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Jennifer Hobgood, Florida Director for The Humane Society of the United States, was in Naples Thursday night June 26, to rally grassroots support for animal issues and to secure members and volunteers for HSUS political action in Florida and Washington, D.C.
Speaking to approximately 30 attendees in the media room at Collier County Domestic Animal Services on Davis Boulevard, Hobgood began by surveying the audience. Of those attending, there were several from local animal welfare groups, but the majority were individuals concerned about animals.
Hobgood said that The Humane Society of The United States is a national organization concerned chiefly with serving a “a mainstream voice for animals.” That means most of what they do is political activism and focus on legislation. HSUS strives to help not just pets, but all animals, including livestock and wildlife.
She noted that they do not have or run local humane societies, and those groups, such as The Humane Society Naples and 46 other humane societies in Florida are all independent, privately run nonprofits. She said she hoped everyone would contribute to both their local humane society and the national organization as she does.
Using a slideshow for emphasis, Hobgood continued her 2-hour presentation by describing other activities of HSUS, disaster response, emergency coordination and Humane Society Veterinary Services.
Disaster response involves helping animals in a disaster situation, such as that in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. N-DART (National Disaster Area Response Teams) set up makeshift kennels, recovered lost pets and reunited pets with owners.
Grassroots volunteers receive a call when needed. The Humane Society of the United States pays for travel expenses to send willing volunteers to where they’re needed.
To critics who say there should be more attention paid to people, Hobgood has this standard reply: “When we help pets, we are helping people.”
An example Hobgood gave of emergency coordination was a recent forced closing of a puppy mill in Tennessee. Volunteers from The Humane Society of the United States came on site and helped collect, care for and remove pets from the facility.
The Humane Society of the United States also is starting to open temporary veterinary clinics in underserved areas for a few days to provide routine care for pets. “In many cases, these pets have NEVER seen a veterinarian,” she said.
The Humane Society of the United States boasts 10.5 million members nationwide, 700,000 in Florida alone.
In Florida, Hobgood noted that The Humane Society of the United States has been effective on several fronts, successfully lobbying to outlaw dog and cock fighting, pig gestation crates and more.
Hobgood finished her presentation with an update on animal rules and laws in Florida, and what are some of the problems she sees that need attention.
First she mentioned that in March of this year, The Florida Board of Veterinary Medicine clarified its rules on microchipping. (Microchips are the tiny identification chips placed under the skin of pets.)
The veterinary board rule states that microchipping is minor surgery and as such must be done in a permitted veterinary clinic with a licensed veterinarian on site. Exceptions are granted to pet owners who may microchip their own pets and to pet shelters microchipping pets in their care. However, unless animal shelters have a veterinarian on site at their own permitted veterinary clinic, they cannot microchip other people’s pets during pet fairs, fundraisers or adoptathons as they have done in the past.
Director Hobgood also related that new rules have been approved by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to accommodate development, at the expense of animals.
One new ruling (5A in Definitions 68A-1.004) makes it easier to classify wildlife as a nuisance, and thus, able to be taken. Nuisance wildlife she said is now, “ Wildlife that causes or is about to cause property damage, presents a threat to public safety, or wildlife causing an annoyance within, under or upon a building.”
Hobgood said to the audience: “How can anybody read an animal’s mind and know it intends to cause property damage or to annoy people?”
She said that with new developments moving deeper into animal habitat, the new rule simply makes it much easier for people to eliminate wildlife.
Along with that rule is another by Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission that downgrades manatees from endangered to threatened, this despite the fact that the year 2007 was a record-high year for manatee deaths. Downgrading the status of manatees and other wildlife paves the way for more development and use.
“It’s pretty obvious that boating, marina developers and coastal construction firms were behind this effort,” she said.
Hobgood said that HSUS worked hard to defeat a bill this year, the Bad Dog bill in Florida (HB 101), allowing communities to ban dog breeds. She noted that when it comes to dog bites, “it’s a case of punishing the deed, not the breed, ” and that by banning breeds, families would lose their pets and shelters would overflow with good dogs that were the “wrong” breed.
One final bit of legislation Hobgood spoke of was SB744 (Sexual Activities Involving Animals) that would make beastiality a felony..
She astonished the audience by saying that Florida has no law against beastiality and that those who commit such acts can only be prosecuted under a misdemeanor animal cruelty charge.
Hobgood said that SB744 was introduced in the 2008 Florida Legislative Session but was immediately assigned to four committees. “That,” she said, “was the kiss of death for a bill in this year’s session.”
Hobgood hopes the law will be re-introduced in the 2009 legislative session.
When it comes to politics and legislation, Hobgood said that’s where grassroots efforts really pay off. She said that HSUS has 10.5 million members nationwide and 700,000 in Florida. “When they all get on the phone or write their legislators, decision makers listen and change happens,” she said.
For more information on The Humane Society of The United States and to become a volunteer, log onto www.hsus.org. Jennifer Hobgood, the Florida State Director at the HSUS Southeast Regional Office in Tallahassee can be reached at 850-386-3435. Her e-mail is jhobgood@humanesociety.org.
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