruelty statute that applies to all other animal owners, whether they breed or not. It is my opinion those laws are adequate. And so far, still no examples of a situation in which Indiana police officers or sheriff deputies or prosecutors were unable to investigate or pursue criminal charges against someone who operated what people would generally consider to be a mill because our laws were not good enough.
Also, do not forget that part of the current neglect/cruelty statute we already have in place does allow for local government to seize and take possession of neglected dogs. We aren't just talking about fines and jail time-- the animals can be removed and rehabilitated under our current law.
One part of the bill I find humorous is that per the debate that was had on the House floor, the commercial breeder registry is going to be an e-registry to supposedly save on paying clerk time. I can just see all these purported Amish run millers hopping on the 'net to sign up.
As for shooting dogs, I doubt that that happens very frequently. I certainly have not heard of any rampant dog shooting sprees in Indiana. I do know of an incident a county over from me where a woman shot at a neighbor's dog, missed, the bullet then hit and killed the daughter-in-law of the neighbor that owned the dog. That is the last attempted dog shooting incident I recall-- and obviously the shooter is being prosecuted. Under our property laws, you would not be able to shoot someone else's dog unless it was done for a legally justifiable reason. We may be a little redneck at times, but generally we are not heathens. |
Indiana is attempting to upgrade existing kennel conditions, among other things, what does this have to do with USDA regulations? States are free to make whatever laws they wish regarding this, many people like these types of laws in the states and not regulated by the federal government.
If all these laws are already in place by the USDA, why is anyone fighting the fact that Indiana legislature wants to add this to the state law?