Dear Representatives,
Please move HB2030 to the floor and vote in favor of the bill as written, with no amendments.
The Department of Agriculture, the Governor’s appointed Kansas Pet Animal Advisory Board, Kansas Pet
Professionals (largest breeding organization in the state of Kansas) and PACK (Pet Animal Coalition of
Kansas) have spent the last three years working to propose improvements to the outdated Kansas Pet
Animal Act, which governs the care and treatment of companion animals in our state. The Kansas Pet
Animal Act has not been updated in over 25 years and change is desperately needed.
The professional organizations mentioned above are all in favor of HB2030 as written, and I am asking
for your support of HB2030 as written, with no amendments. What you have before you represents the
collective voice of the people.
For nearly 50 years, Great Plains SPCA (legacy organizations Animal Haven and No More Homeless Pets
KC) has been serving the Johnson County community as a safety net and critical resource for pets in
need. Just last year, Great Plains SPCA served 35,000 local pets through humane and safe sheltering,
affordable veterinary care, public spay/neuter, community outreach initiatives, and programs that
target senior adults and children. Every day, more than 600 pets are calling our shelter their temporary
home and over 75 pets are served daily at our public veterinary center. Without Great Plains SPCA, our
community would be left with a huge void for local and state governments to fill at their own expense.
As a non-profit animal welfare organization, we are infusing our community with a $6.5 million dollar
annual budget and priceless services to benefit the health, safety and well-being of people and
companion animals. Our work and our voice is not insignificant.
At present, the Kansas Pet Animal Act significantly fails to meet the basic standards of the veterinary
medical requirements promoted by the American Veterinary Medical Association. It should be our
collective goal for Kansas to set the stage of innovative practice that other states will aspire to model.
The components of the bill which have the greatest impact on the Department’s ability to perform their
job, shelters to carry out their responsibility to humanely house, care for and adopt animals, and for
breeders to produce and be held accountable for quality offspring include:
•
Ban of carbon monoxide (CO) chambers – Section 12 47-1718 eliminates the inhumane practice
of use of carbon monoxide chambers to carry out euthanasia. Euthanasia by lethal injection of sodium
pentobarbital has been named the most rapid, humane method of euthanasia by the American
Veterinary Medical Association, the National Animal Control Association, the American Humane
Association, HSUS and the ASPCA. Via lethal injection, pets pass within a matter of seconds with little to
no risk to the handler. Use of the gas chamber is a lengthy, terrifying experience for the animal and has
been proven to cause potential psychological effects, as well as harmful health risks or even death, to
the operator. At present, most every state in the nation prohibits the use of gas chambers.
I ask for your support to eliminate the use of gas chambers as a means of euthanasia in the state of
Kansas, recognizing lethal injection as the most humane form of euthanasia.
•
Access to medical records: It is of critical importance that we provide Inspectors for the
Department of Agriculture the appropriate tools to perform their jobs. Inspectors should have access to
all medical records for pets in the possession of all licensees. Currently in the KPAA, Inspectors do not
have access to medical records for USDA licensed facilities. Such records are essential for Inspectors to
ensure that animals on premise are receiving adequate and appropriate medical care. Failure to allow
Inspectors access to medical records for USDA licensed facilities costs the state, the department and our
constituent’s money. On countless occasions, our organization has absorbed the financial burden to care
for animals who were not being adequately cared for at USDA licensed facilities. Inspectors cannot do
their job, holding breeders accountable to the law, without access to prove that animals are receiving
appropriate medical condition.
I ask for your support in Section 4, to give Inspectors access to medical records for USDA licensed
facilities.
•
Premise inspection schedule: The change in language in section 8 from “may” inspect to “shall”
inspect is a critically important improvement to law. Defining the frequency schedule of inspections in
rules and regs, based on performance history of a premise, gives the department the latitude and ability
to devote their time and resources where we are counting on them most – to hold accountable those
who are not meeting the standards outlined in the Kansas Pet Animal Act.
I ask for your support to ensure that all licensed facilities are inspected by changing “may” to “shall”
in section 8.
•
Offsite adoptions: More than 6,656 animals were adopted at Great Plains SPCA last year. As a
partner to the state, and an agency who takes in animals every year who are seized by or signed over to
the Department of Agriculture, we need to broaden our ability to get adoptable pets in front of the
public. For many, going to an animal shelter where there are so many animals in need is too emotionally
taxing. Therefore, to be successful in our charge to place as many pets as possible into adoptive, loving
homes, shelters need the ability to host offsite adoptions and be able to send pets home from those
events. Not only does this create convenience for potential adoptive families, it decreases the amount
of time a pet spends in the shelter which makes room in the facility for other pets in need.
Please support the change in section 2, allowing for offsite adoption events.
Please do not allow the proposed fee increases to hang this bill. The increases proposed are absolutely
insignificant in the grand scheme of operations for the constituents it impacts. There is no licensee who
cannot afford an increase that equates to literal pennies a day, particularly those who are breeding
animals to make a profit. The increase in their fees is less than the profit they make on selling one dog.
Do not be led astray by those opposing the fee increases. We must provide the department with the
resources necessary to enforce the law. The fees proposed are caps and increases will happen over time.
We have an opportunity to be a part of the foundation that helps us build a progressive model in our
state statutes. I challenge you all to play an active role to drive positive change and make our state the
best it can be for the pets and people in the state we all call home.
Respectfully,
A Concerned Kansas Citizen