Rendell Refuses to Enforce His Own Dog Laws In Pennsylvania
Published on July 9, 2010 by Jennifer White · 1 CommentShock soon turned to anger as animal advocates attending last week’s Dog Law Advisory Board meeting were told by Governor Rendell’s Special Secretary Jessie Smith and Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement’s Sue West that important elements of Pennsylvania’s hard fought new dog law would not be enforced.
Almost two years ago, Governor Rendell, at the urging of the General Assembly and citizens throughout the Commonwealth, signed a law that would require among other things that breeding dogs in commercial kennels have unfettered access to the outside (indoor/outdoor kennel runs), and that all dogs over the age of twelve weeks not be housed on wire flooring (solid or slatted floors only).
Historically, dogs in Pennsylvania’s puppy mills have been forced to spend their lives standing on painful wire strand flooring in too-small cages often without any access to the outside. Governor Rendell’s new law was meant to improve conditions for millions of dogs in PA’s commercial kennels in the years to come. Instead Smith and West have decided to ignore the Governor’s wishes and the new law, by creating a policy that would allow pregnant and nursing mothers to be forced to stand on the now-outlawed wire strand flooring up to six months of the year and deny these poor animals unfettered access to an outside exercise area.
Members of Pennsylvania’s animal welfare community are asking for Jessie Smith and Sue West’s immediate removal and see their new policy as just one more attempt by the Bureau to protect the commercial breeders rather than the dogs of Pennsylvania. In October of 2009, as the new dog law went into effect, Smith and West issued waivers to 81 of the 111 commercial kennels, exempting over two thirds of PA’s commercial kennels from Pennsylvania’s new dog laws. Some of these waivers were for up to three years.
“The Governor should be outraged by what his staff is doing. If the Governor does want to help the dogs of Pennsylvania, he would demand that his Special Secretary and his Director of Dog Law enforce his new law rather than searching for loopholes to help the breeders keep their dogs on wire flooring” said Bill Smith, founder of Main Line Animal Rescue and an ASPCA Lifetime Achievement Award Winner. The ASPCA permitted HSUS’ Sarah Speed to express their opposition to the Bureau’s new policy at last week’s DLAB meeting. The Humane Society of the United States, United Against Puppy Mills, North Penn Puppy Mill Watch, Animal Law Coalition, Main Line Animal Rescue, and Cumberland Valley Animal Shelter’s Nancy Gardner have all expressed their opposition to the Bureau’s new policy of allowing kennel owners to circumvent the new law.
“Everyone who worked so hard to pass these new laws in an effort to improve conditions in PA’s mass dog breeding facilities should know all their hard work was for nothing – now that the administration plans not to enforce them” said one angry volunteer who helps rehabilitates rescued puppy mill dogs in Lancaster County. “And after all the Governor’s promises, dogs continue to suffer – breeding dogs trapped inside barns in 101 degree temperatures.” In spite of Jessie Smith and Sue West’s announcement last week that dogs could remain on wire, the two administrators listed breeding dogs removed from wire flooring as one of the Bureau’s accomplishments in their 2009 report to PA’s General Assembly. Only last month, PA’s Canine Health Board, consisting of nine veterinarians, also voted against the use of wire flooring in commercial kennels. “I feel like I live in North Korea” said one advocate for the animals. “The government can do as they like – and in this case, not only are they not enforcing the law, they’re encouraging people to break it.”
The requirements for solid flooring and unfettered access to the outside exercise area are two of the more important aspects of the new law, and many believe anyone who feels that it is alright to keep dogs trapped inside hot barns and standing on wire flooring has never been to a puppy mill and is hardly qualified to comment or shape new policies. “The governor once said that he knows how bad these kennels are – he didn’t need to see them” said Bill Smith “Well, I think its time the governor visit a few of these places, see 700 dogs unable to walk properly after spending their lives on vinyl coated chicken wire. How can the administration claim that Pennsylvania now has the toughest dog laws in the country if the governor is not insisting they be enforced?” Animal advocates are planning a rally to protest the Bureau’s ongoing policy of continuing to allow PA’s puppy mill dogs to suffer – either in Harrisburg or Philadelphia’s City Hall near the governor’s Broad Street offices.
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Tags: Animal Cruelty, Animal Welfare, dog law, dog laws, Jessie Smith and Sue West, puppy farming, Social Issues
08-21-10 — PA Dept. of Ag Allowed to Gut Dog Law
By: Laura Allen, Animal Law Coalition
The Pennsylvania Independent Regulatory Review Commission (IRRC) has approved regulations offered by the Dept. of Agriculture and its Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement that gut the ban on wire flooring for breeding dogs held in Class C commercial kennels.
This despite nearly universal opposition to the regulations during the public hearing held by IRRC on August 19.
One of the notable accomplishments of the 2008 Dog Law was the unequivocal requirement that Class C commercial kennels cannot use “metal strand whether or not it is coated” for flooring and even slatted flooring can have spaces no more than 1/2 inch between them and slats must be at least 3.5 inches wide and “run the length or the width of the floor, but not both.”
In June, 2010, the Pennsylvania Canine Health Board unanimously rejected a proposal to allow Class C commercial dog kennels to use wire flooring or “hog flooring”. The Board also rejected use of plastic flooring that has “paw-and-claw-grabbing” holes. 3 P.S. Sec. 459-207(i)(3).
Despite the law and overwhelming opposition, Gov. Ed Rendell’s Dept. of Agriculture and its Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement have managed to push through regulations that allow nursing mothers in Class C kennels to live in kennels with 50% wire flooring. In fact, the plan, according to Jessie Smith, Deputy Secretary for the Bureau, is to allow dogs about to give birth also to live in kennels with 50% wire flooring.
For more on the plan by the Dept. of Agriculture and Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement to allow nursing mothers and mothers about to give birth in Class C commercial kennels to live on wire flooring click HERE
The Pennsylvania United Against Puppy Mills (UAPM) working with Animal Law Coalition presented this statement to IRRC, “It is clear from reading the Dog Law provisions for Class C kennels in particular, that in prohibiting wire flooring altogether, the legislature was well aware there would be nursing mothers in the kennels. And, after all, that is the purpose of commercial breeding kennels, i.e., to house dogs that are pregnant or nursing. The legislature did not create any exception that would allow part of the flooring in kennels occupied by nursing mothers to be wire. That is something completely made up by the authors of these regulations in direct violation of the law.
“The excuse offered for violating the law is that the wire flooring will facilitate cleanliness. First, the law already provides for the option of slatted flooring and also requires the floor, whether solid or slatted, to allow drainage of fluids. Sec. 459-207(i)(3). There are extensive requirements for regular cleaning as well. All of these issues were considered by the legislature and the law passed prohibits wire flooring and also provides requirements to facilitate cleanliness. It is not for the Dept or Bureau to rewrite this carefully considered scheme.”
UAPM also presented evidence that regardless nursing dogs clean up after their puppies.
Jenny Stephens, director of North Penn Puppy Mill Watch, told IRRC, “No wire means no wire.” Stephens told the Commission “there are currently in excess of 12,000 dogs housed in these large scale breeding facilities that operate as for profit businesses.
“The flooring regulation, as drafted by the Bureau, presents a serious enforcement issue. Larger kennels housing 3, 4 and even in excess of 500 dogs, already present a sober challenge to the dogs wardens charged with ensuring compliance with the Dog Law.
“On any given inspection, wardens will have no way of knowing how long any particular female has been on wire or how old any specific litter of puppies may be.
“Additionally, wardens will have no way of knowing whether or not a dog confined to a cage with wire flooring has or has not had an opportunity to exercise that day.”
Significantly, Stephens told the Commission about a July 20, 2010 kennel inspection report where despite the law, the dog warden approved, even recommended the use of wire flooring in a Class C commercial kennel.
She explained, “While wire flooring is currently banned in Pennsylvania’s commercial kennels, we found the following comment during our audit that was entered by a dog warden on an inspection report dated July 20, 2010:
‘The metal strand flooring shall not allow the feet of a dog to pass through the openings in the flooring. It was suggested to the kennel owner to lay another panel of metal strand flooring on top of the current flooring so that the strands overlap and decrease the size of the holes. The kennel owner could replace the current metal strand flooring with slatted flooring or metal strand flooring that has smaller holes. Or the kennel owner could lay Dri-Dek mats on top of the flooring.’”
Stephens pointed out, “There is NO indication in this report that the dogs referred to by this warden are pregnant or nursing mothers or puppies under the age of 12 weeks.”
Steven Hoover, Director, Western PA Chapter, League of Humane Voters, told IRRC, “Wire flooring, or hog flooring as it is commonly known, is made for animals with cloven hooves. I have yet to see any dog that has cloven hooves.
“The wire flooring causes extensive, painful, and unnecessary damage to the soft pads on their feet. This is why it was prohibited in [the 2008 Dog Law]…. If the breeders are too lazy or incompetent to keep the enclosures in a sanitary manner, on solid flooring as the law states, they have no business being a breeder in the first place; just as the Dept. of Agriculture has no business pimping the unscrupulous designs of the breeders.”
Hoover also described “the obvious alliance between the breeders and Sue West, [Director of the Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement], Jessie Smith, and the Dept of Ag. which has direct bearing on this hearing. The real issue is the Dept. of Ag. breaking the law on behalf of the breeders.”
He explained, “I have personally witnessed their coalition and disregard for the laws as stated in [the 2008 Dog Law]. On July 8th, there was an open conference call hosted by puppy mill lobbyist Michael Glass about the new proposed regulations. Jessie Smith was the guest speaker.
“I questioned Ms. Smith about the 81 waivers and exemptions which have been handed out to breeders like candy at Halloween, even though the breeders have had three years to comply with the law. I asked that in order to receive a waiver, do I need to submit a detailed report of why I need an exemption after all this time, proposed efforts to comply, and also what I have done to comply with the law since 2008? The answer Ms. Smith gave me was no – just that I should state I have to undergo ‘major reconstruction’.
“So breeders are given the right to break the law by Jessie Smith, Sue West, and the Dept. of Ag. with no justification whatsoever for doing so. At the conclusion of the call, Michael Glass labeled those who want the law to be complied with as ‘extremists’.”
Indeed, several in attendance at the August 19 IRRC hearing, described that the “fix was in” before the hearing and IRRC simply rubber stamped a decision made earlier by the Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement to appease commercial breeders.
Hoover concluded, “The real issue of this hearing is the law and the fact that the Dep’t of Agriculture has no authority to rewrite it”.
The new regulations also omit mention of the statutory requirement that dogs held in Class C commercial kennels have “unfettered access” to an exercise area. It appears the Bureau intends to proceed with its plan to deny this as well to nursing mothers and mothers about to give birth.
UAPM working with Animal Law Coalition presented the IRRC with alternative regulations that would comply with the 2008 Dog Law. (The proposed alternative regulations are attached below for downloading.) There was no response from the IRRC to this or any other argument or alternative put forth by opponents of the regulations. As one attendee described, “It was as if the IRRC simply waited for everyone to finish talking and then, as planned, approved the regulations.”
Prior to the IRRC hearing, Bill Smith, founder of Main Line Animal Rescue (MLAR), circulated to Jessie Smith the video below of a puppy mill dog rescued by MLAR. Bill Smith said the dog “had a broken hip when she came to us. And broken teeth. After a year of extensive rehabilitation (very timid) and surgery and water therapy, she found the best home. A great home! And she’s no longer forced to stand on 50% wire flooring in some dilapidated hutch! Trapped in some hot barn without access to fresh air and an outdoor run! This is what’s it all about folks – dogs being dogs with a little joy in their lives”. View the video: Click HERE
Why is it so difficult for Gov. Rendell and the Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement to understand that?
WHAT’S NEXT?
Pennsylvania Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate Tom Corbett must now review and decide whether to approve the regulations.
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