SPORTSMEN ENDORSE BILL CASSIDY FOR U.S. SENATE

For Immediate Release                                                        
September 29, 2014
                                                       
SPORTSMEN ENDORSE BILL CASSIDY FOR U.S. SENATE

The Sportsmen’s and Animal Owners’ Voting Alliance (SAOVA) today endorsed Bill Cassidy for U.S. Senate in Louisiana.  SAOVA’s Director Susan Wolf stated, “We can rest assured that Bill Cassidy will stand strong to protect the values, rights and traditions of sportsmen in Louisiana and across the country from ever expanding federal regulation.”  

Cassidy’s record in Congress has continually earned our strong endorsement.  Responding to our non-incumbent candidate survey in 2008, he demonstrated even then his commitment to preserving all animal use sectors and his belief that states should manage their own wildlife populations.

Wolf continued, “Bill Cassidy is a proven leader who will protect and defend our sporting heritage and traditions.   Vote for Bill Cassidy on November 4.”

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The Sportsmen's and Animal Owners' Voting Alliance (SAOVA) is a nationwide, nonpartisan group of volunteers working to elect supportive legislators. Our members hunt, fish and own livestock, dogs, cats and other pets. For more information about SAOVA visit http://saova.org

Contact: Susan Wolf
saova@earthlink.net

Vince Coakley Releases Statement on Endorsement of Sportsmen’s and Animal Owners’ Voting Alliance (SAOVA)

“I’m both pleased and honored to have received the support and public endorsement of the Sportsmen’s Alliance.  I look forward to representing the interests of SAOVA’s members while preserving the legal rights of all animal owners, fishermen, hunters, and domestic livestock owners in the spirit of their time-honored American traditions.”

Vince Coakley

Republican Nominee, North Carolina's 12th Congressional District

Sportsmen Endorse Vince Coakley for Congress

The Sportsmen’s and Animal Owners’ Voting Alliance (SAOVA) today endorsed Vince Coakley for North Carolina district 12 congressional race. SAOVA’s Director Susan Wolf stated that Coakley took the time to complete and return SAOVA’s non-incumbent candidate questionnaire.  Wolf continued, "We can be assured that Coakley is a candidate who will represent our interests fairly and work to protect our traditions and livelihoods from overzealous regulation.”

The Sportsmen's and Animal Owners' Voting Alliance (SAOVA) is a nationwide, nonpartisan group of volunteers working to elect supportive legislators. Our members hunt, fish and own livestock, dogs, cats and other pets. For more information about SAOVA visit http://saova.org   Contact: Susan Wolf saova@earthlink.net

Kangaroo courts are coming…

SAOVA Friends,

Steven L. Kopperud is executive vice president of Policy Directions Inc., a Washington, DC government affairs/specialty communications company specializing in animal production agriculture, nutrition, agribusiness, biotechnology, animal health and welfare, food, farm policy, trade and ag research and human health-related issues. As a recognized authority on activist assaults on animal agriculture and food technology, Mr. Kopperud has spoken to audiences in the U.S., Europe, Canada, China, Australia and Latin America on threats to food production.

Kopperud has long been one my favorite voices speaking out against the animal rights agenda and tactics. Never one to mince words, he tells his audience:  “You will never negotiate successfully with an animal rights group.”

Thanks for reading.  Cross posting is encouraged.

Susan Wolf
Sportsmen's & Animal Owners' Voting Alliance
Working to Identify and Elect Supportive Legislators


KANGAROO COURTS ARE COMING…
April 18, 2014 By Steve Kopperud

My opinion since moving to Washington, DC – where you can’t swing a dead cat without hitting a law school graduate – is the world has enough lawyers.  However, there are times when lawyers are welcome because they’re very necessary.  Today there’s an animal rights initiative just getting legs and its success or failure will likely hinge on whoever has the most – and best – lawyers.  I’m talking about the legal concept of animal “personhood.” Stick with me; this may be esoteric and sound comical, but the threat is nevertheless very real.

“Personhood” under law recognizes only a natural person or “legal personality” has rights, protections, privileges, responsibilities, and legal liability. “Personhood,” according to one legal journal, “continues to be a topic of international debate, and has been questioned during the abolition of slavery and the fight for women’s rights, in debates about abortion, fetal rights and reproductive rights (and) in animal rights activism…” (my emphasis).

In the 1980s-90s, we beat back an aggressive campaign by PETA and other animal rights groups to achieve “standing” in federal courts to sue on behalf of animals those who transgressed the animal rights philosophy, e.g. biomedical researchers, farmers and ranchers, zoos, rodeos and other legitimate users of animals. We watched class action suits filed on behalf of unnamed millions of consumers and lots of animals dismissed because the wannabe plaintiffs had no standing.

In the early 2000s, animal rights and real world lawyers sought to change companion animals’ legal status from property owned by someone to animals as semi-persons who enjoy not an owner but a “guardian.” Some California towns actually enshrined part of this philosophy in local law. The push was to allow owners who brought suit in cases of veterinary negligence or other wrongful acts to sue not just for the property value of the animal lost as is the case today, but for noneconomic damages, i.e. emotional distress, loss of companionship, etc. While pets don’t enjoy “personhood,” there is a trend in the courts to ignore the animals’ legal status and award non-economic damages.

The whole animal-as-person effort is the brainchild of Steven Wise. Wise, who’s practiced animal law for over 30 years, heads his own group called the Nonhuman Rights Project (http://www.nonhumanrightsproject.org/). In his own words:

“Our mission is to change the common law status of at least some nonhuman animals from mere ‘things,’ which lack the capacity to possess any legal right, to ‘persons,’ who possess such fundamental rights as bodily integrity and bodily liberty, and those other legal rights to which evolving standards of morality, scientific discovery, and human experience entitle them…The most powerful ram…is the litigating of the capacity for legal rights of those nonhuman animals who are both the most cognitively complex (they have extraordinary minds) and the most cognitively similar to humans. These include the four species of great apes, dolphins and whales, elephants, and African Grey parrots.”

Wise’s goal is to litigate state by state on behalf of “smart” animals, his targets chosen based on the evolution of common law in that state and whether there’s a “plaintiff” of sufficient standing. He’s filed three cases in New York, lost one on appeal and the other two appeals are pending. It will only take one or two successes for there to be sea change in the legal status animals, including those we raise for food, use in research to find cures and treatments or those who educate and entertain us.

Animal agriculture must pay attention to this legal threat now. This sounds fanciful, even ridiculous, but remember at least two European nations amended their national constitutions to recognize animals as “sentient creatures.” Remember there exists the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) to provide pro bono (free) legal assistance to animal rights groups, that HSUS and TV game show host Bob Barker have spent literally millions of dollars endowing “animal law” chairs at some of this country’s biggest and most prestigious law schools, and the American Bar Association (ABA) has an “animal law committee” and the majority of its members aren’t our industry’s best legal minds.

Which brings us back to lawyers, numbers and talent. We need to find working attorneys willing to donate – yes, I said donate – time and talent to help us prepare for this assault before someone files a personhood suit on behalf of pigs – deemed by those in the animal rights movement as one of the most intelligent animals we routinely kill and eat.

We need young attorneys and law school students to help us – and the rest of legal animal users – to maintain our legal rights and protections. We’re fortunate to have the National Agricultural Law Center at the University of Arkansas (http://nationalaglawcenter.org/). This is a group which needs our attention, our support and our donations. I have a feeling it may be our version of ALDF one day in the future.

Check out the websites I’ve listed; check the Internet and newsfeeds for “animal law” and “animal personhood.” It’s a serious issue – at least for the other side – and one that gives the term “kangaroo court” a whole new meaning.

Copyright 2014 Brownfield, All rights Reserved. Written For: Brownfield
Reprinted with Permission

http://brownfieldagnews.com/2014/04/18/kangaroo-courts-coming/
http://tinyurl.com/k69wg4b

USDA/APHIS Rule Impacting Small/Hobby Breeders Advances For Executive Review

Federal Informational Update:

(Friday, May 03, 2013)

http://www.akc.org/press_center/article.cfm?article_id=4987

The AKC has learned that United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)/Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has completed a full review of all public comments on proposed changes to federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA) regulations affecting “Retail Pet Stores and Licensing Exemptions”. A final version of the rule has now advanced to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for further review and possible changes ahead of publication as a final rule by USDA. Typically, it takes 30-90 days for the OMB to review a final rule before it is returned to the USDA. Once a rule is published, there is generally a period of months before any changes to existing law are implemented.

No information about the contents of the final rule is available at this time. The AKC continues to express strong concerns to members of Congress and the USDA about the May 2012 proposed rule change. AKC will continue to provide updated information on the status of this rule and possible action to be taken as additional information becomes available.

Background

The AKC remains extremely concerned about the May 2012 proposed change to AWA regulations that would require all who own more than four “breeding females” and sell even one animal “sight unseen” to be regulated as a commercial breeder and subject to federal commercial breeder licensing, regulation and inspections requirements. The term “breeding female” is not defined in this rule, so it is unclear how USDA or even breeders themselves would determine who falls under these regulations. The term also includes multiple species (including cats, dogs, and other small mammals).

The AKC believes that the USDA’s “one size fits all” regulations are not in the best interest of all dogs, responsible breeders, or puppy buyers. It is unreasonable and virtually impossible for many small hobby breeders to comply with the strict kennel engineering standards that were designed for large commercial operations.

For more information on this proposal, including AKC’s formal comments on the proposed rule, links to the AKC petition in opposition to the rule, fact sheets and frequently asked questions, visit AKC’s USDA/APHIS Regulations Resource Page.

Next Steps

The public comment period regarding the proposed rule closed in August 2012. Once again, AKC thanks the over 70,000 individuals who signed AKC’s petition in support of small hobby breeders, and the many individuals, clubs and organizations who also commented on the many problems with the proposed rule. No information about the contents of the final rule is available at this time. However, AKC will continue to provide updated information and possible action to be taken when additional information on the contents of the final rule becomes available.

This message is a service of the American Kennel Club's Government Relations Department and you are receiving it in response to your request.  This information may be reprinted or forwarded appropriately with a citation to AKC.   Our website address is:  http://www.akc.org

APHIS Comment Period Extended to August 15

7/13/12. APHIS ANNOUNCEMENT. "We are is extending the comment period for our proposed rule that would revise the definition of retail pet store and related regulations to bring more pet animals sold at retail under the protection of the Animal Welfare Act (AWA). We are also announcing the availability of a revised factsheet regarding our proposal. These actions will allow interested persons additional time to prepare and submit comments."

Links to the Docket, suggested comments, various articles, and the SAOVA Opposition List can be found at the SAOVA website. Please continue to spread the word. The rule needs to be withdrawn in its entirety. Comment at the Federal Register portal, write your Congressmen, and join the SAOVA Opposition List.