Thank you for giving me this opportunity to address the Mayor and the Board of Aldermen of the City of Quitman with respect to passing a new Animal Control Ordinance. As the founder of Good Shepherd Dog Animal Rescue, a nonprofit corporation, which has as one of its purposes helping to educate and inform the public with respect to all issues related to the humane treatment of animals, I would like to offer my help in this regard.
I would like to begin by saying that God created all animals great and small. If you keep that in mind you will be able to write a good law which will provide for a safe community, responsible ownership of animals, and the humane treatment of animals. This is true for it reminds us that we are the good shepherds and guardians of all God’s creatures, great and small.
With this in mind, I do not believe the law being used by the City of Morton is a good law. This law makes criminals out of animals which violate the law. A good law does not do this as God created all animals great and small and we are their guardians. I believe that means that we have a responsibility for the humane treatment of animals. Domesticated animals serve a purpose as do wild animals. It is NOT animals which violate law and should be penalized by killing them, it is irresponsible people who violate laws and who should be held responsible.
A good animal control law is one that addresses such issues as the humane treatment of animals and makes for responsible ownership of animals. This means having an animal control officer and an animal shelter. The law which the City of Morton is using is not only a bad law because it makes criminal out of animals, but because it does not even establish an animal control officer. Also the law used by the City of Morton changes the legal definition of an animal shelter.
When I reviewed the laws used by many other cities I found that animal shelters were legally defined as publicly owned shelters established by cities, counties, or nonprofit humane societies. Yet the City of Morton has changed the law in such a way as to make animals criminals and to distort the legal definition of what an animal shelter means.
I believe the law that is being used by the City of Morton is therefore unconstitutional and it would be unwise knowing this to then adopt a similar bad law for the City of Quitman. This is because by trying to make animals criminals and penalize them with trapping and destruction, the property rights of responsible owners of animals may be violated. Also, using a private, for profit business or veterinary clinic to impound and destroy animals may be a serious violation of property rights guaranteed by the Constitution, as in America we do not deprive people of their life, liberty or property, without due process law, nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation.
I contest that impoundment constitutes a public use when fees, fines and sums of money are raised or charged and paid to a private, for profit business, as there is thus no compensation made to owners of private property so impounded; that this therefore is a violation of U.S. constitutional rights of property owners. Plus such a practice in and of itself would constitutes the exploitation of animals and their owners, and therefore be the inhumane treatment of animals.
I would hope that the City of Quitman would take the time and effort to adopt a good and a strong Animal Control Ordinance, one which does NOT make animals criminals. Remember, God created all animals, great and small. Therefore any law man writes will only be a good law if it holds people responsible for their actions and does not criminalize animals or violate the property rights of animal owners.
To help you draft a good law I have prepared a list of legal terms as used by other cities. I hope this may aid you. Also I have prepared a Model Animal Control Ordinance. This is based upon review of the laws used by other cities in Mississippi as well as the law currently used by Quitman.
I think that if we remember that God created all animals great and small and do not make criminals out of animals; rather, that we recognize that people are the ones responsible for the humane treatment of animals and the responsible ownership of animals, that a good law can be written, one which does not violate the property rights of people yet insures the humane treatment of animals. Remember that a good animal control ordinance is designed to instill responsible ownership of animals in people. You do this by having an animal control officer who can be responsible for the enforcement of the law and by penalizing those who violate the law -- which is people, not animals.
The City of Morton is operating under a law which is unconstitutional for it makes animals which are owned by people the criminals. This violates the property rights of citizens and our responsibility as guardians of animals to provide for the humane treatment of animals and to have laws which make for responsible owners, not laws which make criminal out of animals which, as God’s creatures, are innocent.
It is possible to solve many of the problems we face as a community by working together. I believe that the problems related to animals running at large, irresponsible ownership of animals, or cruelty to animals can be solved and that a quick fix which may be a violation of people’s constitutional property rights, as well as God’s law and our responsibility as guardians of all creatures great and small, is not the answer.
Please take the time and effort to draft and adopt a good animal control ordinance. The City of Morton is operating under a very bad law, one which wrongly criminalized animals instead of people, one which distorts the traditional legal definition of an animal shelter, and one which does not even provide for an animal control officer to enforce the law. I would think that the City of Quitman, knowing this, could do much better.
If you would like my help in that regard I welcome the opportunity to share my expertise. If not, I still pray that you will keep in mind that God created all animals, great and small, and that as their guardians and responsible citizens it is our duty to make laws which provide for the humane treatment of animals.
What does this mean? It means NOT creating a situation where domesticated animals are rounded up for the benefit and profit of private enterprise, and killed or destroyed just because it is expedient, economical or convenient; rather, that we as responsible citizens draft and institute laws that respect the rights of property owners, insure the safety and security of all people, while at the same time providing for the humane treatment of all God’s creatures, great and small!
Good law does NOT make criminals out of animals. The City of Quitman is considering adopting a new animal control ordinance based on the law used by the City of Morton, Mississippi, which is a very bad law. The law used in Morton criminalized animals, distorts the legal definition of an animal shelter, does not establish an animal control officer to enforce the law, and is unconstitutional because it would enable private property to be taken away without either due process of law or compensation, plus would use public funds to support a private, for profit business in the impoundment, killing and destruction of animals which would constitute the exploitation of animals and would therefore be the inhumane treatment of animals by government. Everyone who loves animals is urged to protest such a corrupt law by contacting Quitman's Mayor, Eddie Fulton and the Board of Aldermen of the City of Quitman, Mississippi by calling (601) 776-3728, by sending an email to the mayor, or by writing a letter to the mayor at 101 E. Church Street, Quitman, MS 39355. Please urge that such a BAD LAW that criminalized animals not be adopted! |
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