Farm bill affects pets, too
By Kim Campbell Thornton
May 23, 2008
Yesterday the House and Senate overrode a presidential veto to pass a $307 billion dollar farm bill that affects farm subsidies, food stamps and, yes, horse racing and pets. According to the Topeka Capital-Journal, the bill includes tax breaks for horse owners and restrictions on the importation of puppies from foreign countries, writing:
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell included a tax break for horse owners that would benefit horse farms in his state of Kentucky. The provision ensures all race horses are depreciated over three years for tax purposes, regardless of when the horses start training. The Joint Committee on Taxation estimates this would cost $126 million over 10 years.
Senate Democratic Whip Richard Durbin, D-Ill, inserted a measure to curb the import of puppies for commercial sale from foreign puppy mills. The bill also strengthens the federal animal fighting law.
The CJ calls the riders “pork.” We call the equine tax break scandalous. The foreign puppy mill measure benefits domestic puppy mills, but at least it has the potential to reduce the numbers of mass-produced pets that are so easily available. And anything that strengthens laws against animal fighting is a good thing.
In Cavalier news, Harper took her first airplane ride today. She and Jerry unexpectedly spent quite a few hours at LAX due to flight delays, and she made a number of fans and friends. Jerry reports that she didn’t make a peep on the plane. I’ve just received a call that they will arrive shortly at my parents’ house, so I must go prepare her dinner.
O rats. I was hoping the racehorse tax break was in the part they forgot to get printed, hehe.
Comment by slt — May 23, 2008 @ 5:32 pm
Well, from the point of view of bulldog rescue, the puppy import section, if it is enforced, is potentially helpful.
It won’t curb the big mills in the midwest, but over the past ten years, many of the millers on the west coast became importers instead. They found it was cheaper to import litters of bulldogs and frenchies than to breed them themselves, especially in those areas where vet costs are prohibitive.
a c-section in MO or OK may run 200-300.00 if one knows the right vet, in California or WA, it’s literally ten times as much.
And many of these creeps fund that they could circumvent local animal limit and or breeding statues (where actually enforced) by only having baby puppies, no adults.
I have personally been involved with at least three cases where sick under nourished import pups were diagnosed with spina bifada after they had been sold. they are often sold “cheap” for quick sale and the charmers peddling them are hard to track down or prosecute. They can sell them for a lower price because they cost the brokers less than the midwest puppymills pups would wholesale for.
For a few of these horror stories, check out http://www.thewrongpuppy.org
So hears hoping it puts a dent in the market and in the brokers pocketbooks. Of course that also means that the new rules will actually have to be enforced
Comment by JenniferJ — May 23, 2008 @ 6:23 pm