Yesterday, voters in Missouri passed legislation that is aimed at large scale breeding facilities. Is it perfect? No. Personally, I wish the restrictions were much tighter and the penalties greater. What disturbed me the most were the special interest groups that were flooding the media and the internet with false accusations. Many people in agriculture thought that this would somehow apply to farm animals, even though the proposition clearly spelled out "dog" in every legal way.
People on both sides of the issue continued to spread lies and exaggerations, while very few actually read the proposed legislation.
Sadly, the bill did not pass in a landslide... I was really hoping that Missouri legislators were going to get a wake up call about how Missouri feels about puppy mills. However, many people who are against puppy mills voted no, after hearing the scary and crazy propaganda like the ones that suggested if a crumb of food fell in your pet's water bowl, you would go to jail. I think many more people would have voted yes if they had just taken the time to read it, line by line.
At a recent dog show, a fellow agility enthusiast suprised me by saying "I do not back the legislation... I don't think the government has any business telling me what I can do with my dogs." Thankfully, I recovered from my shock fast enough to tell her, "that is probably what Michael Vick thinks as well."
As long as we have puppy mills, dog fighting, and people that mistreat their animals, we need legislation to limit the abuse. Thanks Missouri voters for getting us a step closer.
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I was very offended by the commercials that ininuated ALL of missouri vets were opposed to prop b. But at least it passed. You gotta start somewhere.
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