AR-News: (NY-US) Press Coverage of Humane Lobby Day

[Adam Weissman, Wetlands Preserve]

http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=230929&category=CAPITOL&BCCode=HOME&newsdate=3/22/2004

Creature comfort a Capitol priority
Albany -- Scores of proposals aim to increase protections for animals


By ELIZABETH BENJAMIN, Capitol bureau
First published: Monday, March 22, 2004

 From efforts to protect the safety of the mighty elephant to the life 
of the lowly lizard, anyone considering the roster of bills pending 
in the state Legislature this year might come away convinced New York 
is a haven for animal lovers.



- Learn more -More than 200 pieces of animal-related legislation have 
been introduced, from a bid to improve animal control by increasing 
funds for spay/neuter programs to a hike in dog licensing fees to a 
measure that would make cruelty to elephants a felony.

Most of these bills will not likely become law or even make it out of 
committee. But their sheer volume demonstrates the level of concern 
and passion animal issues generate among New Yorkers, elected 
officials said.

"This is a very, very emotional topic that tends to engage a lot of 
people," said Assemblyman Alexander "Peter" Grannis, D-Manhattan, who 
has sponsored a number of animal welfare bills since arriving in 
Albany in 1975. "Look at the number of people who turn out across the 
country to protest when they're going to get rid of geese by shooting 
them or when there's a bear hunt in New Jersey. There's no shortage 
of commitment."

Grannis recalled a series of legislative hearings on animal welfare 
several years ago that drew standing-room only crowds and lasted far 
into the night. He also remembered advocates' fervor for a ban on 
Avitrol, a poison used to control nuisance pigeons, in the late 1990s.

The advocates maintained Avitrol caused pigeons to become disoriented 
and crash into buildings. The Legislature passed the ban in 1999, but 
it was vetoed by Gov. George Pataki. He quietly signed the bill in 
2000.

Critics ask why lawmakers are spending time advocating for better 
protection of animals when there are countless pressing issues facing 
their human constituents.

Sen. Nick Spano, R-Westchester, sponsor of several animal welfare 
bills this session, said studies show that those who harm animals 
frequently "graduate" to doing the same to people. So, working to 
improve treatment of animals can have a positive effect on humans, he 
concluded.

"If you're going to torture animals or treat them inhumanely, you're 
going to do it to a person also -- that's my very strong opinion," 
Spano said. "We're not talking about a case of a person just not 
feeding his or her cat at a certain time of day."

Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, Spano's Democratic counterpart from 
Westchester County, has emerged as a champion of animal welfare laws 
since she was elected in 2000. She is currently sponsoring five bills 
related in some way to animals.

Both Spano and Paulin said they have been motivated to act on animal 
issues largely due to a horrific incident in Mount Vernon, 
Westchester County, last year in which more than 100 animals were 
found dead from starvation and dehydration in filthy conditions at a 
pet shop warehouse.

The animals -- lizards, snakes, rabbits, hamsters and mice -- had 
been left without food or water for a week after the landlord 
padlocked the building in a rent dispute. Some survived by feeding on 
others.

Later, police found another 245 animals that had been moved from the 
warehouse to a residential garage; dozens were dead.

One of the bills Paulin and Spano are sponsoring that grew out of the 
Mount Vernon case would make cruelty to 10 or more animals during the 
same "criminal transaction" a Class E felony.

Buster's Law, which allows felony charges in fatal animal abuse cases 
took effect in November 1999. But it could not be applied in the 
Mount Vernon case, according to the Westchester County district 
attorney's office, because intentional cruelty couldn't be proven. 
The owner of the animals in the pet warehouse was only charged with 
misdemeanor-level crimes.

The passage of Buster's Law, named for a Schenectady cat that was set 
on fire, is seen by animal advocates as one of a series of 
legislative victories over the past five years. Another win was last 
year's passage of a law that requires "appropriate shelter" for dogs 
left outside.

This year, a bill to increase dog licensing fees to boost funding for 
spay-neuter programs is among the top priorities of the American 
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The goal is to 
reduce the number of animals euthanized annually by curbing 
reproduction and to get more people to license their dogs, said Stacy 
Wolf, director of legislative services for the ASPCA.

In New York City alone, 38,194 animals were euthanized in 2002. 
Shelters upstate are not required to keep track of that information.

According to statistics kept by the state Department of Agriculture 
and Markets, more than 2.5 million dogs live in New York, but only 
roughly one-third of them are licensed. By law, all dogs must be 
licensed annually and have up-to-date rabies vaccines.

The licensing fees -- $2.50 a year if a dog is spayed or neutered and 
$7.50 if it isn't -- support animal control and rabies education 
programs. The state-mandated license fees have not increased since 
the 1970s, Wolf said.

Grannis and Sen. Serphin Maltese, R-Queens, have a bill to increase 
the fees to $5 for spayed and neutered dogs, and $15 for all others. 
An additional $3 surcharge for unaltered dogs, which is used by the 
state to support local spay/neuter programs, would increase to $5 and 
an additional surcharge of $2.50 for altered dogs would be 
implemented. Municipalities can charge higher fees than the state 
minimum.

As with any other bill in Albany, animal legislation draws its share 
of lobbying, and last Tuesday, a group of activists were in Albany 
for Humane Action for Animals lobby day. They met with lawmakers over 
breakfast (coffee with soy milk, fruit juice and bagels with nondairy 
cream cheese) to talk up legislation that would ban the force-feeding 
of birds to fatten their livers in production of the delicacy foie 
gras and prohibit the use of non-native big game animals in canned 
shoots (Pataki vetoed such a bill last year).

But those bills don't have a good chance of passage, animal advocates 
say, in part because they don't deal with so-called "companion 
animals," mainly domesticated dogs and cats. Most animal welfare 
bills passed in recent years have dealt with companion animals.

"We've got a long way to go in terms of really providing adequate 
welfare for companion animals in this state," said Wolf. "That 
doesn't mean we shouldn't try to push for bills that protect farm 
animals and wildlife as well. But companion animals we've had the 
best luck with."
-- 
"Kindness and compassion towards all living things is a mark of a 
civilized society. Racism, economic deprival, dog fighting and 
cockfighting, bullfighting and rodeos are all cut from the same 
defective fabric: violence. Only when we have become nonviolent 
towards all life will we have learned to live well ourselves.-- Cesar 
Chavez, United Farm Workers


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