The Face of the Executioner

This morning as I was leaving for work, Scott handed me an article he'd clipped from the Wisconsin State Journal. The headline announced, Lawmaker aims to ease rules for 'hobby breeders'*. In essence, Don Pridemore, R-Hartford, is introducing a proposal that means certain death for more shelter dogs, and an increased risk for the misery created by puppy mills by raising the number of dogs fourfold a breeder can offer for sale without a state license.

An effort in 2009 by then-Governor Jim Doyle to eliminate puppy mills resulted in legislation that limited the number of dogs a non-licensed breeder could sell or offer to sell to 25 dogs per year. The measure Pridemore (a seemingly appropriate Dickensian name) is proposing says that unless a dog breeder sells or offers to sell 100 or more dogs per year, a license would be unnecessary. I sent him the following email:

Dear Representative Pridemore,

I respectfully request that you reconsider your proposal to expand the breeding limits for breeders without a license. While animal shelters nationwide are over-populated, and an estimated 2 million dogs are euthanized annually, perpetuating this trend of over-population seems ill-advised at best and inhumane at worst. I sincerely ask that you re-evaluate your stance. Thank you for your time and consideration.

With kindest regards,

It took incredible restraint to resist using strings of profanity and ending sentences with "idiot" and "you moron". Let us hope that common sense, common decency, and compassion will prevail to stop this measure from passing.

For another perspective on this issue see The Face and Voice of Reason.
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*Scott made the comment, "Hobby breeders? That's like casual rapists.")