By JEANETTE WOLFBERG
HUDSON–On September 11 the Columbia County Board of Supervisors both authorized the Sheriff’s Office to establish an Animal Abuser Registry for protecting companion animals and urged US legislators to oppose a bill that would threaten state laws for protecting commercial animals.
The new registry law forbids people “who are convicted of an Animal Abuse crime” to “own, possess, or have custody of any Companion Animal or Pet” and prohibits “animal shelters and pet dealers from transferring Animal ownership” to them. Their names are to be entered on an online Animal Abuser Registry, under the Sheriff’s Office (see article “Board sends animal abuser registry back to committee,” July 25). Those seeking to transfer animal ownership will have to check the register. “It will be an extra clerical step, but it will be worth it,” said Linda Guntert, vice president of Everlasting Hope Animal Rescue in a conversation on September 30.
To get this law in Columbia County, many people worked hard behind the scenes, Ms. Guntert reported. In 2021, when Greene County passed an Animal Abuser Registry law, Everlasting Hope inquired how to get the same law in Columbia County and contacted the District Attorney (DA). The DA was supportive, but the courts were just reopening, swamped, and backlogged with many other issues. Everlasting Hope and other supporters kept up their efforts, checking with the DA with “everything we did.” They contacted the sheriff. When the new sheriff was elected in 2022, “we had to restart.” When the new DA was elected last year, “we had to restart.” Everlasting Hope went before the full Board of Supervisors twice and its Public Safety Committee three times. In July of this year, the supervisors voted the law down, some because of concerns, some because of technicalities. The law returned to the Public Safety Committee, which made changes. The supervisors voted on it again in September, and this time it passed.
According to board minutes of the September 11 meeting, “More than 40 individuals from various rescue agencies” attended. People speaking in favor of law included Supervisor Robert Lagonia (Austerlitz), Supervisor David Helsley (Germantown), and Sheriff Don Krapf. Those speaking against rushing to pass the law in its present form included Supervisors Tistrya Houghtling (New Lebanon), Michael Chameides (Hudson, 3rd Ward), John Reilly (Gallatin), and Brenda Adams (Canaan).
Over the months, some supervisors said a reason to oppose the law was the ASPCA’s (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) opposition to Animal Abuser Registries. But Ms. Guntert said the ASPCA’s opposition statement was seven years old. One concern raised at the September 11 meeting, Ms. Guntert said, was how a 17-year-old or senior citizen part-time store clerk could tell a customer they could not adopt an animal because they were on a criminal registry. Eight supervisors ended up voting against the law, and 14 ended up voting for it.
Both sides wanted it clear that the Animal Abuser Registry law covers only pets and other companion animals. It does not cover farms and other commercial animals. The New York State Agricultural and Markets Law covers them. However, parts of that law are threatened by the Ending Agricultural Trade Suppression (EATS) Act now in the US Congress, said Mr. Chameides on October 1. That act is designed to wipe out individual states’ protections for commercial animals and consumers.
On September 11, the supervisors passed a resolution urging New York’s delegates in the House of Representatives and Senate to oppose the EATS act and similar legislation.
Reasons for opposing it include that: it could destroy protections against “abuse of dogs in puppy mills;” “painful procedures used on animals for cosmetic testing,” and abuse of horses; it would be an attempt to undermine state and local sovereignty; it would put independent farmers at a “further disadvantage” when competing against industrial agriculture; and it would overturn state laws on “disease prevention” and “consumer protection.”
The EATS Act could wipe out not only New York regulations for commercial animals but also those about radiated food, Kosher food, and Halal food, Mr. Chameides said.
