Missouri senators should join the House and send a proposed constitutional amendment protecting Missourians' right to raise animals to a statewide vote.

That was the message Wednesday afternoon from a coalition of agriculture groups at a Capitol news conference urging Senate passage of a resolution proposing to add language to the state Constitution's "Bill of Rights."

"We're defending the limited food supply that you need every day to survive," state Rep. Tom Loehner, R-Koeltztown, told reporters and supporters. "We're defending the number one source of what it takes to live."

Their proposed amendment says: "It shall be the right of citizens to raise domesticated animals and game birds in compliance with any applicable state laws or local regulations."

The proposed amendment also would eliminate the people's existing constitutional rights to the initiative and referendum, by requiring that the only valid laws "criminalizing or otherwise regulating the welfare or breeding of any domesticated animals or game birds" must be passed "by the general assembly or promulgated by a state agency through administrative rule."

Backers of the proposal oppose an initiative petition currently being circulated that, the secretary of state's ballot language says, would:

* Require large-scale dog breeding operations to provide each dog under their care with sufficient food, clean water, housing and space; necessary veterinary care; regular exercise and adequate rest between breeding cycles.

* Prohibit any breeder from having more than 50 breeding dogs.

* Create a misdemeanor crime of "puppy mill cruelty" for any violations.

Sen. Bill Stouffer, R-Napton, told reporters: "We have forces from outside the state that have virtually no connection to animals, that want to tell us how to raise animals."
newstribune.com/articles/2010/04/09/news_state/nt267state26animals10.txt

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