Massachusetts, my friendly neighbor up north, known for its generous and even notorious liberal nature (See Ted Kennedy) has decided to turn its back on any animals from areas affected by Hurricane Katrina, including Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana.
Their excuse? That because there are no vaccine records for the animals (they were destroyed by Katrina, knuckleheads!) they don't want to chance the spread of disease to their beloved Massachusetts animals.
From the Massachusetts Katrina Emergency Animal Order:
NOW THEREFORE, by authority of Massachusetts General Law Chapter 129, Section 2, as of this date, and until further notice, no dogs or cats will be permitted entry into the Commonwealth of Massachusetts that have originated in Alabama, Louisiana, or Mississippi unless through mechanisms and processes approved by the Department of Agricultural Resources.
Yes, because Massachusetts animals welfare is so much more important than the welfare of displaced Gulf State animals. And I guess Massachusetts' animals and pets are more important than the other 46 states that have willingly accepted displaced Gulf State animals.
So, let me ask you, are you going to require any Hurricane Katrina-displaced people entering Massachusetts to have all their shots up to date as well? C'mon!
Another part of the order reads:
Whereas; animals displaced by hurricane Katrina were separated from their legal owners and unorganized removal of these animals to another location greatly decreases the likelihood of these animals being reunited with their rightful owners;
Owner surrenders are being held in southern states close by for 30 days, which is enough time for an owner to locate their animal locally and even if they don't do it within 30 days, they can still find them. Massachusetts is just clueless as to how rescue groups work. Rescue groups utilize PetFinder.com which includes photos of animals and is a great resource for owners to find their lost animals. Petfinder even setup a special website to help owners reunite with their pets. I should point out that many owners have made the very
difficult decision to give up their pet because their home was
destroyed, so there is no need to keep these animals in over-crowded shelters in the South which have very limited resources right now.
My wife and I foster have been fostering Labrador retrievers / lab-mixes primarily from the Gulf State region for years and the dogs are shipped thousands of miles via a 100% volunteer Underground Railroad-like system with no state or Federal assistance. The volunteers drive the dogs one leg at a time to a next drop-off point where another volunteer drives the dogs to the next drop-off point. So this volunteer system is already in place if we needed to reverse the "railroad" and have dogs from the Northeast be sent back down to the South at no cost to the owner. (It's supported via the volunteers' own money as well as charitable donations.)
This is not the first time Massachusetts has been anti-animals or puts their animals first. The rescue group that my wife and I are involved with has all their transports travel with health certificates for all the dogs and are fully vetted before they travel (if they don't have previous records). This is good enough for the 10+ states that the transport travels through, but apparently, that's not good enough for Massachusetts, since several of our rescue transports have been stopped in just this state in the past year. They are told that there is no entry at all unless you go through Department of Agriculture.
In fact, they require all dogs to come to one of their facilities once in MA for a 10-day quarantine, despite that they had been quarantined before traveling AND they already have a health certificate.
Several sources have told me that Labrador breeders have specifically lobbied the state legislature and the Department of Agriculture to block out-of-state Labs being placed since the in-state lab-breeders don't want competition affecting their lucrative breeding business. Several of our transports have been stopped by the DoA with police assistance and hassled for health certificates before finally letting the transport proceed since they can't catch them on a "technicality".
I haven't heard of an domestic pet disease outbreak since, well, never... I'm sure it has happened, but in my opinion it's very rare and Massachusetts is being too overly cautious. Heck, if Massachusetts is so anal about medical records, then it no doubt gives immunity shots to all of the animals in its shelters. Thus, imported animals shouldn't affect them anyway.
People in the Gulf States took a risk saving these animals, so how bout you step up Massachusetts and take a risk for the sake of these animals? Hey Mass, show me some of that compassionate liberalism you are supposed to be known for!
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I haven't heard of an domestic pet disease outbreak since, well, never...
Then you have not heard of Parvo, Heartworm, Rabies, Distemper to name just a few. I don't agree with what the Mass Vet is doing but I understand why they are doing it. Because too many rescue groups have not quarrentined animals before transport and have brought up puppies with parvo, HW and other diseases causing more outbreaks with in the state. Last year there were 2 cases of rabies in dogs one was a rescue dog. This is why Mass has implemented strong regulations on rescues bringing up dogs.
I've never heard of a massive pet outbreak killing thousands of domestic pets. Send me a link - this would be a major news story.
Actually since my wife and I work for a rescue group we are familiar with Parvo, heartworm, rabies, etc. I've personally taken care of 3 heartworm positive dogs. Heartworm dogs are not contagious by the way.
The concept of quarantining is a good one, don't get me wrong, but shouldn't be taken to extremes. We didn't quarantine people that became refugees from the hurricane, so why are pets any different? Ok, they are different, but my point is the vast majority of domestic pets lived in perfectly good homes before they were destroyed, were well taken care of and therefore they don't have any diseases.
So in extreme disaster situations we should put politics aside and help animals the best we can.There are treatments for most of these diseases, but many are expensive. Massachusetts chose the almighty dollar over compassion in my opinion.
I don't see one thing stupid or wrong about what they're doing there. They have the obligation to protect to the utmost the population that calls Massachusettes 'home'. They aren't stating that NO pets from the victimized areas may enter; they are merely enforcing regulations through which disease can be controlled and erradicated before effecting the residents of Massachusetts - which is exactly what they are supposed to do through that agency. The 'quotes' of the emergency rule were NOT accurately posted since they were 'picked and chosen' portions that were used to pursuade people and opinion - and unjustly so. Let me inquire just how many of these non-medically regulated animals runs freely at the residence nearest you, and how safe and/or worthy of the risk are your kids or pets? That's what we need to ask ourselves. This is not some politically biased ruling - it is for the good of the residents of the state and animal groups don't have a fight with it - why should we? And by the way: Ted Kennedy has NOTHING to do with this rule, so why in the world would he be brought into such an argument? THAT is politically biased to do so.
"Monitoring" seems to be 'the thing' these days! My suggestion is that everyone band together and remove from the political offices those who feel justified in "monitoring" - period! Whatever injustices MA is guilty of instigating, the people of MA need to change the setting by changing the representatives THEY vote for and place into office. In much the same manner, the rest of us need to change the measures by which this GOVERNMENT operates...unless "monitoring" is permissable to you. So - clean up the dogs, clean up the government and clean out the "monitor mongers" while we're at it! I have the utmost respect for anyone involved in animal (or people) rescue. No one or group should be 'monitored' and/or 'gestapoed' EVER. Did I know what I was talking about? Yes, I did know what I was talking about. What I DID NOT know was what YOU were talking about...until now! Thanks for the post. What are the folks in MA doing about this? Are they aware? Are they throwing fits or do they justify 'monitoring'??? I don't want you to think that I'm unconcerned about the refugees of Katrina - one, two, three or four leggers. I do what I am capable of doing here in Ohio and feel obligated with responsibility to do just that and more when it comes to LIFE of any sort. This situation, if it is truly as others think it to be, is a sad reflection of exactly what is going on in the BIG picture of government in this country. The 'monitoring' has got to stop! What is there that can be done about it? Since our votes don't count - unless you are an electrate, you've got to go to the papers and exploit the wrongs as you see them. This site is wonderful, but certainly not an editorial page in your local papers. Let's hit the pavement and get something done here. A group that I belong to is collectively writing the MA government with complaints and/or inquiries. "Ante up and kick in" is a mantra my cousin and her son LIVED by as they belonged to several rescue operations across the south eastern portion of the United States. Her son is dead at the age of 24, but she carries on in his name, as does several members of the family. I'm sorry I sounded as standoffish as I obviously did in the earlier post. I certainly didn't mean to sound like I didn't care about the situation. I took time to read and check out the story afterwards - something I wish I had done beforehand! Thanks for the 'lecture'. We each need one of those in a lifetime!
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It's so encouraging to notice that animals affected by Hirrican Katrina has been noticed and finding help for them as well. Many are times when Hurricane or any other dissaster strikes, rescue come for people first and rescuers find hard time to unite the two (people and animals). It's a way forward to mantain good security and efficient care for the animals affected just like the people as well. Well done guys!!!!!!!!!!
..............
Sithara
Addiction Recovery Massachusetts
Let me inquire just how many of these non-medically regulated animals runs freely at the residence nearest you, and how safe and/or worthy of the risk are your kids or pets? That's what we need to ask ourselves.I'm sorry I sounded as standoffish as I obviously did in the earlier post.
sam
Massachusetts Treatment Centers