Prop B Passed… What Does That Mean?
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USA Today reported:
Missouri voters on Tuesday narrowly approved a ballot measure aimed at ridding the state of its reputation as the nation’s puppy mill capital. Proposition B, which would take effect in a year, will beef up Missouri’s existing laws by restricting commercial breeders to no more than 50 female dogs for breeding, increasing the size of dogs’ living spaces and by requiring commercial breeders to have their dogs examined yearly by a veterinarian.
The measure, which applies to operators with more than 10 breeding dogs, also requires the animals to be fed daily and not be bred more than twice every 18 months. Breeders also must house animals indoors with unfettered access to an outdoor exercise yard.
Key concepts:
- narrowly approved
- requires the animals to be fed daily
- the nation’s puppy mill capital
Can you believe that previous laws for dogs in Missouri did not require daily feedings? If this is a surprise to you, I implore you to keep reading…
If you had any thought that farmed animals have legal protection against cruelty, look no further. When we can barely even protect the species that Americans love most – the ones we view as family members and loyal companions. How do you imagine other animals fare? If you thought the animal who became your pork chop, steak, or chicken wing was treated well, you can be virtually certain that he or she was NOT.
The only way to know for certain how an animal was treated before he or she comes to you (in whatever form they come… as a pet or as food) is to go look for yourself! Never ever trust the words of anyone whose business is animal exploitation, trust only your own eyes. Go and see for yourself what is happening.
If you just have to buy a dog from a breeder or you just have to eat eggs, at least be honest about it.
If you just can’t stop buying living or dead animals, at least make informed decisions based on reality.
Do not fall for the marketing spin.
I think the existing laws say the dogs must be fed daily (I think it might even say twice daily). This new law covers the same things as the previous one, but with new restrictions (unfettered access to outdoors, 50 dog limit, etc).
Lisa,
Prop B created a “crime of puppy mill cruelty” as a class C misdemeanor. Existing laws’ penalties were merely a revoked license. If someone continued to operate without a valid license, the crime was considered a class A misdemeanor. There was nothing in existing laws that stated that cruelty to animals was a crime.
So you’re right that existing laws did require regular feedings. However, existing laws did not impose a serious immediate penalty for failing to do so, and existing laws did not define lack of food as cruelty to animals.
Other additions in the new law include the requirement of “Sufficient space to turn and stretch freely, lie down, and fully extend his or her limbs” And Prop B more clearly defined water as “potable water that is not frozen, and is free of debris, feces, algae, and other contaminants.”
You can research and compare animal laws here: http://animallaw.info/