The Cat Fanciers' Association
Permission to forward
May 30, 2007

Fanciers;

The dreaded District of Columbia ordinance, called the "Animal Protection
Amendment Act" is here !!!!

This is a serious affront to pet ownership reflecting the goals of animal
activists who want to eliminate the rights of people who sell or
own pets. In
February we sent a "heads up" to Washington, DC area fanciers. The time to
act is NOW.

A copy of DC B-89 is on the CFA website.
_http://cfa.org/exhibitors/alerts.html_
(http://cfa.org/exhibitors/alerts.html)

**Mandatory spay/neuter of all cats/dogs 6 months or older unless a person
possesses a breeding permit.

**The breeding permit means describing the number and type of animals and
inspection. If approved the permit holder cannot exceed the number
or type of
animals in the permit. Anyone with ONE dog or cat "capable of breeding" will
be treated as a commercial breeder. Fees are not specified so they could be
extremely high as is generally the case when home inspections are necessary.

**The Mayor can revoke a permit and take away animals of any permit holder
not in compliance with rules.

**Any "non-profit" that claims to be "concerned with humane treatment of
animals" may legally enter private property and confiscate the
person's animals.
People with these powers would not be required to have any training. They
need only bring a suit in the DC court, with sworn affidavit or testimony
claiming the order is necessary. The pet owner would have no opportunity to
defend the claim.

**Kennel and cattery standards are included; records and certain
immunizations are required. Not all breeders or owners want or need
to vaccinate cats
for FeLV or FIP but these are required.

** The "guardian" term is inserted in the DC animal law. See the CFA
guidance on the use of this term. In human laws guardians have wards
and this sets
up the potential of others challenging guardianship rights. The legal
change may not be immediate but this sets the stage for eliminating
the concept of
pet ownership rights.

**Non-economic damages for "loss of society, companionship, comfort,
protection, love, affection, and services" mean veterinarians would
be subjected to
new liability. The cost of veterinary care will go up. Economic and
non-economic damages are also extended to anyone else who
"intentionallly or with
gross negligence" causes the death of another's companion animal.

There is much more including dangerous dog law amendments, guard dogs,
animal boarding facilities and humane education provisions.

TAKE ACTION:
A joint hearing of the Committee on Health and Public Safety and Judiciary
Committee
Scheduled for June 6, 2007.
Council Chambers; 5th floor
John Wilson Building
1350 Pennsylvania Ave NW.
beginning at 11:00 a.m.

TESTIFY at the hearing -
Persons interested in testifying must contact the committee no later than
Monday June 4, 2007.
Contact - Paul Dionne at 202-724-8170, or email - _pdionne@dccouncil.us_
(mailto:pdionne@dccouncil.us)
Request to be placed on the witness list.

SEND A LETTER
The deadline is June 13, 2007.
Send written testimony or comments to:
Ms. Cynthia-Brock Smith, Secretary to the Council,
1350 Pennsylvania Ave.,
NW, Suite 5, Washington, DC 20004.

FAX COMMENTS TO ALL COMMITTEE COUNCILMEMBER

District of Columbia
Council Committee on Health
1350 Pennsylvania Ave., NW,
Washington, DC 20004
202/724-8080

COUNCILMEMBER
David A. Catania (Ch)(I-At Large) 202/724-7772 FAX 202/724-8087
_dcatania@dccouncil.us_ (mailto:dcatania@dccouncil.us)
Marion Barry (D-Ward 7) (co-sponsor) 202/724-8045 FAX
202/724-8055
_mbarry@dccouncil.us_ (mailto:mbarry@dccouncil.us)
Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) (Author) 202/724-8181 FAX 202/724-8109
_jgraham@dccouncil.us_ (mailto:jgraham@dccouncil.us)
Phil Mendelson (D-At Large)(co-sponsor) 202/724-8064 FAX 202/724-8099
_pmendelson@ dccouncil.us_ (mailto:pmendelson@dccouncil.us)
Harry Thomas (D-Ward 5) 202/724-8028 FAX 202/724-8076
_hthomas@dccouncil.us_ (mailto:hthomas@dccouncil.us)

District of Columbia
Council Committee on Public Safety & Judiciary
1350 Pennsylvania Ave., NW,
Washington, DC 20004
202/724-8080

COUNCILMEMBER
Phil Mendelson (Ch)(D-At Large) (co-sponsor) 202/724-8064 FAX
202/724-8099 _pmendelson@ dccouncil.us_ (mailto: pmendelson@dccouncil.us)
Mary M. Cheh (D-Ward 3) (Author) 202/724-8080 FAX 202/724-8118

_mcheh@dccouncil.us_ (mailto:mcheh@dccouncil.us)
Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) (co-sponsor) 202/724-8058 FAX 202/724-8023

_jackevans@dccouncil.us_ (mailto: jackevans@dccouncil.us)

Contact your veterinarians to let them know about these ordinance changes.
Contact friends who live in DC. Plan to attend the hearing even if you do
not live in DC. Everyone who cares about preserving their rights as
pet owners
should be outraged with this unprecedented legislative proposal.

Out of 8 committee members 6 are either authors or co-sponsors.

Joan Miller
CFA Legislative Coordinator
JMillerArt@aol.com
_www.cfa.org_ (http://www.cfa.org/)
www.cfa.org/ ezine

Good article Passion Wolf.

These bills will eventually have to be passed in one form or anouther though, because science has come to realize recently that the huge number of immune compromised they have created in order to extend lives, is putting the entire nation at risk from exposure to zoonotic infections.

Those who are immune compromised due to being any one of 900,000 Americans infected with HIV, 200,000 living with transplants, Cancer, Addiction to substances that lower the immune system significantly, the elderly and very young, those on steroids or other heavy medications, all these people are at increased risk of playing the species crossing roll for things not normally considered human infectious agents. Many of these people are or become rescuers, breeders, and shelter works out of compassion for the animals plight.

Here is a fairly good, but still only partial, list of zoonotic diseases that are already known to jump species even in healthy individuals. I can think of 3 VERY common infections that cause upper respiratory/pnemonias in humans FREQUENTLY, but rarely end in death, that are not listed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoonosis

Anthrax
Avian Influenza (Bird Flu)
Bolivian hemorrhagic fever
Brucellosis
Borrelia
Borna virus infection
Bubonic plague
Campylobacteriosis
Chagas disease
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) a Transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) from Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) or "Mad cow disease"
Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever
Cutaneous larval migrans
Dengue Fever
Ebola fever
Echinococcosis
Korean hemorrhagic fever
Lábrea fever
Lassa fever
Leishmaniasis
Leptospirosis
Listeriosis
Marburg virus infection
Monkey B virus
Nipah virus
Ocular larval migrans
Ornithosis (psitacosis)
Oropouche fever
Q-Fever
Psittacosis also called "parrot fever"
Plague
Rabies
Rift Valley fever
Ringworms (Tinea canis, mainly)
Salmonellosis
Sodoku
Toxoplasmosis
Trichinosis
Typhus and other Rickettsial diseases
Venezuelan hemorrhagic fever
Visceral larval migrans
Yellow fever

These infections are showing up in emergency rooms and doctors offices with ever increasing frequency along with 'super bugs', or mutated forms of either.

We have been lulled into believing bird flu from overseas is the only real risk of a seriouse pandemic influenza outbreak, but again this is not true.

recent avian flu in dogs living in the USA...
http://infectiousdiseases.about.com/od/petslivestockandgame/p/dogsflu.htm

recent avian flu infected cats in Germany....
http://infectiousdiseases.about.com/od/petslivestockandgame/p/catrisk.htm

Keep in mind while reading these articles that while the animals themselves were confirmed to have contracted the flu infections, human infections were not found. Antibodies were not tested for though in the human population, so the risk to the human population is at this time quite unknown.

This issue is related to these bills in that breeders, shelters and rescues now need to take much greater responsibility in educating both themselves and their clients with the latest information regarding these kinds of infections and the actual risks involved, because who would want to find out an animal they sold, bought or cared for was traced back to as the source of infection in say a child with cancer who visited or it was bought for? No one would want to be responsible for that!

The issue of ones health is no longer personal when we consider how quickly americas health care system would be overwhelmed, should one of these infections manage to cross the species barrier anytime in the near future. Its not a problem just seen in third world countries acrossed the ocean, its right here already happening in the yards and homes of this country.

Were the 'pet food' poisonings puposely ignored by the FDA? Doubtful, but it does seem strange that the H3N8 virus happened about 2 years ago which showed an avian influenza virus had jumped from horses to greyhounds in florida.

On that same note,, I just began reading the board posts for today, but did you hear acetaminophen was found in cat and dog foods as well last week by a Texas independant lab working for the FDA?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19073958/

Of course the FDA cant/wont reveal WHICH foods it was found in because it might hurt that corporations business. Its not about the pets after all.........