:This Means War…sent by Vickie
Posted: April 18, 2008 Filed under: Apso Aficionados, DRambles on Black Mountain 3 CommentsVickie wrote: The following is an article by Cindy Cooke as published on the UKC site. If you think this can’t happen in your city, you’re wrong … dead wrong. Pay particular attention to the ordeal an ethical/responsible breeder (and rescuer) was subjected to and how the City of Littleton, Colorado basically held a gun to his head, including forcing property inspections outside the City’s jurisdiction!!
Simple pet owners need to pay attention … your rights as an owner are at stake as well.
Vickie, you are absolutely right! Everyone needs to pay attention! I know Bob. Bob is someone like me. Long time breeder. Long time exhibitor. And, unlike me, a long rescuer of all Setters. He is a responsible, ethical, compassionate breeder. There is lots of literature available on the hijacking of our rights, including our rights as dog owners. Our personal rights are being hijacked in the name of ‘safety for our country’. Our rights as dog owners are being hijacked in the name of …well, you tell me. These rights have slowly, stragically been eroded by animal extremists. For example, Boulder was the first city in the country to change verbage in city laws from pet owner to pet guardian. Guardian implies animals have rights.
Animal welfare is one thing. Animal rights is entirely different. There are organizations that support animal welfare. Make sure your support, your contributions are going to organizations that represent your views. PETA and HSUS are dog owners two biggest enemies in our country. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Humane Society of the United States. The names sound grand. After all, what kind of person isnt’ for the ethical treatment of animals. What kind of person doesn’t support being humane to animals. Both of those organizations have slowly, ever so slowly, eroded people’s rights with their dogs. Cindy Cooke does not exaggerate in her excellent article. Pay heed!
Kunza at FleetFire Timbers 
Is this happening because the HSUS is trying to elilminate all dog breeders? I know that one of PETA’s goals is to eliminate the ownership of animals as “pets” entirely. This is very frightening, and similar laws are being passed all over the country. Albuquerque recently passed similar legislation, and communities in NM are simply adopting the Albuq. regulations.
The holistic vet I saw recently told me to “keep my mouth shut publicly, or risk losing my dogs, but, by all means, educate one-on-one at every opportunity.”
Does anyone know if Bob has been successful in fighting this?
I’m not well-versed in HSUS’s agenda, but would guess yes, HSUS would like to eliminate dog breeders.
Slowly, over the years, I’ve seen kennels go by the wayside. Legitimate kennels. If one is to have an active breeding program, one must have a proper facility to house the participants. As the old-timers have passed on, there’s very few young people replacing them…certainly not with kennels. There are multiple factors, including time and expense, along with zoning laws. Most breeder/exhibitors within cities are breaking zoning laws. There are no options, unless you chose to no longer be a breeder. A few cities have passed a law that allows more than the average number of dogs. Most dog breeders are afraid to get involved, to promote something similar for their city. They’re afraid of getting busted.
In the bigger picture, I think the urbanization of our country contributes to this mindset of the general population. They are removed from rural life, what it takes to put food on the table.
Bob’s lawyer has filed a ???? – Vickie would know the legal term. Bob agreed to all the conditions, inappropriate consequences because his top concern was his dogs, getting his dogs back. Can you imagine? I can’t!! A litter of 4-week old puppies in a facility that has been brought up on charges of neglect…or some such thing. I would be hysterical. I would sign whatever they put in front of me in order to get my puppies and dogs back and deal with the rest later. That’s what Bob did.
I read the document filed by his lawyer. There was something about suing the city of Littleton for illegal seizure of personal property and several other things against the law that were done by the authorities in charge. I suppose that will take some time to be resolved. I’ll keep you posted.
I’m afraid that this type of government control over our lives is but the tip of the iceberg. Small farmers are fighting the NAIS being proposed and implemented all over the country by our benevolent government. It is the National Animal Identification System that requires every single owner of every single chicken, goat, horse, cow, turkey, rabbit, pig, etc, to have each and every animal micro-chipped and report the movement of each animal to the government. Except that Big AG is exempt from the “every animal” clause. The Industrial Farming Corporations don’t have to micro-chip every animal, just the small farmers, the 4-H kids, the people like Ken and me with our five goats and dozen chickens. “They” say, its to protect our food supply. But it will be devastating to the small, struggling organic farms out there. It’s pretty obvious that the intent is to eliminate the threat of the small, independent farms. Why is Big Ag so afraid of the small organic farms, anyway?
I recently read in a credible national news magazine of a case of Imminent Domain exercised by a municipality in NJ, I think. They condemned and razed an entire neighborhood community based on the court’s support for increased economic gain by selling the prime real estate to a developer for his personal development, whereby the entire community supposedly stood to gain by increased property values, taxes, etc. But they forciby removed legimate, middle-class homeowners from wholly-owned houses in a nice neighborhood to do it, and the developer has since reneged on his end of the bargain, so the razed neighborhood has since become a blight on the area.
The state of Texas has bit off a big chunk by forcibly removing over 400 children from their mothers, none of whom has committed any crime, merely because they think that a crime might have been committed by a man who lives in Arizona, it turns out, based on an anonymous phone call from a questionable source. They might have legitimate reason to act in some fashion in this case, but just because they don’t like the looks of this particular renegade group and were looking for any excuse to rip into them, doesn’t give them the right to rip babies from their mother’s arms and send them hundreds of miles to a questionable foster home without cause in each particular case. Sounds very much like the town of Littleton taking 4 week old puppies from their safe haven where they were loved and cared for, and shoved through a broken window to be man-handled and traumatized for no good reason, other than someone had it in for their owner.
I’m afraid our rights are being stripped from us in many different areas, and we don’t notice until it smacks us in the face.
When the Town where I lived threatened to fine me a huge amount, take my dog away and put me in jail, I, too, caved and did what they asked. It cost me my dog’s life and us thousands of dollars. Now, I wish I’d just stood up to them and gone to jail.
Just like with gun control, when all the law-abiding citizens hand over their guns, only the criminals will have them. When PETA and the HSUS finally get their way, only the puppy mills will be left in operation, and the legimate, up-front breeders will be forced out, like Debbie says.
I wish I still thought that individual citizens still had a voice in our government, but I’m afraid that only those who organize and are vocal and financially powerful have any sway whatsoever anymore. It’s very scary.