Animal welfare advocates recently voiced concerns over legislation to redefine livestock animals in state law to include hunting, show and breeding dogs. Senate Bill 610, sponsored by Sen. Richard Black (R-Sterling), also sought to place all animal care oversight under a single state agency – the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
Several hundred people converged on the Capitol on Jan. 26 for Virginia Humane Lobby Day to oppose SB 610, said Robin Starr, chief executive officer of the Richmond SPCA, one of the event’s organizers.
The next day, Black announced that he was pulling the bill for this session. On Feb. 2, the Senate Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources Committee formally voted to postpone consideration of the measure until 2013.
“This is a bill that we’re actually going to pass by for the year. It’d be easier to wait and look over it over the summer because there are various issues with dogs that people are concerned about,” Lore said this week.
SB 610 states that ” ‘Agricultural animal’ or ‘livestock’ means any domestic animal raised, herded, or farmed as an agricultural product or associated with agriculture, including equids, cows, calves, yearlings, bulls, oxen, sheep, goats, lambs, kids, hogs, pigs, poultry, gamefowl, fowl, hunting dogs, working dogs, and show dogs.”
It goes on to say that the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services “occupies the entire field of regulation of the care, control, and handling of agricultural animals. No political subdivision, locality, or humane society shall regulate the care and handling of agricultural animals.”
The bill’s impact statement said the measure would increase the administrative and regulatory responsibilities of the agriculture department, making it “the sole regulator of the care and handling of agricultural animals.”
“Currently, VDACS is not responsible for regulating, inspecting, or monitoring dog shows, but under this legislation the department may assume
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