[yorkiesmiles]

Originally Posted by Mystic Mountain

Does anyone know if there is any legistration in Tennessee, I think 30 dogs is enough for any breeder to handle with out hired on help. Just wondering about TN as that is where I live.

This is actually sad - when you see that one bill is interfering with a very powerful registry law that could have been put into place.

Puppy Mill Bill Usurps Animal Abuser Registry -- ZooToo Pet News

Puppy Mill Bill Usurps Animal Abuser Registry
By Amy Lieberman

March 26, 2009


Puppy Mill Bill Usurps Animal Abuser Registry: An effort to publicly document animal cruelty felons has been sidelined as Tennessee legislators struggle to get the needed support. Now their focus is on a more favorable commercial breeding bill.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A unique bill is circulating through the Tennessee legislative body, calling for all convicted animal cruelty felons to be documented on a public, online registry.

But a divisive rural-urban playing field within the legislature has placed the bill, the Tennessee Animal Abuser Tracking and Verification Act, on hold, perhaps for the long-term.

"When a new type of provision like this gets introduced, it's sometimes difficult to immediately get support for it. There is often the perception that it would have high costs." said Stephan Otto, legislative director for the Animal Legal Defense Fund.

Otto first drafted a model of the bill nearly eight years ago.

Colorado saw a like bill in 2002, but it was eventually shot down; Tennessee is the only other state to have since proposed instilling the registry system. It would look and operate much like databases inspired by "Megan's Laws," which require all convicted sex offenders to be publicly registered.

"It's like how you are able to know if you have a sex offender, or a potentially dangerous person, living in your community," explained Leighann McCollum, the Humane Society of the United States' Tennessee state director. "If somebody has been convicted of setting an animal on fire, I wouldn't necessarily want my daughter going over there to play at his house. It's good to know."

The law would target those convicted of aggravated cruelty to animals, or people who "intentionally kill or cause serious injury to an animal," McCollum said.

The bill has some loopholes, as someone who was convicted for facilitating dog fighting, a felony, would fall on the list. On the other hand, someone who orchestrated cock fighting sessions, which is a misdemeanor in the state, would be exempt.

All convicted animal abuser felons would be placed on a list accessible to the public online, on a statewide level.

"These would be really violent, dangerous offenders," McCollum said. "This is not your average farmer who has to shoot one of his cattle."

The bill passed through the state senate in February 2008, but stalled in the House; state senator Doug Jackson, a co-sponsor of the bill, said the measure is not likely to get revisited this year.

"We're so focused on passing a puppy mill legislation right now and that really is taking a lot of time," Jackson said. "We don't want to diffuse the bill here and stir up opposition. There is a lot of suspicion from some lawmakers involving animal rights advocates."

Jackson and District House Representative Janis Sontany (D-Nashville) are sponsoring both the registry bill, as well as the puppy mill one, or the Commercial Breeder Enforcer Act. Their decision to push the state's two main animal-related bills perhaps speaks to the larger legislative body's wariness of tackling animal welfare at all.

The registry plan is "a great bill," Jackson maintained, which would "provide a tremendous amount of information to people at a low cost."

Yet some legislators have expressed concern about high costs the program would create, and that the bill might unjustly target farmers and ranchers.

"We were constantly trying to diffuse that type of paranoia," Jackson explained.

The battle, in the end, proved insurmountable before the House recessed, much to the sponsors' and McCollum's dismay.

"I was very disappointed to realize that people didn't understand the difference between routine livestock handling and torturing an animal, that they didn't understand, in this day and age, that these are dangerous, violent offenders who will move on to humans," McCollum said.

Cruelty extends beyond urban and rural borders, she also said.

"People in the country view animals differently than people in the city, but we are trying to make them understand that, whether city or country, that normal, stable human beings don't torture animals."

The program would have "minimal" costs, according to McCollum, as the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation already maintains a comparable database for sex offenders.

The way the system now stands, Otto says, is "really problematic," making it nearly impossible for breeders or shelters to perform accurate background searches on prospective pet owners.

"Records could be kept at a county level, and there is not any centralized database for people to check, so people can move around to different parts of the state, or out of state, and it is often hard to track crimes of this type," Otto explained.

That means a convicted animal felon could technically cross state lines and continue to adopt or purchase animals with few obstacles to overcome. Otto says he has seen this happen several times, with abusers operating under various pseudonyms, or simply moving every few months.

"It's important that these people are tracked to prevent future offenses," Otto said.

Yet Jackson and Sontany say they are willing to place this bill on the back-burner, in hopes of passing the puppy mill bill. As of now, Tennessee has no restrictions on commercial breeders or mill operators, save basic animal cruelty laws.

"This [puppy mill] bill doesn't have nearly the stigma attached to it, I guess I should say," McCollum said.

The push to monitor such practices has received a considerable amount of support, according to Sontany, who agreed that it is not nearly as controversial a measure as the abuse tracking bill.

"We've received a lot of support from the community on this bill," she said. "It's actually going to soon start being considered on committees."

Tennessee is joining many other states in trying to bust puppy mills, a trend Otto says is likely to carry through into coming years.

"There are puppy mill bills popping up everywhere," he said.

North Carolina, Indiana and Oklahoma are all currently considering similar measures.

In 2008, six major mill operations were raided in Tennessee; the largest bust, which occurred last summer, involved 747 animals, McCollum said. She estimates that the state hosts approximately 400 separate mills.

The measure is not aimed to target private breeders, and would affect anyone who "maintains 20 adult non-sterilized females for the purpose of selling their offspring," McCollum said.

"When you have 700 animals in your backyard, operating as a business, you should have some oversight, and be accountable to your consumer. It should be required to provide a basic standard of care for animals keeping in your kennel."

The law would also mandate all commercial kennels register their business. That licensing could create a $1.3 million increase in tax payments to the Department of Revenue, Sontany said.

A committee hearing is set for this bill next week, and several more have been scheduled.

"We're very hopeful that this will get passed this year," Jackson said.

The animal abuser registry, though, might have to wait a little more to experience any substantial traction.