Missouri Animal Legislation

The Alliance's Legislative Priorities for 2008

With the legislative session beginning on January 9, 2008, the Alliance has defined its legislative agenda. This year the Alliance plans to introduce several pieces of pro-active legislation. The Alliance's legislative priorities are outlined below.

Dog Fighting

Recent stories about dog fighting have uncovered details about how this brutal activity still persists throughout Missouri. Hopefully, the new attention on this issue will help the Alliance advocate for some needed improvement to our state laws involving this inhumane crime.

Current Missouri statutes need clarification regarding the fate of victimized animals that are seized in connection with dog fighting. Rescue organizations and veterinarians are often wary of caring for these victimized animals while criminal charges are pending because of the length of time and the uncertainty involved. We believe that a hearing needs to be held within a reasonable time.

Increasing the penalties for being a knowing spectator at a dog fight is another goal of the animal welfare community. It would send a message about the seriousness of the offense and it would assist prosecutors when ownership of the animals is difficult to prove.

Missouri law should also add dog fighting to its criminal forfeiture statute in order to add an appropriate penalty to this horrific crime.

Breed Specific Legislation (BSL)

The Alliance opposes legislation that would treat entire breeds of dog as inherently dangerous, as opposed to treating each dog as an individual. It is the inhuman acts of humans, as opposed to genetics, that is generally to blame for aggressive or dangerous dogs.

A more positive response to the problem of dangerous dogs, the Alliance supports the passage of improved procedures for identifying and controlling individual dogs that have shown dangerous or aggressive tendencies. While some cities already have good laws to address dangerous dogs, many communities could benefit from such an update to state law.

Registration of Large Carnivores / Dangerous Exotics

The Alliance will again push for legislation that would require lions, tigers, and bears to be registered with the state, identified with a microchip, and sufficient insurance obtained by their owners.

While a ban on ownership and breeding of these animals would be ideal, basic registration is the minimum protection necessary to protect public safety, as well as discourage illegal sales. Sadly, as adjacent states have been cracking down on exotic animal trafficking, Missouri has become a haven for such activity.

Impoundment of Abused/Neglected Horses

We will likely see attempts again next year to gut the Missouri law that permits law enforcement authorities to impound large animals that have been abused or neglected. The Alliance will remain vigilant in opposing such legislation, which would lead to unnecessary suffering.

The Missouri Federation of Animal Owners and the Missouri Farm Bureau have repeatedly supported legislation that would take impoundment decision-making away from local sheriffs and prosecutors, instead giving that authority to the Missouri Department of Agriculture (See House Bill 46-2007). HB 46 would have also changed the standard for rescuing a large animal that was suffering, allowing it only if the animal was facing "immediate loss of life."

Other Barriers to the Enforcement of Animal Abuse Laws

In addition, we will need to be vigilant to oppose any legislative efforts designed to hinder the evidence-gathering activities of those law enforcement officers who investigate abuse and neglect.

For example, over the past several years, the Alliance has stopped measures that would have made it a felony to photograph a pet breeding facility, or to use such photographs to prosecute crimes against animals. Generally, the Alliance opposes all efforts to make it a crime to investigate a crime against animals. We also believe that it is wrong to criminalize the free speech activities of anti-cruelty advocates who are not trespassing or otherwise violating the law.

Puppy Mills

The Alliance will continue to seek better regulation and control over the deplorable conditions in pet breeding facilities in Missouri-known widely as the "Puppy Mill Capitol of the Midwest."

Unfortunately, good laws alone are not enough to solve this problem. The Missouri Department of Agriculture continues to inspect only a small fraction of the regulated pet breeders each year, despite two scathing audits by the Missouri State Auditor. Better funding for inspections and a more committed effort on enforcement are needed from this department in order to repair our state's reputation.

Barriers to Voter-Initiated Petitions

There has been an increase in the number of legislative efforts attempting to make it harder for citizens to exercise their constitutional right to petitioning for better laws. The Missouri Federation of Animal Owners has repeatedly advocated for changes to the Missouri Constitution, requiring that voters pass any measures involving forestry and wildlife by a 2/3rds supermajority.

By comparison, the Alliance successfully used the petition process to gather signatures for the popular anti-cockfighting initiative, and when it was placed on the ballot, it received 63% of the vote-not quite enough to have passed by a supermajority.

Last year, the Alliance also opposed numerous bills that proposed doubling or tripling the number of signatures needed to place proposed changes to the law on a ballot for voter approval.

Conclusion

In addition to our legislative agenda, the Alliance will work to stop legislation detrimental to animal welfare. Throughout the legislative session, the Alliance updates its supporters through e-alerts and its website. If we do not have your e-mail address and you would like to receive legislative e-alerts from the Alliance, please send your contact information to .

Write your legislators about your concerns for animal welfare. To find your state legislators, enter your 9 digit zip code (xxxxx-xxxx) below and click the Find button. If you don't know your 9 digit zip code, use the Zip Code Lookup.