Registered: Jul 2003
Location: Texas
Posts: 4324

TX-RPOA E-News
From RPOA Texas Outreach and
Responsible Pet Owners Alliance
"Animal welfare, not animal 'rights'
and, yes, there is a difference."
Permission granted to crosspost.

April 20, 2009
A reminder from our friends at National Animal Interest Alliance!
__________________________________

Texas Tethering Bill Goes Too Far
Please state your opposition to SB 634!

April 20, 2009

Texas State Senator Seliger has introduced SB 634, a bill that threatens to
criminalize many responsible pet owners who utilize conventional, humane
tethering to properly confine their dogs.

SB 634 would prohibit tethering or trolley runs under any condition, mandate
150 sf kennel size, and prohibit dogs from being outside while unattended,
even in a fenced yard (hunting dogs are not exempt). This means
that owners would not be permitted to leave their dogs outside even to go to
work or to run errands. Requirements will result in more dogs at-large and
therefore dog bites, as well as more dogs being surrendered or impounded and
destroyed.
Click here to read and track the bill.

SB 634 is scheduled for a hearing before the Senate Criminal Justice
Committee tomorrow, April 21, at 1:30 PM in Hearing Room E1.016.

Please make an effort to attend the hearing if you possibly can, and contact
the committee members listed below using talking points provided here.
The Lone Star State American Pit Bull Terrier Club is leading an organized
effort to testify in opposition to SB 634.

TALKING POINTS:
a.. The state law passed in 2007 already requires safe and humane tethering
practices. In addition, cities can and do pass tethering
ordinances if unsafe tethering practices are a problem in the city.
a.. Some dogs are happier and safer when tethered correctly than when
crated, kenneled or left alone in a fenced yard. Some dogs will injure
themselves by chewing on or digging out of kennels and crates.
a.. This bill is detrimental to hunting kennels, which have always used
tethers to safely confine their working dogs. These working dogs would be
anxious and unhappy in kennels or crates.
a.. A 10 foot long tether provides 314 square feet of space, which is
superior to the 150 square foot kennel specified in SB 634 and HB 2001. A
tether provides vastly more space than an indoor airline kennel-type crate.
a.. Each dog is an individual, and a few are escape artists. Most urban
areas have a problem with dogs running at large, so why take away a method
that can keep dogs safely confined?
a.. A 2001 study conducted by Cornell University College of Veterinary
Medicine found no indication that tethering was more detrimental to a dog's
welfare than housing in a pen.
a.. When we see 100 dogs or cats crammed into a filthy house, it doesn't
mean that most indoor pets are abused. Any confinement method can be abusive
when taken to extremes. We already have animal cruelty laws to address
owners who cruelly keep their dogs.
a.. The standard size for off-the-shelf kennels is 100 square feet, making
150 square foot kennels an unreasonable burden. Low income people and the
elderly, who do not have the means to build new fences and kennels, will
be unfairly targeted by this law.
a.. How many dogs will be turned loose or left alone with inadequate fencing
and allowed to escape? Owners who cannot pay the fines for violating the
tethering ban will be forced to give up their dogs. The vast majority of the
dogs surrendered or impounded under this law will be destroyed because there
simply are not enough homes willing to adopt large-breed adult dogs.
a.. A popular but misguided opinion is that tethered dogs are more likely to
bite people, however aggression is caused by many factors
including lack of socialization and abuse, and these conditions can exist in
a yard, a kennel or inside a home.
a.. This bill has mandates concerning extreme weather without taking into
account that Huskies and Chihuahuas prefer vastly different kinds of
weather.
a.. NAIA recommends that tethering be allowed behind a fence in densely
populated cities so long as the mandate for fencing is phased in gradually
to allow for public education and funding programs for low cost
fencing in poor areas.
Please write your brief and respectful letters & faxes and call the members
of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee. Click here to see if you live in
their districts. If you are a constituent, be sure to mention that
up front.

SENATE CRIMINAL JUSTICE COMMITTEE

The Honorable John Whitmire, Chair
P.O. Box 12068
Capitol Station
Austin, Texas 78711
(512) 463-0115 FAX: 512-475-3737
DISTRICT: HOUSTON

The Honorable Kel Seliger, Vice Chair
P.O. Box 12068
Capitol Station
Austin, Texas 78711
(512) 463-0131
(512) 475-3733 fax
DISTRICT: AMARILLO

The Honorable Glenn Hegar
P.O. Box 12068
Capitol Station
Austin, Texas 78711
(512) 463-0118
(512) 475-3736 (Fax)
DISTRICT: KATY

The Honorable Dan Patrick
P.O. Box 12068
Capitol Station
Austin, Texas 78711
(512) 463-0107
(512) 463-8810 FAX
DISTRICT: HOUSTON

The Honorable Rodney G. Ellis
P.O. Box 12068
Capitol Station
Austin, Texas 78711
(512) 463-0113
(512) 463-0006 (fax)
DISTRICT: HOUSTON

The Honorable John Carona
P.O. Box 12068
Capitol Station
Austin, Texas 78711
(512) 463-0116
Fax: (512) 463-3135
DISTRICT: DALLAS

The Honorable Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa
P.O. Box 12068
Capitol Station
Austin, Texas 78711
(512) 463-0120
(512) 463-0229 Fax
DISTRICT: MCALLEN
!

RPOA Texas Outreach (501C4 Nonprofit)
www.rpoatexasoutreach.org
Responsible Pet Owners Alliance (501C3 Nonprofit)
www.responsiblepetowners.org

__________________
SKY
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Author of the novel "Follow Jennifer"

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