Good news.  A coalition of “diverse” groups is already formed and organized for the petition drive to fight back at a state legislature and governor that cavalierly overrules the vote of the people.  Prop B  is the fuel for this effort, but it’s about more than puppy mills. This legislature has been riding roughshod over not just the vote of the people but the citizens who come to testify at hearings as well.  Anyone who has sat in on one of the hearings this season will tell you how appallingly unprofessional and cartoonish the whole scene is.

I’ve already signed up to gather signatures.  I hope you do too.

We believe that rights of the voters and welfare of the dogs should not be compromised. A constitutional amendment is being put forward here in Missouri to protect the voters’ voice from being overturned by lawmakers and the governor in such a blatant way in the future. If you would like to help gather signatures for this constitutional amendment or help in other ways to ensure its success, please go to http://www.protectvoters.com.

I’m not as ready as Willy to throw in the towel on Prop B, but her analysis of what’s going on is probably more accurate than mine.  I had all but given up too, but a friend of mine who rescues dogs called me the other night and gently pushed me back into the ring.

One thing that convinced me that there is hope is that some state reps have been convinced to change their votes for repeal simply by pointing out to them that their districts approved Prop B in November.  She told me that Sally Faith of St. Charles and Chuck Gatschenberger of Lake Saint Louis have both agreed to vote against SB113 after it became public that they had accepted campaign contributions from Smithfield Farms.  Evidently, Sally Faith admitted that she hadn’t read the bill and had taken the word of a colleague she trusted.  Oh, sure.

If all 88 of the state reps whose districts voted YES on Prop B in November vote against repeal, that will be a majority and enough to kill the bill.  So it’s up to us to hound those state reps in the districts that passed Prop B to do the right thing – or else.

Through MEC reports I found out that my state rep, Paul Curtman of the 105th accepted a $500 contribution from Jason Smith, the rep whose mother owns one of the “dirty dozen” puppy mills.

Check out the list here.

That same Missouri Alliance for Animal Legislation website has tons of good info, including a comparison of Prop B and SB 113 and a list of the voting percentage totals by district.  Check out yours.  If your House district passed Prop B, make sure your rep is voting against repeal. If your district did not pass Prop B, ask your rep to do the right thing for the dogs.  If breeders can’t make a profit by taking good care of their animals, they should close up shop and let someone do it who can.  Check out the BBB reports and all the complaints from customers who bought puppies they thought were healthy.

And click here to see Sen. Parson, sponsor of the bill, lying his head off to an audience where he obviously feels comfortable making up nonsense.

 If you have the stomach for it here are some photos from actual puppy mills.  Friends of mine who have rescued puppies from these dungeons of death tell me they can smell the diseased dogs before they even pull into the driveway.

I’m not ready to give up on this yet.  I hope you’ll get as angry as I am and motivated to do everything you can to protect these animals.

Get some Facts to answer the lies of the multi-million agriculture business. THEY have the money and the lies. We have the FACTS. Check out this video.

After seeing this video of Sen. Parson lying about the Puppy Mill Cruelty Prevention Act passed by voters in November, I attended a rally in support of the new law at the Capitol yesterday.  I carried a sign saying “Sen. Parson:  ‘YOU LIE.'”  It caught the attention of lots of people, including many with cameras.  I hope the story gets back to Sen. Parson.

The reason we were there was because the House was debating HB131 which would gut the new law.  The legislators who want to let a breeder have more than 50 females pregnant all the time in a space barely big enough to roll over or stretch out are heartless to say the least.  We had about 90 people there in the rotunda with signs mostly about letting the vote stand and respecting the vote of the people.

Several groups of school kids, both elementary and high school ages, came through.  Their first stop on the tour is the state seal emblazoned in the floor of the rotunda.  After the tour guides finished and led the kids to their next stop, I told the kids not to bother voting because the legislature would just overturn their vote.  Some of the teachers gave me a thumbs up. Others scowled at me.  Whatever.

A few of us joined Barbara Schmitz, director of the coalition that passed Prop B, to the governor’s office on the 2nd floor.  She had a petition signed by a bunch of folks.  The gov wasn’t there (actually I saw on TV that he was in Forest Park.)  An aide politely took the petition from us and let a photog take our picture for a national animal magazine (All Animals?)  No signs were allowed in the photo, but she let me hold my little American flag.  (no comment)

I learned after I got home that HB 131 was “laid over,” and, according to the Bill Tracking page on the General Assembly website there is no further action scheduled at this time.  

I heard opposite predictions yesterday from two people who know a lot more about how these things work than I do.  One said not to give up because there are good things happening behind the scenes.  The other said there is no way we’re going to stop the repeal/dismantling of the new law.   So it’s a toss up at this point.

Look at these photos of puppy mill conditions.  I know it’s hard to see this, but we have to do it for the dogs’ sake. Call your state rep and state senator and tell them how disgusted you are with this whole attempt to repeal a reasonable improvement of care standards at these facilities.  Send them these photos and ask them how they can sleep at night.   If you are lucky enough to have a rep and senator already supporting Prop B, tell him/her thank you and to please forward the photos to colleagues.