animal rights activist get role in law enforcement

Animal Rights Activists Get Official Roles
In City and County Dog Law Enforcement

Undercover Surveillance, Vigilantes, Uniforms and Badges
by JOHN YATES

American Sporting Dog Alliance
http://www.americansportingdogalliance.org
asda@csonline.net

PALM BEACH, FL - Animal rights activists in many parts of the country
are proving the adage that paranoia doesn't necessarily mean dog
owners are crazy.

Cities and counties that have enacted repressive ordinances targeting
dog owners are increasingly using volunteers as a major tool to
enforce the law. Not surprisingly, only animal rights activists are
likely to be accepted as volunteers. Many of these activists are
opposed to the private ownership of animals in any form, and most of
them are willing to accept what they term animal "guardianship" only
under strict government regulation.

The vigilantes are coming!

That is true in Los Angeles, Dallas, San Antonio and Houston. It also
is true in several states where volunteer animal rights activists are
routinely sent undercover to investigate allegations of animal cruelty
and even to check out people who advertise a litter of puppies in
local newspapers.

But Palm Beach County, Florida, has made vigilantism into an art form,
and Los Angeles may be preparing to carry it to the nth degree.

Volunteer activists in Palm Beach County have been sworn in, given
badges and uniforms, and granted the authority to enter private homes
to check for violations of a new mandatory spay/neuter ordinance,
animal cruelty and other possible dog law violations.

These members of the "Palm Beach County Citizen Animal Patrol" are
empowered to issue formal written warnings for noncompliance and turn
in the information to regular animal control officers for official
investigation and prosecution.

According to a county announcement of the program, search warrants are
not needed for these volunteers to inspect private homes or privately
owned pets. The county's official position is that "The hobby breeders
who have a permit from the county have already given implied consent
to these people to enter their homes by signing the permit."

That is the little known fine print of dog and kennel licenses in
almost every state: If you buy a license, you sign away your right to
privacy. If you don't buy a license, of course, you are breaking the
law and can get busted.

Catch 22!

In many other areas of civil law, such as with zoning and building
permits, obtaining a license has been viewed in court as prima facie
permission for government officials to inspect private property. This
precedent is now being extended to dog laws, and citizen patrols to
"rat out" noncompliant neighbors are being seen as important
enforcement tools.

Spying on their neighbors and intimidating dog owners is only one part
of the job description of the Palm Beach County Citizen Animal Patrol.
Other duties include answering newspaper ads placed by people who
advertise puppies for sale, contacting dog clubs for breeder
referrals, and even setting up surveillance at dog shows.

If they see anything they consider suspicious or a possible violation
of the law, they are told to report the information to animal control
to start a full investigation.

In the world of crime, they would be called snitches. In the world of
animal law, they see themselves as on a mission to save helpless
animals from exploitation.

According to an article in the Palm Beach Post newspaper, citizen
patrols will help increase enforcement without adding to municipal
costs.

Local officials stress the "public education" aspect of the citizen
patrols, but are noticeably quiet about the surveillance and
enforcement aspects of the volunteer positions.

This pattern is apparent in Dallas, San Antonio and Houston, which
passed draconian pet sterilization ordinances within the past year.
Volunteers are being actively recruited in those Texas cities to help
"educate" people about the new laws. As in most places, these citizens
groups are comprised almost entirely of animal rights activists, and
each application must be approved by a quasi-official advisory board
that consists of animal rights activists. People who advocate the
right to own dogs need not apply.

Dog owners are convinced that these volunteers also will be used to
find and turn in people who do not follow the laws.

Los Angeles appears to be adding its own twist.

The Los Angeles Department of Animal Services, directed by animal
rights extremist Ed Boks, has set up a program of Directors of Animal
Welfare, nicknamed DAWs. The city has been divided into 86 different
"neighborhoods," and thus far a reported 44 of the positions have been
filled. According to an announcement from Boks, some of these
appointees do not live within the City of Los Angeles.

The DAWs website profiles the backgrounds of many of the appointees,
and they read like a who's who of the animal rights movement in Los
Angeles. Many of the profiles tout the appointees' close ties to the
radical Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and the ultra-
radical People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). Many of
the profiles also tout radical vegetarian activism, opposition to the
use of animals in circuses and other darling causes of the animal
rights elite. Overall, it is clear that the vast majority of these
people oppose the private ownership of animals, and are totally
opposed to the right to breed dogs.

Please read some of the profiles for yourself: http://www.dawprogram.org/.

The DAWS Board also has several committees, including an "Animals Are
Not Property Committee," whose members are listed as Andrea Boyington,
Adele Langdon, Tina Reynolds and Patti Sugarman. Each of these people
has published ties to radical animal rights groups.

None of the profiles indicate that the appointees breed dogs, show
dogs, compete with dogs, or belong to any organization that works to
protect the rights of dog owners. Not one.

A very ominous sign is that DAWs has gone underground since Los
Angeles passed an exceedingly restrictive spay and neuter mandate this
year. The DAWs meetings used to be advertised on their website,
agendas used to be published, and minutes were displayed online.

Since August, all public accountability and openness have been removed
from the DAWs website.

In addition, the DAWs volunteer manual has been withdrawn for complete
revision, and is no longer available to the public.

An announcement from Boks called the DAWs appointees "the eyes and
ears for the animals in their areas."

In other words, being snitches is one of their duties.

The DAWs mission statement says: "DAWs provide a voice and a form of
political representation for nonhuman animals." That line is straight
out of the PETA textbook.

Perhaps the most common use of animal rights activists as volunteers
has been for undercover work and surveillance in animal cruelty
investigations. Because these volunteers have no official designation,
the use of them is not subject to constitutional protections against
searches without warrants. They go under cover as private citizens,
and then file complaints with animal cruelty police officers. They
work with the officers, and their identities are not revealed. The
officers use these "complaints" as legal grounds to obtain a search
warrant.
The most famous use of undercover volunteers occurred at a California
slaughterhouse that was highly publicized this year and led to a
complete overhaul of federal and state inspections.

A large percentage of animal cruelty cases in several states rely on
animal rights activists to go undercover into private kennels and dog
events, and their observations and opinions are relayed as "semi-
anonymous complaints" to humane police officers in order to obtain
search warrants. "Semi-anonymous" means that these people's identities
are known to the officers and judge, but are not revealed to the
public or the person who is accused.

A common tactic is for these activists to pose as puppy buyers when
responding to advertisements in newspapers or online, or to appear at
dog events as a spectator. This tactic is so common that virtually
anyone who advertises puppies for sale in many areas of the country
can expect to be visited by undercover activists pretending to be
looking for a puppy. Usually they are easy to spot. They are mostly
college-aged people who know little about the breed of the puppies
that are for sale.

Sometimes it gets much more organized. For example, the toll of
animals from Hurricane Katrina has led to the formation of many
"disaster rescue groups." They raise money locally to rescue animals
from disasters, and sometimes get contributions of tax dollars.
Fortunately, disasters are rare in most places. But these programs
allow a well-funded team of animal rights activist/volunteers to
perform organized surveillance work. For example, a Venango County,
PA, disaster rescue group received newspaper coverage this year for
playing the key undercover role that led to the animal cruelty
prosecution of a "puppy mill" in West Virginia.

Another Pennsylvania situation that we reported this year was how
animal rights activists have begun to take over local zoning boards,
in order to require people who seek a permit to build a kennel to meet
impossible demands. In one case that would be amusing if it hadn't
harmed a person who wanted to build a kennel, these activists required
an applicant for a kennel permit to promise that none of his dogs
would be mated naturally.

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What can we do about it?

The first thing that dog owners must do is to understand that there is
a planned takeover of local boards and commissions by animal rights
groups, and that this has been happening behind the scenes for many
years.

Thus, vigilance is the first step. Find out what official or quasi-
official groups have been created in your town and county that work on
animal issues. Animal shelter or animal control advisory boards are
common examples.

Then, learn the names of the members of these boards and committees.
These names should be public records, and also may be found by looking
up the group's website. Chances are an Internet search will yield many
connections to animal rights groups.

The next step is educating public officials about the real agenda of
animal rights groups such as HSUS and PETA, and, if possible, showing
verified connections to members of local boards. Letters to the editor
of local newspapers are another good approach, if you have
documentation.
However, the most important thing you can do is to volunteer to serve
on any board, commission or committee in your town or county that
deals with animal issues. Let your elected officials know that you
want to serve on these boards, and volunteer to fill any current or
future openings.

Our goal should be to have as many dog owners and people who support
the rights of dog owners as possible on any board, committee or
commission. It is vital for us to be able to begin to reverse the
animal rights strategy of taking over local boards.

The American Sporting Dog Alliance will assist local dog owners in any
way possible to accomplish this important goal.

The American Sporting Dog Alliance represents owners, breeders and
professionals who work with breeds of dogs that are used for hunting.
We welcome people who work with other breeds, too, as legislative
issues affect all of us. We are a grassroots movement working to
protect the rights of dog owners, and to assure that the traditional
relationships between dogs and humans maintains its rightful place in
American society and life.

The American Sporting Dog Alliance also needs your help so that we can
continue to work to protect the rights of dog owners. Your membership,
participation and support are truly essential to the success of our
mission. We are funded solely by the donations of our members, and
maintain strict independence.

Please visit us on the web at http://www.americansportingdogalliance.org.
Our email is asda@csonline.net. Complete directions to join by mail or
online are found at the bottom left of each page.

PLEASE CROSS-POST AND FORWARD THIS REPORT TO YOUR FRIENDS

 

Man, what a great group the Sporting dog alliance is. Got to get cracking to find out what is going on around here.

 

Agree. Seriously thinking about joining that group next year, along with the EBA and ADOA. If I'm able to anyway.

 

Man this stuff is getting out of control.

 

Everyone needs to join this organization.