Animal Shelter, Inc.

July 2007 - December 2007
Especially for Pets in the Community: The Adoption Initiative
Animal Shelter, Inc. is partnering with Especially for Pets in Westborough

Especially for Pets, an independent pet supply retailer with six locations in Massachusetts, is committed to educating their customers and making a difference in their communities. Especially for Pets is dedicated to responsible pet care and their retail stores serve as venues for teaching and educating the public. As a company, they recognize their responsibility to contribute to the solution of the overwhelming problem of homeless and abandoned animals.
Last year, they instituted a new program called Especially for Pets in the Community: The Adoption Initiative. Especially for Pets has teamed up with local non-profits and rescue organizations to promote pets available for adoption as well as to raise awareness about the work being done in the rescue community. It is their ultimate goal to educate their customers about what the specific organizations do, to collect donations for their use and, ultimately to help the organizations to place homeless animals in permanent, loving homes. In 2006, they collected over $8000 in product and donations for local non-profits as a result of this program.

Each Especially for Pets store has partnered with a local non-profit from July 1 through December 31, 2007. Animal Shelter, Inc. was chosen to partner with the Westborough store. You can visit their stores to check out their Adoption Boards to see photos of the animals available for adoption and/or pick up a copy of their ‘Wish List’ and make a donation to support the organizations of your choice. For more information, visit their website at www.especiallyforpets.com.

Read about Last Chance for Animals and their important work!

POUND SEIZURE - A Terminal Fate
Pound seizure is the practice, which refers to the taking of cats and dogs from shelters and pounds, to supply the biomedical research industry. When dogs and cats are obtained for research, their fate is terminal. Some animals die quickly, while others are allocated for long-term, agonizing studies. Once the animal is turned over to the research facility, the Animal Welfare Act and anti-cruelty laws are close to nonexistent. Although there is no law pertaining to pound seizure, fourteen states prohibit it. Most other states have no declaration regarding pound seizure and leave it up to the county or town governments to decide. Several anti-pound seizure bills have been presented before Congress, but it has yet to be ratified.

AB 588, as introduced 2/18/03 by Assemblyman Paul Koretz, (D-West Hollywood), is intended to prohibit the pain and suffering of animals who are sold or given away by animal shelters to entities that perform biomedical research, product development and safety testing, and educational demonstrations. To read the exact wording of the bill please visit HERE.

SB 542 & SB 543, as introduced 6/4/03 by Senator Valde Garcia, Senator Laura Toy and Senator Tony Stamas, will put a stop to the horrendous practice of pound seizure in the State of Michigan. SB 542 & SB 543 has been referred to the Committee on Local, Urban and State affairs. Contact your senator and ask them to support these very important bills.

To write your local representative regarding this legislation, please click on our SAMPLE LETTER.

For a List of Local Representatives. CLICK HERE

To learn more about the horrendous practice of pound seizure and the FAQ’s, please CLICK HERE.

PUPPY MILLS
Approximately 500,000 puppies per year are bred in puppy mills, facilities known for their filthy, overcrowded conditions and the unhealthy animals they produce. Each of the 4,000-5,000 puppy mills in the U.S., most of which are located in the Midwest, houses between 75 to 150 breeding animals. Only half of the dogs bred at puppy mills make it to the pet store; the other half die from the mill’s squalid conditions, hypothermia starvation, or other horrors of transport. Cat breeding occurs on a smaller scale but under similar conditions. Most of the dogs sold in pet stores come from puppy mills.

For More detailed information on Puppy Mills CLICK HERE

Read about our Puppy Mill Victory in Pennsylvania!

PET SAFETY AND PROTECTION ACT
LCA is actively working to pass the Pet Safety and Protection Act, which would prohibit Class "B" dealers, those that acquire animals from "random sources," from selling those animals to laboratories. LCA president Chris DeRose has met with congressional representatives in order to see this important legislation passed. To learn more about pet theft and the Pet Safety and Protection Act, please click here.

You can participate in this crucial effort to educate people about pet theft all year long. Please click here to order Pet Theft Awareness materials to share with your community.

PREMARIN
Premarin is the hormone replacement drug that comes from Pregnant Mare's Urine. Approximately nine million American women take it each year, making it one of the most frequently prescribed medications in the country. Approximately 40,000 mares per year are used to produce Premarin. Their lives are filled with suffering: they are kept continually pregnant in stalls too small for them to even turn around. When they can no longer reproduce quickly, they follow their foals to the slaughterhouse. Their meat is then sold for human consumption or dog food.

LCA’s Special Investigations Unit has just completed a comprehensive investigation of Premarin production in Canada. Click HERE to view the SIU report

For More detailed information on Premarin CLICK HERE UPDATED

H 1131 - ANIMAL FIGHTING

Sponsor: Representative Kafka. This bill deals with changes to the Massachusetts animal fighting statutes. Our MSPCA law enforcement department has been challenged on their ability to seize paraphernalia related to animal fighting and to seize animals being bred to fight. Our suggested changes to the Massachusetts General Laws would clarify their authority. These changes are consistent with the intent of the animal fighting laws. Similar provisions exist in Massachusetts law for seizure and forfeiture of paraphernalia used in connection with other crimes, such as drug offenses.

This bill had a hearing on April 10. This bill is in the Judiciary Committee. To find out if your legislators are on this committee, click here. The members of this committee to contact are:

S 198 AN ACT INCREASING THE PENALTIES FOR ANIMAL ABUSE

This bill would increase the penalties in Ch. 272 sec. 77 from 1 year or $1,000 or both to 5 years (for a felony) or 2.5 years or $2,500 or both. Penalties for animal cruelty in Mass. are much lower than many other states. Sponsor: Senator Moore.

This bill is in the Criminal Justice Committee. It had a hearing on April 2. Click here for a sample letter. To find out if your legislators are on this committee, click here. Members to contact are:

H 1252 - DISSECTION CHOICE

Sponsor: Representative Louis Kafka. This bill would guarantee Massachusetts students a choice in class assignments on dissection. An estimated 6 million vertebrate animals are used in dissection classes each year, including frogs, fetal pigs, cats, and many other species. Many students are often reluctant to ask for an alternative assignment out of fear of intimidation or concern that their grade will suffer. This bill will address the concerns of students who have sincere ethical and moral concerns about the suffering and killing of animals for a science lesson. Contact the Ethical Science and Education Coalition for more information. For more information on laboratory animal issues, visit the MSPCA's Center for Laboratory Animal Welfare.

This bill is in the Education Committee. Click here for ideas to help you write your letter. To find out if your legislators are on this committee, click here. Members to write to are:

H 912 - AN ACT RELATING TO PET-BASED EVICTIONS “Sheena’s Law”

This bill would ensure that if housing authorities change their pet policy for state-funded housing that animals that currently exist on the property — who are temperamentally sound — that do not comply with the new policy be “grandfathered.” In addition, this bill would prevent any housing authority from enacting any policy for its state-funded family housing that has any breed-based restrictions or unreasonable weight restrictions for animals. The bill is named after “Sheena” a dog who was adopted from an MSPCA shelter several years ago and lived in Chelsea Housing Authority state housing until a new restrictive policy was put in place; her family was forced to give her up or face eviction. Sponsor: Representative O'Flaherty.

This bill is in the House and Urban Development Committee. This bill had a hearing on April 9. Click here for a sample letter. Click here to email a letter to your legislators. For additional information on this bill, click here. Members to contact are:

H 2657 - AN ACT RELATING TO THE REPORTING OF ANIMAL AND CHILD ABUSE

This bill would allow employees and contractors of Department of Social Services (DSS) who are investigating child abuse to report suspected animal abuse. This bill is the result of the constantly increasing research that documents the link between domestic violence and animal abuse. Sponsor: Representative Koutoujian.

This bill has been sent to the Public Safety Committee. To find out if your legislators are on this committee, click here. Members to write to are:

S 184 - AN ACT RELATING TO CIRCUSES AND EXOTIC ANIMALS

A new bill would prohibit certain animals (primates, tigers, bears and elephants) from performing in circuses. The MSPCA is opposed to wild animals in circuses and traveling wild animal acts because of the suffering they cause to the animals and because of the false picture given of the animals displayed. Quincy, Revere, Braintree, Weymouth and Provincetown, Mass. have all passed ordinances prohibiting circuses within their boundaries. Sponsor: Senator Hedlund. Visit http://www.circusspotlight.org/ for more information on circuses.

This bill has been sent to the Criminal Justice Committee. Click here for ideas for writing your letter. To find out if your legislators are on this committee, click here. Members to write to are:

GAMBLING EXPANSION AND DOG RACING

For the first time, Massachusetts is seriously considering expanding gambling. This may result in casinos in the state and would likely allow slot machines at the state’s horse and dog tracks. For years, the greyhound racing industry has been on decline with fewer people attending and less money being made and many people believe that dog racing will soon die out. However, if slot machines are allowed in the dog tracks, this would artificially prop up this industry and keep the dogs racing.

If these dog tracks are able to convince lawmakers to let them subsidize greyhound racing with slot machines profits, the dogs will race indefinitely regardless of whether or not the industry is making a profit from live greyhound racing. The tracks will be required by law to conduct dog racing in order to operate their slot machines.

The Solution: Every Massachusetts voter that cares about greyhounds must contact their State Senator right away and tell him or her to oppose the legalization of slot machines at greyhound racetracks!

Join Grey2KUSA’s mailing list by visiting http://www.grey2kusa.org/.

Bills have again been filed that would weaken hunting and trapping laws, repeal parts of the 1996 ballot question — the Wildlife Protection Act — (H 200). In addition, H. 1534 would allow moose hunting (currently outlawed) and H 2475 would expand deer hunting. H. 588 would authorize hunting on Sundays. H. 202 has a hearing on September 4, 2003 and would eliminate the power of humane societies, including the MSPCA, to enforce statutes that pertain to cruelty against animals that are not domesticated. If this becomes law, our law enforcement officers, who are appointed as special police officers, would not long be able to enforce the cruelty statutes as they pertain to wildlife.

These bills are in the Natural Resources and Agriculture Committee. To find out if your legislators are on this committee, click here. The members to write to in order to OPPOSE these bills are:

Massachusetts legislators can be reached by calling (617) 722-2000 or by writing: The Honorable _____________, State House, Boston, MA 02133. The salutation should be: Dear Representative or Senator ___________: