For those of us who take precautions in making sure our lost dogs are returned, legislation and policies can undermine those precautions and turn them into nothing more than a false sense of security. Recently, the Harrisburg, PA police adopted a “kill, adopt or dump” policy for stray dogs, and back on January 27, 2011, I posted an article on Utah’s HB 210 that would allow individuals to shoot “feral” dogs. I’ve heard that the Harrisburg policy is being reconsidered but don’t know the status of HB 210. In any case, it brings to light a serious situation that needs addressing.
As our economy continues to struggle and the unemployment remains high, families are being forced to make sacrifices. One of the sacrifices being made is the family dog and people in desperate situations are resorting to dumping. Compound that with the fact that local and state government budgets are being cut, Fido is in a really tough spot.
So what can we do about it? The first thing is to bring awareness to the situation and hope that people will step up to the plate as fosters and rescues. The second is more controversial, difficult and long term: crack down on unethical breeders, puppy mills, and many of your “backyard breeders”. Begin eliminating the source of overpopulation, rather than having to deal with the consequences of it.
Tags: dog policies, lost dogs, stray dogs
January 22, 2012 at 4:47 pm |
I feel bad for dogs who end up in rescue, but I have to say that I am not in favor on any laws which regulate breeders. I just think the government has way bigger fish to fry and enforcement costs money which the government doesn’t have and so they will come back to the tax payer for even more money. Whenever the government gets involved they always go way overboard of anything that is necessary to “fix” the problem. Besides it will be the “good” breeders which bear the brunt because the others will have no regard to the regulation and just ignore it until caught.
January 23, 2012 at 8:32 pm |
It all boils down to personal responsibility and ethics, so the problem isn’t going away anytime soon. Like anything else, it only takes a couple of bad apples to give everyone a bad rep.