OH! S.N.A.P. Spay. Neuter. Adopt. Protect.

Here’s an Animal Welfare Update from the General Assembly. I have one piece of bad news and one piece of good news.

First, the bad.

In my last post, I urged you to contact your Maryland lawmakers to urge passage of the Companion Animals in Research Bill (also known as the Beagle Bill).

This legislation would have required laboratories in our state to work with animal rescue organizations to find adoptive homes for dogs and cats once they’re no longer needed for research.

Unfortunately, opposition from Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland proved too powerful for the bill to pass this year. In fact, the Chair of the House Appropriations Committee, Del. Maggie McIntosh did not even allow it to come up for a committee vote.The bill’s sponsor, Delegate Ben Kramer of Montgomery County is deeply disappointed, saying, “The longer they (Hopkins and U of Md) delay it, the more time there is for people to become aware of the merits of this bill…And that includes a real solid group of students at Hopkins and Maryland who have been spreading the word about this common-sense legislation…(It) lets the administrations of each of the universities know their opposition to this is just not acceptable.”

Both Kramer and the ASPCA’S Chloe Waterman promise the bill will be back next year.

Says Waterman, “We’re on the right side of history, and it may take some time, but we’ll be there for the ride, and we will keep pushing until this bill passes.”

Now, for the good news.

You may have heard that several weeks ago, the U.S. Department of Agriculture purged many documents from its website. They included inspection reports for dog breeding facilities around the country. The removal of those documents effectively hobbled a Maryland law passed last year. That law requires stores that sell puppies to ensure that they do not source them from the worst puppy mills.

The law says stores cannot get their animals from any facility that’s not licensed by the USDA or from one that has been cited by the USDA for egregious violations. Without the documents online, pet stores have no way to check on the breeders from which they buy puppies. So, Delegate Kramer came up with a bill that would work around the problem. It would require pet stores to get those inspection reports directly from the breeder. His bill, House Bill 781, has passed the House and will be heard in the Senate on March 30. There’s a good chance it will become law.

Watch this video to learn more about Del. Kramer’s bill and how it will help undo the impact of the USDA’s website document purge.

(By the way, there’s one sure way to keep your distance from puppy mills: Adopt. Don’t shop.)