On Wednesday, January 9, the state legislature convened its One-Hundredth General Assembly. Legislators have been busy filing bills, however, since December 1, in anticipation of the 2019 Session. While there have been several bills filed to advance the welfare of animals, there has also been legislation introduced that is intended to weaken our existing animal welfare laws.
The most egregious of these bills are Senate Bill 115 and HB 204. These bills seek to eliminate the disposition process for abused and neglected animals. Our current disposition process has been very successful in removing animals from cruel puppy mills and abusive situations and thus has caused great angst among the Missouri Pet Breeders Association, the Missouri Cattlemens Association and other agricultural trade groups. Unfortunately, these groups represent the interests of the worst dog breeders, farmers, and ranchers in their respective industries. Instead of working to rid itself of the bad actors, the associations strive to protect the worst of the worst in animal production and seek to protect those that abuse and neglect their animals from the consequences of their actions.
We will need your support and assistance, once again, as we work to defeat these harmful bills. We will also be calling on you to support those bills aimed at increasing penalties for animal abuse and for protecting animals via domestic protection orders.
As issues arise where we need your help,
we will be sending out
Action Alerts
asking you to contact your state legislators.
The Alliance, with your help, will continue to be a forceful voice on behalf of the animals and
you can be assured that we will be aggressively fighting for the animals at our state Capitol.
We look forward to your support once again as we strive to make 2018 a Happy and Humane New Year for the Animals!
To view a description of all pending 2019 animal legislation
click here
