Supreme Court decision

I guess most people are aware by now of the Supreme Courts decision to make animal cruelty videos protected speech. It is quite unbelievable to me that this could have happened. There is a good discussion of this http://www.animallawcoalition.com/animal-cruelty/article/558#comment-3800. It explains why the Justices made this decision and gives Justice Alito's dissent. The big interests won out. The NRA wanted this law struck down. I would like to hear from others, their thoughts on this decision.

We are a cause on facebook

We are now a cause on facebook. Please check it out and join the cause. The bigger our numbers, the stronger our voice will be, so please spread the word to your friends about LOHV Washington State. If you haven't seen it yet we have a new look to our website home page. We will also be adding a page for local issues in legislative districts. If anyone is doing something locally that you would like to have posted please let me know. We should have this page up and running soon.

Yeah! Lewis County Commissioners

The Lewis County Commissioners adopted a county ordinance that tightened up on the language in the Washington State puppy mill bill. They changed the wording used in the state bill, which says that a person can own no more that 50 intact dogs age 6 months or more to there can be no more than 50 intact dogs on one property. This ensures that several people living on a property can't each own 50 dogs. This will hopefully start to limit the number of puppy mills we see here in Lewis County.

I would also like to thank everyone who wrote letters, called and attended the public hearing on this matter. You made a difference! A lot of dogs lives will be better because of you.

The next step will be to institute some type of annual certification for all breeders with an annual inspection. Right now there has to be legitimate reports and complaints of abuse and neglect occuring before the animal control officer can investigate and they still can't enter anyones property without being invited. This means they have to get a warrant to enter the property. An annual inspection would allow for regular access to their property to make sure they are complying with the law, which also requires kennel sizes to be certain size and that the dogs have exercise at least one hour a day. The commissioners will be looking into kennel licensing in the coming months. I will keep you posted.