On Monday, April 24, at 8:30 a.m., in room E2.012, the House Business and Industry Committee will take public testimony on House Bill 870, an animal-extremist bill to restrict pet store dog sales to rescue animals only. The bill will make it a crime for sporting dog breeders to conduct business with pet stores, all in the name of animal “welfare” that has no real chance of promoting animal safety or humane treatment anywhere in the state.
Texas has been hit with a raft of anti-sportsman legislation this session, including 18 gun-control bills that limit or end youth hunting, and several bills that regulate the breeding of sporting dogs. By increasing regulations and requirements for kennels and conscientious breeders, while incrementally lowering thresholds that define a commercial breeder, animal extremists use economics to drive up the cost of well-bred sporting dogs used by hunters.
“This is but another example of animal extremism running amok in state legislatures where elected officials get blinded by piles of misinformation heaped on them by zealots with an extreme ideology,” said Todd Adkins, vice president of government affairs at the Sportsmen’s Alliance. “HB 870 does nothing to promote animal welfare.”
Overregulation threatens to destroy small, conscientious breeders with no hope of ending the homeless-pet issue in Texas or nationwide. As we saw during the COVID pandemic, many shelters and rescue organizations ran out of dogs to adopt when importation from foreign countries and transportation between states ceased. More than 1 million dogs are imported into the U.S. every year. The problem isn’t pet stores or sporting dog breeders, but a larger issue of animal-extremist operations reaping large profits through rescue/adoption organizations and donations from unsuspecting citizens.
The growth in animal extremist organizations over the past several years is staggering, with many organizations reaping millions in donations but doing little to actually help animals. Sportsmen throughout Texas need to respond and let their elected officials know that sporting dog breeders should not be targeted and consumer choice must be the driving force of commerce in the state.
Please use our Take Action button to email the members of the committee urging them to OPPOSE HB 870. Remind the committee members that law-abiding sporting dog breeders need just as much protection as the dogs they raise and the law-abiding deserve their support by OPPOSING HB 870.
About the Sportsmen’s Alliance: The Sportsmen’s Alliance protects and defends America’s wildlife conservation programs and the pursuits – hunting, fishing and trapping – that generate the money to pay for them. Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation is responsible for public education, legal defense and research. Its mission is accomplished through several distinct programs coordinated to provide the most complete defense capability possible. Stay connected to Sportsmen’s Alliance: Online, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
