So Long to a Tumultuous Decade

First, a Happy New Year to our members and subscribers. It's been an interesting decade, and the past couple of years in particular have been exciting in Pennsylvania.

On the positive side, we did get the Dog Law passed. It had most of its "teeth" removed by the creation of the advisory board, which makes it more possible for standards to remain low enough for the less responsible breeders to stay in business, but according to recent reports, a good number of the breeders who couldn't/wouldn't change their ways have chosen to get out of the dog breeding business.

Of course, these greedy abusers have a network that includes other millers in other states, so many of the dogs in these mills just got shipped to another "farm" for further abuse in states without laws like ours. But we have to be glad that at least it's not still legal to deny medical care to dogs, to perform surgeries without a veterinarian, and to stack dogs like wood in wire-floored cages.

NOTE: Because the Governor gets to appoint members to the advisory board, Ed Rendell's successor is very important to our cause. We will be meeting with each candidate to determine who the best successor would be, and putting all of our efforts behind getting that person elected. Stay tuned for our reports!

On the negative side, several judges, who would have been strong advocates for animals, lost in the 2009 election. We hope they'll try again, especially Kevin McCarthy. Instrumental in shutting down the Tiger Ranch in western PA, we have high hopes for him and hope to see him running again for public office.

The Pigeon Shoot continues to be legal in PA, and just today, images of pigeons tortured by the event near Philadelphia were released. It's hard to believe that this practice of throwing live birds out in front of "hunters" for target practice is still legal, but we hope to see it banned very soon. Keep in touch with your legislators to demand change.

Last, but not least, is Michael Vick. Signed by the Eagles and now a possible recipient of a "courage" award and the subject of a BET "reality" show, this sick, useless individual is making millions of dollars and actually increasing the popularity of dog fighting, as young men try to emulate this "hero." It's sad, it's a depressing commentary on Eagles' fans that more of them didn't boycott the games, and one can only hope that his career is brought to an abrupt end by an injury, soon - as clearly the fact that he's a proven liar and capable of perpetrating some of the most horrific abuse ever documented isn't going to end his time on the public stage.

SO. Some improvement for PA's breeder dogs, some improvement overall as more of these issues are now part of the public "conversation," and some areas where PA still needs work. Factory farms remain a problem, polluting the Chesapeake and of course, abusing the animals sentenced to "live" on them, and the pigeon shoot remains legal. We have our work cut out for us.

We look forward to a productive 2010. Stay tuned to our site and our blog for candidate endorsements, news about pending and new legislation, and as ever, ways for anyone who cares about animals to pitch in and help change their lives - by changing our laws - for the better.