Vulnerable Animals And Disasters

https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-...will-protect-vulnerable-animals-when-disaster


Good morning all,

Per ...

Not that I'm thrilled with another law, the PREPARED Act, the article's "responsibility of care often ... emergency first responders and [NGOs] ."

Had recently attended a seminar/exercise that also addressed related subjects eg livestock, wildlife as per the referenced PETS Act.

 

What claptrap! A serious waste of tax money imo. Owners should care for their pets and include them in their shtf planning. If animal shelters fail to do the same, that is not a federal government issue. The Constitution provides no delegated authority for .gov to do this. This is just another power grab and will require either higher taxes or more borrowing to fund.

 

Good afternoon Son of Liberty,

The article wasn't the clearest written nor comprehensive enough to explain the overall situation.

The word "should" doesn't work. Matters must be induced and then enforced.

Animal shelters, at least in Virginia but am guessing many other states also, are indirectly funded by D.C. - not too different than Virginia's state budget.

The Federal government's role is getting the states to address pets (already well under way), livestock, and the rest.

Once the infected animals are loose, it's a public health problem that easily mushrooms across areas. Witness the recent EEE - don't know actual words of this horse ailment caused by mosquitoes - ... much work needs to be done.

 

https://local21news.com/news/local/eee-confirmed-in-three-pa-counties


EEE = Eastern Equine Encephalitis.

Above article has a hyper link to Pennsylvania Dept working the EEE matter.

 

Why? and which article of the Constitution gives the fedcoats that authority?

Again, where are they delegated this power in the Constitution? It should be handled by the individual states or the people directly. Animal shelters should get $0 in taxpayer dollars.

Again, not a fedcoat issue. The Constitution gives the fedcoats no powers in this area. Protecting horses is not an important issue with any national security implications. This is a state issue and/or individual issue. As for human deaths from this disease, Florida averages 1-2 deaths per year.

 

Good evening Son of Liberty,

The matters must be induced by D.C. because the states (not all of them) are not addressing the animal issues. I see 2 distinct points to this in reply to your first question:

1. The Feds use the "grant device" (strings are attached). We will give you X$ if you A.B.and C.

2. The Commerce Clause, Article I, Section 8, Clause 3 "Congress shall have power to regulate commerce ...and among the several states". Vulnerable animals such as released pets during a disaster can and do cross state lines.

Ref your second question: about the same as above. Now, in concept, I agree with you. Yet the states - especially Virginia - won't be raising taxes for animals- pets, livestock, wildlife. Here, the focus is health care costs and some infrastructure (user fees and innovative financing [eg Dominion Energy]).

Some Virginia animal shelters are publicly funded as required by state law such as when co-located with an emergency shelter during a declared emergency. Other "routine" public animal shelters do come from the public budgets of the political subdivisions.

Your last point: Here, I must disagree completely. Protecting horses in re contagious bio-hazards does have national security implications. That's the worry. When EEE is beyond 2 states it gets attention and bio-warfare is on many minds.

Above should clarify what I initially wrote even if still in disagreement.

From my perspective, although the horses and EEE and the new species of ticks showing up here need to be addressed by both the citizenry and the public sector agencies, I've been watching the mosquito matters as the BIG threat.

 

The communists demand that real Americans work and pay for the protection of animals. But call for the murdering of unborn babies who happen to be inconvenient.

 

I guess we handle things differently here than they do in other places. Our Animal shelter is a privately run no-kill shelter that is supported by donations and fees. When the city catches dogs they bring them to the shelter and for a fee, the shelter takes them in and mostly rehomes them. I used to donate my time and works for them for free all the time. There is also a fee when you take a dog or cat or any critter from them but you get a healthy animal that is spayed or neutered and of good nature. All of the stores have places where you can add a bag of dog or cat food to your bill and they will match your donation with a bag of food. They also donate their busted bags and such.

 

All of the pounds in my area and surrounding counties are government run and usually put down 90+% of all animals taken in. Most have a two week policy for holding and non tagged (government tax tag) dogs with no owner ID can be put down sooner. Most cats and dogs are euthanized and NO exotic animals are accepted. I do have a big cat rescue center in the county that accepts big cats (Lions, Tigers, Leopards, etc.) from our and surrounding states, but they have caused some issues with escaped animals in the past. He does accept some other exotics but things like poisonous snakes (cobras, vipers, etc.) are put to sleep on arrival.

Dale

 

I think to some extent our situation is more what you might have in a smaller town. A town with a population under 40 thousand doesn't have the massive issues that a Huge city has. Also outside of the city dogs that become a problem don't go to the shelter most of the time. I think that people that live in more rural places have a different view of animals. Where I live we ranch and such but it isn't a farming area. that means that stray dogs can get in trouble really quick if they mess with someones livestock whether it is chickens, Goats, horse or cattle. Dogs don't mess with hogs much unless they are trained specifically for that.

We all have dogs and cats. they are a part of our lives here. I have 2 dogs and a cat and my Daughter that lives next door but in the same fenced yard has 4 dogs and 2 cats. We love our critters but on the flip side have no problem shooting a stray dog that becomes a problem. I think that it is part of a rural attitude. I have raised and killed a lot of different animals for food. It is just a part of life and people here don't have the uncertainty of what to do with any sort of problem animal.

You can see the other side of that though in that we pay to support a no-kill animal shelter. They will take just about any sort of pet type critter. Dogs, Cats, Potbelly pigs, Dwarf goats, horses, and little cattle all will be taken in and usually rehomed pretty fast. About the only things that they won't take are reptiles. Not everyone likes snakes or big lizards!

By the standard of other places, I'm sure that in some ways we are both crueler and then in other ways more compassionate than people in other more urban areas.

Cats are seldom a problem here. The coyotes eat them as do the bobcats so stray cats don't last long. Our cats are pretty safe from predation. The dogs consider the three cats as part of their pack and are very protective of them. I've seen a cat go after a dog that jumped on of the dogs so it is a mutual security pack. One of my little bitches was so happy when I brought home my kitten that she started lactating and nursed him for a couple of months. As far as my tomcat is concerned that little Yorkie is his Mama. All the dogs and the cats play together. The three big Border Collies like to sort of herd them. That goes fine until the cat gets tired of it and swats them. Don't ever think that dogs and cats are natural enemies. as near as I can tell animals don't care as long as you feed them who lives with them. I had a neighbor that had a pack that included a German Shephard, A Doberman, a goat and a pig that were pets and played and ran the roads together. It was hysterical to watch them together.