FOX LA-Journalistic stupidity

http://www.myfoxla.com/dpp/news/local/los-angeles-moves-to-ban-factory-bred-pet-sales-20110607



This article is so full of lies!! Whatever happened to journalistic integrity?


I do not believe in sitting idly by while fools such as yourselves force out of business those who are licensed and inspected, only to create a black market for pets that is getting worse every year. Many “rescues” these days are importing dogs from overseas to meet the demand for pets. This is happening right now in the City of Los Angeles! A “rescue” group here in LA imports dogs and sells them for hundreds of dollars each. Per the “Dogs Without Borders” website: “We currently rescue most dogs from local shelters and strays, but sometimes we rescue dogs from as far away as Taiwan!....Some of the dogs you see on our site are not here in the States.”

Dogs are currently being imported from the Caribbean, Romania, Taiwan and Mexico. These dogs are produced under unknown conditions and bring with them parasites and rabies! There was a case in 2004 of a dog brought up to Los Angeles from Mexico with rabies. First case of rabies here in over 30 years, but with continued imports of foreign strays, I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot more RABIES. Get rid of those who are licensed and inspected would have many adverse unintended consequences.

If Koretz and Barnette really want to help save dogs in shelters, they should attempt to implement some proven methods; increasing the pet limit ceiling is a good first step. More dogs in homes=fewer killed in the dog pound. Lower the ridiculous license fees for intact dogs. $335 per dog per year is outrageous! Repeal the mandatory spay-neuter law. Mandatory spay-neuter laws only cause shelter numbers to increase. It's a FACT that LA shelter intakes have increased by 38% since the mandatory spay-neuter law went into effect. This, after decades of progress and a steady decline in numbers. Good going, Los Angeles! You are a real model for the country. A model of failure!

Pet stores cannot sell dogs from unlicensed, noninspected breeders. How will this law affect anyone else? You know, those evil people who abuse dogs? They do not sell via pet stores!

Claims of high incidence of illness in pet store puppies are totally unsubstantiated. There is evidence that the pet industry provides more veterinary care for puppies than the public at large. DVM/VPI Insurance Group, the largest provider of animal health insurance, testified during a hearing in California that "preconceived notions" concerning pet store puppies "could not have been more wrong."

After insuring more than 89,000 pet store puppies and kittens and handling health claims from a pool of more than 500,000 insured animals, the insurance company reduced its premiums for pet store puppies and kittens substantially by as much as 22 percent compared to premiums charged for animals from other sources. Why? Pet store puppies receive more veterinary attention during the first 12 weeks of age than any other puppies and, as a result, have fewer claims.

Let's debunk the false claim of high number of pet store puppies ending up in shelters.

A Las Vegas shelter collects data on their intakes. Here is an excerpt from an article written on the subject:

'Officials should focus on finding the origin of the animals that rescue groups, shelters and animal control agencies come in contact with, said Harold Vosko, co-founder of Las Vegas-based Heaven Can Wait Animal Sanctuary. Without accurate information on the source of the crisis, addressing it is impossible, he said.'

'The Lied Animal Foundation, which operates the regional shelter, recently started asking people how they obtained their pets, said Jason Smith, who took over as director of operations about six weeks ago. The data will help Lied shape how it educates the community about responsible pet ownership.'

'Statistics collected over the past two years at Heaven Can Wait showed more than 85 percent of the animals came from a neighbor or friend’s litter, Vosko said. Fewer than 5 percent were from pet stores and no more than 1 percent or 2 percent were from professional breeders.'

'Michael Maddox, director of legislative affairs for the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council in Washington, D.C., says, 'The “overwhelming majority” of pets in shelters come from sources other than pet stores.'

Fox LA, DO YOUR HOMEWORK  and stop printing LIES.