LEGISLATIVE ISSUES

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     There are several pressing issues that are occurring at the state level.  It is imperative that Dog/Cat/Equine/Rabbit/Reptile Clubs and others educate their membership and encourage participation in legislative issues that will impact their sport or hobby.  It will take more than just the clubs to protect your right to own pets.  The average pet owner needs to speak out also and defend their rights as well as the rights of breeders.  Where will the future puppies and kittens come from if hobby breeders were to disappear from this state?  Please take the time to educate yourself on the issues so that you will be in a better position to access the benefit of laws that impact animals. 

     More frightening is the over regulation and destruction of agriculture in Florida as well as other parts of the country.  This is a direct threat to our food supply.  Many of these regulations and proposed legislation seriously raise the cost of food and seek to restrict availability of safe, low cost, meat, eggs, and dairy products.  They destroy the livelihoods of good hard working farmers and their families through increased costs due to regulations based on junk science and emotion.

Perhaps the greatest threat is the continued restriction of the use of animals in medical research.  In this respect the lives of your children are put below that of a rat, pig, or ape.  The advances in medicine that we enjoy would not be possible without the use of animals.  Future progress on things like AIDS, Hepatitis C, Cancer, and Drug Addition will screech to a halt if the current trends in Anti Medical Research continue.

You may wonder how the average citizen is left out of a factual conversation regarding the politics of animals.  Excessive lobbying by numerous Animal Rights groups is to blame along with poorly informed legislators.  Indifferent hobbyists and other stakeholders who fail to participate in the legislative process are quite naturally left out and their input is no longer solicited.  This leaves the door open for Animal Rights Groups to come in and monopolize the conversation.  Many like The Humane Society of the United State (HSUS) and PETA, take in millions of dollars under the guise of direct animal care but a huge part of the money is spent on lobbying legislators to pass bills that restrict any form of animal use.   We all need to be vigilant and above all else BE VOCAL & GET INVOLVED!

       Our rights are under siege at the local, state, and federal levels.  The time for action is NOW! Please take time to personally visit, call, email, or send a letter to your representatives.  Please keep correspondence polite and informative.   AKC has two excellent brochures to help guide you in communicating effectively with your representatives click here and here. 

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LOCAL

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