AR-News: (NC) letter, AKC not doing its part in controlling pet populations

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Letter to the Editor, Asheville Citizen-Times
June 28, 2004
http://www.citizen-times.com/letters.shtml/
AKC not doing its part in controlling pet populations

The letter, "Beware: we're gaining a `Doggie Gestapo' reputation," (AC-T, 
June 11), is typical of the threatening tactics of the American Kennel Club 
(AKC). The AKC Web site boasts that they "fought tirelessly to oppose" the most 
meaningful provisions (breeder permits and differential licensing) of the N.C. 
Animal Protection Act of 2004. 
This bill has been shelved by the legislature because our representatives 
lack the courage to deal with a state euthanasia rate that is more than twice the 
national average. We won't substantially reduce the 300,000 animals killed 
annually in N.C. shelters if we bow to the demands of the AKC. Hunters, who 
according to The Fund for Animals make up 3.4 percent of the state's population, 
add to this problem as well. 
Shelters nationwide are filled with discarded purebred dogs, yet the AKC's 
Web site states their opposition to breeding permits. In other words, breeders 
should be able to breed freely no matter how much they contribute to the animal 
overpopulation problem. 
The AKC's failure to take any responsibility for overpopulation makes them 
complicit in the mass killing of animals at the shelter. I hope Asheville and 
Buncombe County will someday join progressive municipalities by enacting 
reasonable laws that reduce the flow of dog and cat carcasses to the landfill. 
Terri David, 
Asheville 
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