Writing Your State Legislators
 
Below are some suggested content for letters to legislators. Feel free to use these words but always add something of your own to the letter or email. It is much more meaningful.

It is especially important to include any information on direct experiences you have had with puppy mills or dogs rescued from puppy mills. Include photographs if you have them. Give your message a face!

  • Iowa is #3 in the nation for number of USDA licensed commercial breeders. We have at least 400 licensed breeders.

  • The passage of legislation in other states have not led to any negative consequences. The laws have not infringed upon farmers, hunters, or gun enthusiasts rights. The laws do help ensure that the consumers of the puppies produced get a quality animal product.

  • Livestock and poultry have been bred to be docile animals and content to be non bonded with humans. Dogs have been specifically bred to bond with humans and other dogs and therefore their behavioural and physical needs are different than livestock and poultry. They need human contact and physical exercise for their well being. You will notice that livestock and poultry do not beg to get out of there confinement areas when a human enters the area. They also do not fight aggresively with each other to compete for attention. When a human enters a large dog breeding facility the noise of barking dogs is overwhelming. They ALL communicate their desire for attention from the human. They will fight their cage mates for the attention of the human.

  • Livestock do not have long lives as they are produced for food whereas a breeding dog can live neglected, depressed, and fighting with cage mates for 10 - 15 years.

  • The farming business requires that the animals produced for profit are well cared for and not stressed, otherwise money is lost and good quality food is not produced. The dog breeding industry is opposite - the less well cared for the animals are, the more money is made. This is a flaw in the system that puts the dogs at risk from any human trying to make a living from the business. That is why more oversight is needed for the dog breeding industry and not the livestock/poultry/food industry.

  • A recent review of 1354 pages of USDA inspection reports of Iowa licensed facilities revealed that 59% of breeders were cited for violations of the Animal Welfare Act. There is little evidence of follow-through on these cases.

  • Current Iowa animal welfare laws are not adequate to protect the more than 23,000 (according to USDA data) adult breeding dogs in Iowa's USDA licensed commercial breeding facilities.

  • Because of the exception wording in Iowa Code 162, Iowa law enforcement and county attorneys are not empowered to respond to cases of reported animal neglect and abuse in at least 400 USDA licensed kennels in Iowa.

  • One often-heard argument in opposition to the companion animal welfare bill is concern regarding "the slippery slope", suggesting that further protections for companion animals will lead to calls for further protections for livestock. Please do not be fooled by this smokescreen! The only slippery slope that does exist is a slope which is leading our companion animals towards being classified as livestock. That is the slippery slope we are working to reverse.

  • Those who oppose further regulation of at least 400 USDA commercial breeders in Iowa state that "the real problem" is the existence of unlicensed breeders. While unlicensed breeders may very well be a problem, addressing the well-documented rampant abuse of companion animals in Iowa's licensed kennels is the focus of the current bill.

  • While we suspect that unlicensed breeders may be a problem in our state, some of the USDA licensed dog dealers are very familiar with their existence, as evidenced by the fact that an inspection report for one USDA licensed dog dealer cites him for purchasing puppies from unlicensed breeders for resale to the public. This is in violation of the Animal Welfare Act.