February 19th, 2020
If you live in Wisconsin, please read this and take action immediately.
Background: A common animal rights tactic is promoting bans of unpopular businesses in places where no such business exists. The anti-pet store campaign is a great example of this. Initiating a ban where no such business exists works well because 1) there are no stakeholders present to counter the negative claims made against such businesses, and 2) passage of such bans can be used as legitimizers for future bans in areas where such businesses actually exist.
Wisconsin is ground zero for the next tactical assault and this time dog breeders and owners are on the table.
A few weeks ago, an animal rights group called Dane4Dogs (which appears to work with PETA) was able to get a ban on breeding kennels in Richland Center, Wisconsin. The stated target, and the one that was used to whip up public support, was dog breeding for research, but the ban that was passed covered all dog breeding kennels. There were no dog breeding kennels of any kind in Richland Center so the ban passed without opposition.
Now we have word that Dane4Dogs is planning to drop in at the Sauk County Board meeting tomorrow night and push for a similar ordinance.
If it is passed, we can expect
1. A ban on all kennels and limiting dog ownership to 2 dogs/household.
2. A ban on all biomedical research using dogs and cats within Sauk County.
There is no reason to think that the Sauk County Board is on the radicals’ side but they need to hear from reasonable people on our side who oppose such bans. In the US, other than prohibition and the modern-day animal rights bans, we haven’t banned legally operating businesses. Instead, we examine an industry’s practices. If we find them unacceptable, we pass laws requiring improvements and set penalties holding law breakers accountable. What the animal rights extremists are doing is at fundamental odds with historical US practice and deeply harmful. If you can ban something based on “category rather than by actual practice, the group with the biggest propaganda budget wins!
The address and contact information are listed below.
If you can attend the meeting, wonderful. If not, please write the board immediately and tell them that you think the approach of groups like Dane4Dogs should be opposed. This is not an issue that citizens of Sauk County have sought. Don’t let the dog breeding issues – whether for research or pets – distract you. It is the process used that we cannot allow. It undermines representative government where genuine public debate can take place and replaces it with a circus that shuts down public participation. It is a political sucker punch process that should be stopped in its tracks.
Meeting tomorrow night at 6 pm
Sauk County Board is requesting input:
370 Vine St, Reedsburg, WI 53959 (library)
Comments should be emailed to Alene Kleczek Bolin, Administrative Coordinator alene.bolin@saukcountywi.gov
Contact Patti Strand at naia@naiaonline.org