NJ bill A3401 (restrictions on dog/cat breeding/sales)

[Kelliwic Border Collies]

Posted with permission.

-Megan

 

***********

 

A3401 -- MAY BE FORWARDED

 

Forwarded from the national pet-law list:

 

New Jersey bill A3401, filed July 4th, gets the pet-law revolving trophy for the worst pet animal bill in the United States. We need to kill this one fast and we need your help!

 

Some key points for NJ A3401:

 

If you sell over five cats or dogs in a year you are a breeder:

 

Breeders must be licensed.

 

Breeders must comply with the federal AWA (Animal Welfare Act) standards -- non-porous surfaces, separate food preparation room, bitches in whelp in another building, and so on. Plus a few extra

tweeks that will make things tougher.

 

Enclosures must be tall enough for dogs to stand on hind legs with 6" of clearance and must have access to an outdoor run. Air must be changed 8-12 times/hour.

 

Bitches/queens may not be bred over once per year and not more than five litters are allowed per year.

 

Any violation is cause for revocation or denial of a license with a five year or longer ban. Fines run $500-10,000. Snitches (who 'out' a violator) can get 10% of any civil penalty imposed.

 

Basically it will be impossible to continue home breeding of dogs or cats in New Jersey if this bill should pass. There's MUCH more in the bill: You can read it in the original at the address near the end

of this.

 

To oppose New Jersey A3401:

 

Write to the two primary sponsors:

 

Neil M. Cohen

 

You can contact Mr. Cohen through his home page at:

 

http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/members/cohen.asp

 

And

 

Joan M. Voss

 

Her page is:

 

http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/members/voss.asp

 

These sponsors should be asked to "Please WITHDRAW A3401."

 

Use that for a subject line and end your message with it.

 

Keep emails/faxes short. It may be a challenge, but BE POLITE.

 

The other people to contact are the NJ Assembly Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee. You can find their names at the top of the page at:

 

http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/committees/assembly.asp

 

You can contact each of them from there -- just click the names.

 

Committee members should be asked to "Please OPPOSE

A3401." Use that for a subject line and end your message with it.

 

You can read NJ A3401 in the original at:

 

http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/2006/Bills/A3500/3401_I1.HTM

 

Yes, OUT OF STATE CAN HELP. While lawmakers do pay more attention to the people who can vote for them, they listen if their in box fills up, the fax runs out of paper over the weekend, and the phone rings off the hook on Monday.

 

Do you have friends, family, puppy or kitten buyers in New Jersey? Please ask them to make the contacts above.

 

It's good to get a quick start on these things -- if you have the time, PLEASE SEND EMAILS AND FAXES OVER THE WEEKEND.

 

THIS MAY BE FORWARDED FREELY

 

Walt Hutchens

Timbreblue Whippets

Virginia

[IronHorse]

Personally after reading this proposed bill I am in agreement with it and believe that it is a viable bill.

I support it and hope it passes.

I do not understand why you would be against it.

[Kelliwic Border Collies]

I support limiting breeding in general, and of course I support ensuring that the animals involved are living in healthy environments, but I personally think that certain specifics of this bill are more restrictive than neccessary.

[Pipedream Farm]

IronHorse,

 

By this bill I would be a breeder & pet dealer. I would need to replace all the wire crates we use for our dogs and put up a kennel building moving our crated house pets out into a kennel. Meaning, we would no longer breed. NJ is going to put small, home based breeders out of business leaving only the large commercial breeders.

 

(5) Each enclosure for a dog shall have a height of not less than six inches above the head of the dog being held in the enclosure when the dog is standing on its hind legs and shall provide access to an outdoor run. Enclosures for dogs shall have, for large-sized breeds of 50 pounds per animal or more, a minimum size of 4 feet by 8 feet, or 32 square feet, and an outdoor run of 4 feet by 15 feet; for medium-sized breeds of 21 to 50 pounds per animal, a minimum of 4 feet by 6 feet, or 24 square feet, and an outdoor run of 4 feet by 10 feet; and for small-sized breeds of less than 21 pounds, a minimum of 3 feet by 5 feet and an outdoor run of 3 feet by 10 feet...

Mark

[Dal & Mad's Mom]

It would seem like the general theory is good but the restrictions are bad. It sounds like it's trying to aim at puppy mills but, too many cooks got into the kitchen and made it a mess.

[IronHorse]

Perhaps I am missing something here but reading through this proposed bill I see it stated,

"Breeder" means any person who owns or operates a breeding facility and sells or offers for sale more than five cats or dogs per year, regardless of whether the person is exempted from having a license issued by the United States Department of Agriculture pursuant to the "Animal Welfare Act," 7 U.S.C. ?2131 et seq., or any rule or regulation adopted pursuant thereto, or does not have a valid United States Department of Agriculture breeder license for any reason.

b. No person may sell more than 25 cats or dogs per year for use as pets to individuals, kennels or pet shops in the State.

How is this catering to the commercial breeder if at most a breeder/person can only sell 25 animals?

 

Mark,

If you are producing litters with the intent to sell then isn't it fair to say that you are indeed a breeder and should be subject to the same critia that any other breeder is subject too?

"Breeding facility" means any building or other structure, or area whether indoor or outdoor, in which more than two cats or dogs are housed and bred for the purposes of selling the resulting kittens or puppies for any purpose.

I do not see that it is nessessary to have a completely seperate structure, only that the area meets the critia.

 

I am not attempting to be contrary here I am just going by what I am reading in this bill,perhaps there is a completely different set of standards which defines what a commercial breeder is in the state of NJ.

[Deacon Dog]

By that logic a household having a garage sale should be subject to the same health and safety standards as Wal Mart. The separate structure is implied; not many houses have indoor-outdoor enclosures for each dog, and I'd hate to see the heating bill for one that did.

 

The people I'd buy a working Border Collie from couldn't comply with these regulations, and their dogs wouldn't be better off if they did. Pretty sure a whelping bitch would be better cared for in the Billadeau household than 90% of the breeders who could meet these standards.

 

Agree the bill doesn't cater to commercial breeders. Cui bono? Show breeders? Animal welfare groups? Vets?

[Pipedream Farm]

IronHorse,

 

My mistake I missed the 25 dog limit; however, Tony did state my concern that most homes won't have indoor/outdoor kennel runs and no crate will meet the size requirements of this bill.

 

One last thing to consider (I read this on another forum); depending upon how NJ views rescue groups legally (money is paid for the rescues), these groups may not exceed placing 25 dogs per year.

 

Mark

[IronHorse]

Mark,

 

my concern that most homes won't have indoor/outdoor kennel runs and no crate will meet the size requirements of this bill.

I understand and am sympathetic to the small breeder who would be burdened with adapting their facilities to meet these requirements.

IMO this bill is an attempt to standardize a minimum and eliminate the sub standard and inhumane conditions which are all to common.

I do not see the prescribed requirements as being unreasonable, in fact they would be luxurious compared to the conditions that many breeding animals are being kept.

Sure it would be an added expense to those breeders who already go above and beyond in their own fasion to provide for their breeding stock but it would give a minimum standard that would cover ALL breeders.It may mean that the price of obtaining a pup would have to be adjusted upwards to compensate.

 

One last thing to consider (I read this on another forum); depending upon how NJ views rescue groups legally (money is paid for the rescues), these groups may not exceed placing 25 dogs per year.

this is an area that needs to be addressed and clarified if it isn't already being dialoged then it certainly should be.

 

IMO instead of spamming the sponsors with opposition and requests to withdraw this bill(as suggested by the OP)it makes more sense to review what is proposed and dialog with the sponsors the areas where improvement can be made for the welfare of the results and press for ammendments to the bill that would benefit it as a whole.

[Pipedream Farm]

Originally posted by IronHorse:

I do not see the prescribed requirements as being unreasonable, in fact they would be luxurious compared to the conditions that many breeding animals are being kept.

You should take these requirements in context of zoning and building codes. While building may be an easy prospect where you live, here on the East Coast that is not the situation. For us to build a kennel (required since indoor/outdoor runs appear to be required) we would need to build towards the middle of our sheep field (due to set-back requirements for buildings), loosing precious land (which is very expensive here) we use for training. We would need to have our zoning changed from conservation to allow a kennel. So while on the surface these requirements may appear to be reasonable, they must be taken in context of the local ordinances where "kennel" may include many more and difficult hurdles to be crossed. Also, I suspect once this law passes, there may be issues with business licenses and therefore running a business out of your residence which may be prohibited by local zoning.

 

Mark

[IronHorse]

Mark,

I understand the complexities which you point out.

I by no means am implying that this bill addresses them all nor is it a perfect solution to a complex situation.

I do however see it as addressing a situation that the majority of readers and viewers of these boards are concerned about.

As is said "the devil is in the details".

 

None of us who are sincere about stopping the inhumane pratices of puppymills and an over abundance of byb's who continue to profit at the cost of the welfare of animals can stand on the sidelines and hope someone else will solve the problem.

The pros and cons have to be weighted by intelligent people and hopefully the implimented solutions will have the best possible affect with the least amount of sacrifice.

[Deacon Dog]

The majority may be concerned about inhumane treatment by certain breeders, but that doesn't mean the majority feels that legislation is the answer. If there's demand, supply will come from somewhere, i.e. other states, Mexico or black markets.

 

Also, I don't think this particular piece of legislation is something about which reasonable people can disagree. It smacks of organizations like PETA, HSUS, etc. dedicated to ending all subjugation of animals no matter how benign. One tactic employed is a combination of breeder regulations and forced spay/neuter laws designed to make pet ownership impracticable. I used to think lawmakers wouldn't take these groups seriously, but the more bills like this introduced, the more I'm not so sure.

 

I'm really surprised that anyone who cares about Border Collies would support a bill like this since it would hit working breeders especially hard.

[Tuck's BCBuddy]

I'll start with the disclaimer that my post in no way means I would support this bill, but for purposes of discussion I'm going to throw a log on the fire....

 

Would this not also hit the backyard breeder hard as well?

 

I say this wondering how many actual "working breeders" you'd find in New Jersey. But then, of course, this type of legislation often sets a precedence and the adjacent dominoes begin to fall in line.

 

Guess the old saying is true, "you can't have your cake and eat it too", eh?

 

Could it be that this legislation needs to not necessarily be killed, but rethought and rewritten?

 

As usual, my nickels worth in the form of a dime.

[Pipedream Farm]

Originally posted by Tuck's BCBuddy:

I say this wondering how many actual "working breeders" you'd find in New Jersey.

More than you would suspect. On the USBCHA Combined Open Points Rankings there are 5 handlers from NJ. All are involved with the breed and our organizations, for example maintaining the USBCHA points listing on the web (and hosting a trial annually), maintaining littlehats and is involved with this board, on the 2007 USBCHA Finals Committee bringing the finals to Gettysburg, involved with NEBCA on committees or as officers, etc. They all breed for working ability.

 

Mark

[Tuck's BCBuddy]

Mark,

 

Thanks for the info. You're right about more than I suspect, as being from Eastern PA, I would have suspected very very few. Even in PA, I would have suspected that the working breeders would rise in numbers as you move further west in the state. Of course, everything I suspected was just based on suspicion, and no concrete numbers.

 

Again, my earlier comments were just for discussion purposes with no mal-intent or in support of any NJ legislation.

 

Soo, thanks again.