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Michelle Hodkin
Charleston, SC
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Michelle commented on the article |Great to see you over here, Nathan! It's nice having your perspective in this discussion.
The text of California Food And Agricultural Code Section 31108 ("Hayden's Law") and the proposed language of Oreo's Law may be linguistically the same. And I certainly trust Ms. Bryant to know her own intent when drafting the law; I had the pleasure of editing an article she wrote for the Journal of Animal Law when I was in law school, and I can say with certainty that she is not only an expert in her field, but a phenomenal advocate for animals and the animal law movement is blessed to have her.
Still, Section 599D of the California Penal Code relating to adoption and treatability could have the effect, in practice, of changing the way Hayden's Law is enforced. The Penal Code section specifying that "no adoptable animal should be euthanized if it can be adopted into a suitable home" and that "no treatable animal should be euthanized" could be interpreted by shelter workers to act as a qualifier to Hayden's Law, regardless of the legislative intent behind it.
That qualifier, in my opinion as a rescuer of aggressive dogs and as a lawyer myself, would actually be a good one, though I know many of you disagree.
I'm currently fostering a "last chance" dog (not my first- I like the naughty ones!); my house is his fifth home in his short four years on earth. But he's been in my care for over a year, and he's a French Bulldog; a very popular, not-so-common breed. If he weren't in a foster home and had been transferred instead to a rescue with a shelter facility, he would have, without question, harmed himself in distress. The poor dog, a mill survivor, cannot be crated and urinates when left alone for even the short time it takes me to shower; a kennel environment would absolutely shatter him. I love him to pieces, but as his foster mom for the past year, I can say with certainty that if there had to be a choice between a year of kennel life for him and euthanasia, euthanasia would be the more humane choice for him. Thankfully, he made it to a wonderful rescue that has more means and more foster space than many other rescues do (and he’d have NO chance at all if he were a large breed dog, sadly), though they are in desperate need of more foster homes for aggressives or they will have to start turning dogs away. Anyone on here want to volunteer? We can compare bite scars :)
Speaking as a lawyer, I can also say that the potential dog bite liability to transferring shelters would worry me if I were a shelter board member. If a dog like Oreo (let's name him Newton) mauled a child after Humane Society of Practicality decided that their only choice was to euthanize Newton, and Well Intentioned Rescue stepped in to save his life, I'd be willing to bet that the family's attorney would name Well Intentioned Rescue AND Humane Society of Practicality as defendants. Even if Humane Society of Practicality won and the claim was dismissed, they'd still have to hire an attorney to defend the suit. The ASPCA has enough resources to defend themselves, but how about the smaller shelters? They could be bankrupted by it, and that won't help anyone.
I understand and respect the supporters of Oreo's Law, but there are many issues that I'd like to see addressed in a final version of the legislation before I could back it myself, many of which are discussed in Rebecca Huss' brilliant law review article here: http://www.animallaw.info/articles/arus39connlrev2059.htm
In the meantime, I'll keep on keepin’ on, and hope that if nothing else, the passion generated by this issue inspires more people to volunteer to help get dogs out of shelters by fostering, whether they take on the socialized dogs who just need a place to go, or the more troubled dogs under the guidance of an experienced, knowledgeable rescue group (I've got plenty of extra bandages to share!)
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