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Tennessee Lawmakers

Animal Bills Need a Fair Hearing!

1. 1. 
    
   2. Petition by
      Tennessee Voters for Animal Protection

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Tennessee Voters for Animal Protection needs your help in ensuring animal protection legislation has a fair chance at passage in the Tennessee General Assembly. 

This year alone, four bills were killed in the Senate and/or House Agricultural committees or subcommittees where they didn’t belong in the first place.  These bills were aimed at bettering the lives of chained dogs, extending the Commercial Breeder Act (which regulated puppy mills), increasing penalties for animal fighting, and establishing an animal abuse registry.  Instead of sending these bills to the appropriate committees, state lawmakers sent these to agricultural committees where they were all killed.  These four bills have nothing to do with agriculture or raising food for Tennessee families.  All of them are about improving the lives of our companion animals, bringing stronger penalties against criminal activities such as dog fighting, and providing the public with access to a database identifying animal abusers.

Just one week after the legislative session ended this year, 38 fighting dogs in Nashville were seized, and the dogs’ owner was arrested by the Drug Enforcement Administration on narcotics charges for distributing cocaine and heroine.  We need stronger animal-fighting penalties in our state, and it’s time these bills were taken seriously by House and Senate leadership and are assigned to the appropriate committees.  Why are these kinds of animal-related bills being sent to Ag committees when they have nothing to do with agriculture? 

The people of Tennessee deserve to have a fair hearing on legislation that matters to them.  Please help us by signing the petition asking Speaker Beth Harwell and Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey to give Tennessee’s animals a fair chance by having these bills heard in the appropriate committees.  Tennesseans and their animals deserve better!