Laws for Paws e-Newsletter
February 2021
Open Your Heart Returns!
Even a pandemic cannot stop our annual Open Your Heart Gala!

We are eager for you to join us at this year's VIRTUAL event. There will be a moving update from our Executive Director, touching videos about the Alliance's work, a fun-filled silent auction, a lotto basket auction led by none other than our favorite auctioneer, Fletcher Lane, videos from some of the Alliance's most ardent supporters, AND SO MUCH MORE.
Animal Welfare Laws Under Attack in Missouri Legislature
Missouri legislators have declared an all-out war on animals during the 2021 Legislative Session. There are literally dozens of bills that have been introduced to repeal or seriously weaken our state laws protecting animals. There have been four separate bills introduced (two in the Senate and two in the House) that would prohibit counties and municipalities from banning cruel animal events. These bills would also severely restrict regulations on puppy mills, factory farms, and animals used in transportation and entertainment. While the sponsors claim that the intent of their legislation is to protect animal industries such as the carriage horse industry, the legislation has been drafted so as to eliminate all local laws and ordinances protecting all animals from abuse and neglect.

In addition, legislation has been introduced that would effectively eliminate the disposition process and would result in abused animals being left in the hands of their abusers until the criminal trial.  
Legislation in the Senate and the House seeks to leave abused and neglected animals in the hands of their abusers.
There are other bills seeking to make it more difficult to prosecute agricultural operations including puppy mills. One bill seeks to prohibit anyone from testifying in a criminal and/or a civil case against a farmer or puppy mill operator.  

Agricultural trade groups and puppy millers will not be satisfied until all of our animal welfare laws are eviscerated.

You can be assured that the Alliance is at the Capitol every day fighting to defend our laws protecting animals. We need your support and assistance, however, as we work to defeat these harmful bills. 

Please be on the lookout as we will be sending out Action Alerts in the coming weeks asking you to contact your state legislators as these bills come up for a vote.   

Your efforts in calling, e-mailing, writing, and visiting your state legislators, are invaluable. We cannot accomplish what we do for the animals without your help and involvement.  

In addition to trying to thwart these numerous bills that would harm the welfare of the animals, we are also working to pass good bills to protect animals.
Last week we testified in support of creating an Animal Abuse Registry and next week we will testify in support of placing animals on protection orders when protection orders are sought by an abuse victim.  

For a list of pertinent animal bills and for more information please visit our website Animal Legislation.
VICTORY!

USDA has issued its first public announcement about the results of the Alliance’s lawsuit against the Agency. USDA has confirmed that it will no longer allow substandard dog breeders, animal researchers, and animal exhibitors to avoid consequences for violating the Animal Welfare Act. In the past, if a substandard facility admitted to its violations, USDA would not cite the operator. The Alliance halted this inhumane practice on the part of USDA by filing a lawsuit against the Agency and forcing USDA to cease its “self-reporting” rule.
Read USDA’s announcement: https://bit.ly/3b5Uarh
USDA must now cite puppy mills for all violations that could have an adverse effect on the dogs. 
Nationally syndicated animal columnist turns to the Alliance for information on puppy mills.
Dr. Michael W. Fox
DEAR DR. FOX: Why haven’t puppy mills been closed down after all these years of documented abuses? My neighbor has taken in two poor dogs who’d been kept in small cages for years to produce puppies. They are slowly coming around and enjoying life, but don’t know how to play, and one is still very scared outside her new home. — R.G., Minneapolis, Minnesota

DEAR R.G.: I asked my old friend and colleague Bob Baker, executive director of the Missouri Alliance for Animal Legislation (www.maal.org), to answer your important question.

Baker writes:

“Inhumane conditions have been exposed at commercial dog breeding facilities, aka puppy mills, as far back as the 1960s. Congress finally took action in 1970 and amended the federal Animal Welfare Act to specifically address concerns about puppy mills. Congress mandated that commercial dog breeders be licensed, regulated and inspected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“Since this federal involvement in addressing puppy mills, more than 20 states have also enacted some form of legislation to regulate them, and three states and over 350 local municipalities have outright banned the sale of dogs in pet stores.

“Animal welfare organizations have made great strides in closing down some of the most egregious puppy mills over the years, and have significantly increased the standards of care for the breeding dogs who are confined in puppy mills. In several states, such as Missouri, the standards of care have been improved dramatically. In Missouri, 1,200 puppy mills voluntarily shut down rather than comply with the new standards of care enacted with the passage of the Canine Cruelty Prevention Act in 2011.

“In addition, there have been countless media exposes on the cruelties of puppy mills, and numerous consumer warnings on the risks of purchasing a puppy from a pet store.
“Regrettably, puppy mills continue to flourish. Without a doubt, the vehicle and the stimulus for the continuing sale of these puppies is the internet. E-commerce has become the principal marketplace for the sale of puppies from large commercial dog breeders. It has allowed breeders to avoid the stigma of marketing dogs through pet stores, which have been so widely criticized. In addition, for many years, internet sales of puppies have been ignored by USDA and currently are only given minimal oversight and thus are allowed to operate with impunity.

“E-commerce also allows puppy mills to camouflage the substandard housing and the wretched living conditions of the breeding stock. Most of the websites display cute puppies in idyllic settings, often showing dogs running free in spacious yards and fields. The adorable puppies pictured in such beautiful, serene backgrounds prove too much for a prospective puppy purchaser. Oftentimes, the purchasers are fully aware of the risks of buying a puppy over the internet, and have been cautioned to visit the breeder to ensure that their new puppy only comes from a reputable source. The almost universal response from such consumers is, ‘The puppy pictured on the website was just too cute to resist.’

“What is the answer? Undoubtedly, we need to continue to aggressively lobby for stronger laws and we need to advocate for much stricter enforcement of our current laws, especially by the USDA. And we need to incessantly remind consumers that they are not ‘rescuing’ a puppy when they purchase from an online seller, but rather, they are sentencing the mother and father of that puppy to a lifetime of misery in a puppy mill!”
Congratulations to Muffin, the 2021 Face of the Alliance!
Muffin, who passed away after a profoundly tough battle with cancer and diabetes, was greatly beloved by her family. She was incredibly bright, sassy, and loving. Her family tells us that she was one of a kind and is missed dearly. We thank them for honoring her memory by supporting the Alliance!
HELPING ANIMALS!

If you find yourself in a situation where you question the treatment of an animal, or the conditions, or maybe you're wondering about helping wildlife or assisting in a rescue, or you have witnessed something that needs to be reported - go to our website because chances are you will find a number and/or a link that can help address it.
A Great Way to Support the Alliance
With so many people shopping online these days, you can now support the Alliance each time you make a purchase on Amazon. Click here or on the icon. Once you've identified "Missouri Alliance for Animals" as your charitable organization of choice, a portion of your purchase will be donated by Amazon to the Alliance each time you shop on Amazon! What a great way to contribute!
Schnucks eScrip Card

Another great way to support
the Alliance!
Did you know that every time you shop at Schnucks, they'll donate a percentage of your purchase to the Alliance? It's an awesome way to support the Alliance's mission and it doesn't cost you a thing! We'll even register your eScrip card for you so you don't have to!

Simply email us at admin@maal.org with "Schnucks eScrip" in the subject line, and in the body of the email please include your name, address, and phone number - and we'll send your registered Schnucks eScrip card to you within 7 days.

Once you receive it, you can start using it (we've already registered it for you!) - put it on your key fob to remind the cashier to scan it at check-out!

THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT!