Nj seeks to remove legal rights

Ownership alert!

While I fully understand the pain of losing a beloved pet, I oppose this attempt to create a legal hornet’s nest in the pet community by utilizing emotional backlash and love for one’s pet as a spring board into guardianship and a legal fray of pet malpractice suits it will bring.

Lawyers will be the only persons to stand to win in this proposed bill.

The bill will create several things:

1) Increase the cost of pet care due to medical malpractice insurance similar to what has

happened in the human medical community.

2) Promote fewer pet owners due to the increase cost of pet care.

3) Bring about the formation of “guardianship” laws which will create legal access to remove dogs from homes. Even using a leash collar and correcting your dog out in public can have you arrested. This is already happening in other states. People are being banned from dog competition because they looked at their dogs sternly and are considered abusive!

4) Create a legal system solely for pet law, since the already over crowed court systems will not be able to handle the excess of litigation. Simple things such as a neighbor has a grudge against another neighbor, speak abuse and the courts must remove your dog.

5) Increase all costs of dog ownership via the need for pet stores, trainers, toy manufactures and such to pay malpractice insurance.

6) Allow the state to become the legal owner of your pet. The state will have the right to bring lawsuits in your dogs name to courts against you the owner; this is the precedent of guardianship and the removal of dogs as property. The dogs will suffer no matter the outcome of the trial since they will be placed in a shelter for whatever time frame necessary for the legal system to work and you will not be allowed to see your pet or own another dog until the trial is concluded.

My belief is the spay/neuter laws are being enforced to clear the shelter out to allow store room for dogs who will brought through the legal system. There is no such thing as over crowed shelters due to over breeding of dogs. Shelters are full of untrained dogs whose owners can’t be bothered to train them properly.

Contact your senator to voice your opposition to this proposed law. Contact any friend or family and have them do the same. This bill is going before the assembly on Monday May 28, 2007.

N.J. May Give Pet Owners Right to Sue Bill Would Allow Lawsuits for Pain And 

Suffering If Animal Dies From Eating Contaminated Food   

  (CBS/AP) New Jersey on Monday will consider giving pet owners the right to sue 

For emotional pain and suffering if an animal gets sick or dies from eating 

Contaminated pet food. 

Joyce Tischler, founding director of the Animal Legal Defense Fund, said New 

Jersey would become one of the few states in the nation to allow such lawsuits. 

She said Tennessee allows pet owners to sue for up to $5,000 in damages. New 

Jersey's proposal includes no damage limit. 

"This would be a significant step forward in state legislation, " Tischler said. 

New Jersey Assemblyman Neil Cohen said his bill would change the legal standard 

that generally regards pets as property. 

"For many pet owners, losing a dog or cat to tainted food is tantamount to 

losing a loved one to a preventable tragedy," Cohen said. 

Veterinarians have opposed similar proposals in other states, arguing that such 

laws would increase consumer costs and encourage frivolous lawsuits. 

Cohen's bill is set to be considered Monday by an Assembly committee. He said he 

wrote it following March's nationwide pet food recall. 

http://www.cbsnews. com/stories/ 2007/05/21/ health/main28318 51.shtml