This particular piece pretty well sums it up. So finally the vets are speaking out about "pet transports" by rescues with statements that it does take away homes from local shelter animals, it also increases the risk of spreading disease from state to state. The vets, however, fail to recognize the real reason behind this scheme, Nathan J. Winograd.
Transporting keeps these lazy rescues in business and also causes the local shelter animals to die. All in the grand scheme of Winograd because when euthanasia goes up in the local shelter, then he can rear his ugly head. These transports have nothing to do with saving lives, they take lives.
http://www.cga.ct.gov/2011/ENVdata/Tmy/2011HB-05368-R000223-CVMA,%20Eva%20Ceranowicz,%20DVM-TMY.PDF
HB 5368: Testimony of the Connecticut Veterinary Medical Association, February 2011
Mister/Madam Chairman, Members of the CGA Environment Committee,
Thank you for the opportunity to offer testimony regarding HB 5368. I represent the Connecticut Veterinary Medical Association, which includes over 95% of Connecticut-licensed veterinarians among its members.
We believe HB 5368 is a necessary and measured approach to addressing the growing problem of unregulated transport of animals into Connecticut. These animals are imported in a manner which ensures they remain hidden from oversight by Connecticut animal health authorities and further, they often have undeclared health problems which lead to disease exposure for Connecticut animals and unexpected veterinary medical costs for unsuspecting animal owners.
For several years, and especially since the 2005 Hurricane Katrina disaster, an informal, unregulated industry has developed which functions to move animals into the State of Connecticut from other states. This industry is known as "pet rescue." Primarily through web sites, Connecticut citizens interested in adopting an out-of-state pet may arrange for its delivery into Connecticut without oversight by Connecticut animal health authorities and without advance examination by a Connecticut licensed veterinarian. Often, intermediaries based in Connecticut or elsewhere, facilitate animal importation without having physical custody of the animals, and in most cases without them ever having custody. The transport process is accomplished by commercial delivery companies and private drivers that shuttle dogs a few hundred miles each, transferring animals to the next driver at pre-determined rendezvous points. There are also general aviation pilots and at least three general aviation organizations that have "pet rescue" as their primary function.
Dogs enter the transport network from out-of-state municipal pounds, private out-of-state brick-and-mortar shelters, private out-of-state individual "rescue" organizations or through individuals associated with such groups, individuals or groups involved with a particular breed "foster" care and from sales directly from commercial breeding operations. Indeed, some animals are bred specifically for transport and characterization of these animals as needing rescue is misleading.
A close look at pet transport reveals a plethora of unintended and negative consequences including inhumane animal welfare practices, circumvention of disease control regulations and questionable financial transactions that harm Connecticut animal owners and animals. These include:
1. Animals arrive with undisclosed diseases & deformities and new owners are subject to unexpected and unrecoverable costs of veterinary care, as well as exposing animals they already own to disease. Novel diseases may travel with these animals and these pose an emergent risk to animal and/or public health, risks local veterinarians and physicians may not immediately recognize. Animal owners often have no recourse and may also feel guilty about complaining about an animal's undisclosed medical conditions. Some of these animals are then surrendered to animal shelters here.
2. Connecticut-source animals located in Connecticut brick & mortar shelters and municipal pounds are passed over for adoption when large numbers of out-of-state animals are imported. Connecticut citizens thus indirectly subsidize mitigation of animal control issues in exporting states while our animal control costs are higher, because Connecticut source animals remain in shelter longer and are harder to find homes for. Some of these must wait long periods for adoption and/or are euthanized.
Thus continued unregulated animal importation exposes Connecticut animals to disease, is unfair to citizens surprised by undisclosed medical issues and the costs to treat these, is inhumane To Connecticut source animals by decreasing their chance of adoption and shifts the cost of animal control activities from other states to our state. HB 5368 will allow animal health officials to control animal importation, prevent disease transmission, help ensure humane transport standards, protect Connecticut animal owners and animals, reduce Connecticut animal control costs and minimize the surrender of newly imported animals. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Arnold L. Goldman DVM, MS
Eva Ceranowicz DVM
Robert Belden DVM
Gayle Block DVM
Connecticut Veterinary Medical Association
I hope this starts a movement over this country to stop this scam called "Pet Transport".
Transporting keeps these lazy rescues in business and also causes the local shelter animals to die. All in the grand scheme of Winograd because when euthanasia goes up in the local shelter, then he can rear his ugly head. These transports have nothing to do with saving lives, they take lives.
http://www.cga.ct.gov/2011/ENVdata/Tmy/2011HB-05368-R000223-CVMA,%20Eva%20Ceranowicz,%20DVM-TMY.PDF
HB 5368: Testimony of the Connecticut Veterinary Medical Association, February 2011
Mister/Madam Chairman, Members of the CGA Environment Committee,
Thank you for the opportunity to offer testimony regarding HB 5368. I represent the Connecticut Veterinary Medical Association, which includes over 95% of Connecticut-licensed veterinarians among its members.
We believe HB 5368 is a necessary and measured approach to addressing the growing problem of unregulated transport of animals into Connecticut. These animals are imported in a manner which ensures they remain hidden from oversight by Connecticut animal health authorities and further, they often have undeclared health problems which lead to disease exposure for Connecticut animals and unexpected veterinary medical costs for unsuspecting animal owners.
For several years, and especially since the 2005 Hurricane Katrina disaster, an informal, unregulated industry has developed which functions to move animals into the State of Connecticut from other states. This industry is known as "pet rescue." Primarily through web sites, Connecticut citizens interested in adopting an out-of-state pet may arrange for its delivery into Connecticut without oversight by Connecticut animal health authorities and without advance examination by a Connecticut licensed veterinarian. Often, intermediaries based in Connecticut or elsewhere, facilitate animal importation without having physical custody of the animals, and in most cases without them ever having custody. The transport process is accomplished by commercial delivery companies and private drivers that shuttle dogs a few hundred miles each, transferring animals to the next driver at pre-determined rendezvous points. There are also general aviation pilots and at least three general aviation organizations that have "pet rescue" as their primary function.
Dogs enter the transport network from out-of-state municipal pounds, private out-of-state brick-and-mortar shelters, private out-of-state individual "rescue" organizations or through individuals associated with such groups, individuals or groups involved with a particular breed "foster" care and from sales directly from commercial breeding operations. Indeed, some animals are bred specifically for transport and characterization of these animals as needing rescue is misleading.
A close look at pet transport reveals a plethora of unintended and negative consequences including inhumane animal welfare practices, circumvention of disease control regulations and questionable financial transactions that harm Connecticut animal owners and animals. These include:
1. Animals arrive with undisclosed diseases & deformities and new owners are subject to unexpected and unrecoverable costs of veterinary care, as well as exposing animals they already own to disease. Novel diseases may travel with these animals and these pose an emergent risk to animal and/or public health, risks local veterinarians and physicians may not immediately recognize. Animal owners often have no recourse and may also feel guilty about complaining about an animal's undisclosed medical conditions. Some of these animals are then surrendered to animal shelters here.
2. Connecticut-source animals located in Connecticut brick & mortar shelters and municipal pounds are passed over for adoption when large numbers of out-of-state animals are imported. Connecticut citizens thus indirectly subsidize mitigation of animal control issues in exporting states while our animal control costs are higher, because Connecticut source animals remain in shelter longer and are harder to find homes for. Some of these must wait long periods for adoption and/or are euthanized.
Thus continued unregulated animal importation exposes Connecticut animals to disease, is unfair to citizens surprised by undisclosed medical issues and the costs to treat these, is inhumane To Connecticut source animals by decreasing their chance of adoption and shifts the cost of animal control activities from other states to our state. HB 5368 will allow animal health officials to control animal importation, prevent disease transmission, help ensure humane transport standards, protect Connecticut animal owners and animals, reduce Connecticut animal control costs and minimize the surrender of newly imported animals. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Arnold L. Goldman DVM, MS
Eva Ceranowicz DVM
Robert Belden DVM
Gayle Block DVM
Connecticut Veterinary Medical Association
I hope this starts a movement over this country to stop this scam called "Pet Transport".
12 comments:
this looks promising.
The issue at hand is both humane and economic. It is inhumane to move animals from southern states where public spay-neuter education and animal control laws and law enforcement are weak to nonexistent to northern states where both are excellent, unless the exporting states are also aggressively working to decrease "production" of animals that will have no homes when born.
As it is now, northern states are serving as the animal control strategy, (read 'dumping ground") for the irresponsibility of individuals in the south. Animal transport (aka "human relocation") does nothing to reduce that production.
It also results in a net increase in suffering in destination states, when you consider that shelters, pounds and local rescues already are at capacity with local sourced, unowned animals.
In this economy, with so many animal relinquishments there is no justification for the incredible numbers of animals being trasported into states with full shelters. All we are doing is shifting the problem around. In doing so, and in so public a way, people and the media come to believe the overpopulation problem is being handled adequately. It isn't.
Arnold L. Goldman DVM, MS
President, Connecticut Veterinary Medical Foundation
Thank you, Dr. Goldman, your comment means a great deal to me.
I agree. Another issue is bringing disease into a receiving shelter. Just this morning, there are two news reports, one from Memphis and one from Miami, about a distemper outbreak closing the shelters. You know that a dog can not be exhibiting symptoms at the time of transport and can infect other dogs wherever it is transported to. Plus if there are potty breaks on the trip, then it can spread the disease even in those places.
When Katrina hit and they were shipping dogs to CA, those dogs were bringing in diseases that we don't contend with very much. Heartworm, flu, etc. are pretty much unknown in CA. We need legislation to limit these transports if for no other reason than the spreading of disease.
I think it is irresponsible to send dogs into areas where their own local dogs are still being euthanized. I implore you to read my other posts on this scheme. There is more to the story actually. This is a scheme to reduce the number of adoptions at the open door shelters in order to force more euthanasia. Then those cult followers can scream for the officials to adopt a program that has proven to be a disaster to many an open door shelter. This isn't to save animals, it is to stroke the ego of a very evil and vile man, Nathan Winograd. Thank you again for taking the time to visit my blog. I hope to see more vets taking an interest in this issue. Honesty Helps
Dr. Goldman, I have read and reread your post and can find nothing positive in it. I am sure this somehow impacts you financially and you have tried to sound altruistic by coming up with other reasons to oppose this practice. I have rescued three labs from Texas and done so knowing they may have problems. In for a penny in for a pound as it were. You almost sound like you begrudge these animals finding a good home as if their situation was their own fault. Your veiled derision of "the south" smacks of entitlement and phony intellectualism. Do you honestly believe not rescuing these animals will result in a different animal control strategy in the south? You know little of southern culture and animal rescue isn't a social experiment and no one I know in the industry believes it will somehow change southern philosophy. It is simply a way to put a needy pet with a willing owner you douchebag.
Anon:2 So you are one of transporters. I have several posts on here showing the bullshit this scam is. Why not read those too? If anything this Vet is cutting himself out of money with this action. He will lose money because these dogs coming in usually need medical.
The whole thing with transports is that it doesn't save lives, it takes lives. Those lives taken are from the local shelters, transports take homes from the shelter animals. If you can't understand that morality, then that makes you the douchbag or worst. In my book, it makes you a killer of animals, not a savior.
You are a miserable person who looks for things to be angry about. I am not a transporter. I live in New York and have adopted three rescue labs from Texas. One developed lymphoma which we treated as long as possible at a cost exceeding $10,000.00 and were happy and honored to do if it gave the animal some peace. The other two dogs are healthy happy and grateful for a second chance. The people in Texas who facilitate these rescues are noble caring individuals who donate all their time and services. Your zero sum game theory is completely wrong. If I want to adopt a lab and your local shelter has only pitbulls, I am not going to settle for a pitbull; and just because I adopt a lab from Texas doesn't mean someone won't adopt your local pitbull. Your desire to see government control another aspect of free society is also disturbing.
Bullshit, Anon, you are a killer, you killed three dogs in shelters in and around your area. Don't tell me you can't find a lab within a 50 mile radius of where you live. Don't say that those transporters from TX are caring and loving people, they are killers in my book. It is immoral and unethical to take dogs into areas that are suffering from a pet overpopulation. It takes away homes from the shelter dogs causing them to die. Noble, hardly.
And you are damn right I'm angry. I'm angry when I know that all these transports are for one reason, to cause the euthanasia in shelters to go up, not down, forcing the issue of "No Kill". It is a scheme to push this morbid philosophy that has proven to be a killer of animals, proven to be a destroyer of shelters.
It wasn't a case of pit bulls, it is a case of your own personal instant gratification. Rather than wait until a lab came into the shelter, you wanted one right then. You didn't want to save a life, you just wanted to satisfy yourself or you would have done the right thing. You would have notified the shelters of your interest in a lab, you would have registered at www.petharbor.com for notification of the entrance of labs into your surrounding shelters. Did you do that? Nope, I bet you didn't.
You can spend your life thinking you have done the right thing, but it is false. I'm miserable because of people like yourself, not thinking what the right thing is and doing it. Yep, you are a killer just like your friends from TX in my book.
Dr. Goldman-
Not all of us are fooled by your spinning of this yarn. To understand what is happening here, one only needs to FOLLOW THE MONEY ! You (vet) and your ilk (breeders) will make more cash selling your genetically crippled dogs by preventing healthy and wonderful dogs from other regions of the US from coming here.
These rescue dogs are bringing diseases ? displacing local shelter pets ? Has never, and will never, happen. This prophylactic BS legislation is nothing more than a money grab. The only thing that these "dumping ground" dogs have brought here is happiness to hundreds of families.
Shame on you and the fools you've brainwashed with your rhetoric and lack of any proof of harm......
Anon, you are too busy thriving in the drunkness of the koolaid of Nathan Winograd to know what the reality of this scam is. You're being used, you're a puppet. Transporting has nothing to do with saving lives, it has everything to do with making euthanasia rise in local shelters.
Look at the other posts on this blog about this bullshit.
I support this needed law in CT and applaud all who had the guts to put themselves out there to support it. The absolute hatred being directed at supports - many who work in animal shelters in CT is just digusting. Every state needs to pass such laws. States that benefit by shipping their unwanted pets out of state should be ashamed and should be pressured to make changes. By moving animals around, you are enabling those states to continue to do nothing and thousands will still die every day
Businesses which transport goods, materials and wastes need to take a range of steps to ensure that materials aren't damaged in transit and that any health, safety and environmental risks are minimised
Man & Van, the transporting of dogs across the USA is a scam, don't you get it? First of all, it is these do gooder "No Kill" rescues doing nothing more than trying to force the euthanization rate at their local shelter to go up so they can take over. Providing these rescues with product via transport schemes takes away homes from their own local shelter animals, causing them to die. Then this has developed into another scam, take the dogs and then they never reach their destination point.
No, Van, the normal rules of transport don't apply here. We aren't shipping boxes of goods, this is lives. And I have been witness to over 30 dogs crammed into small crates they can't even stand up in, and put into a small minivan for a 24 hour trip. Do you think the driver pulled over for potty breaks? Did these dogs even have water for those 24 hours? It needs to be regulated and highly regulated.
Post a Comment