Law may cost animals' lives, some say
By Kate Thayer
Post-Dispatch Springfield Bureau
01/30/2005

Measure meant to block
pet "hoarding" hinders
out-of-state adoptions


SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - A new Illinois law meant to stop people
from "hoarding" pets and endangering their health also is hindering
Missouri groups from placing the animals into adoptive homes.

"This is going to cost dogs their lives," warned Melanie O'Brien,
head of Illinois-Missouri Rescue, which rescues unwanted dogs and
finds homes for them.

She and other critics say the law, which licenses animal rescue
organizations, has unintentionally blocked the flow of adoptive
animals from Illinois to Missouri by bogging down the process with
red tape.

"It is really tying my hands in helping," said O'Brien, of O'Fallon,
Ill.

Overcrowded local shelters seeking rescue groups to take animals off
their hands generally turn to major areas like Chicago and St. Louis.
For Metro East shelters, "Chicago is five hours away, St. Louis is 30
minutes," O'Brien said.

By making it harder for St. Louis rescue groups to obtain animals
from Metro East shelters, some say, the shelters, when overcrowded,
could end up having to euthanize more animals.

The Illinois Animal Control Act was changed in 2003 to say that
organizations that regularly obtain dogs from Illinois shelters must
first be licensed by the Illinois Department of Agriculture. Those
groups - some of them based just over the border from Illinois - in
turn find homes for the dogs.

The law was enacted to prevent individuals from collecting more dogs
from pounds than they can adequately care for. That was the situation
last fall in Bonne Terre, Mo., where about 250 animals were found on
the 46-acre property of a woman in her 80s.

The problem now, some say, is that Missouri rescue groups, faced with
having to get special licenses through Illinois, may opt to avoid the
red tape and just get their animals from Missouri shelters. In some
cases, the new regulations apparently have even confused the state
officials who administer them.

The president of Purebred Dog Rescue of St. Louis, Elizabeth
Wainwright, said her organization is not taking dogs from shelters in
the Metro East area because Wainwright was told by Illinois
officials - apparently in error - that she couldn't get an Illinois
license because she's based in Missouri.

"I was told by the Department of Agriculture I could not get a
license in Illinois unless I'm in Illinois," she said. "It's like a
big circle and no one knows the answer.

"This is a bad situation," she said.

Colleen O'Keefe, Illinois Department of Agriculture division manager
for food safety and animal protection, said Missouri groups can
obtain an Illinois license without being based in Illinois. She also
said the department is working to clarify the law to eliminate
confusion and expects the matter to come up in this year's
legislative session.

"Our intent is to protect (animals), not make it hard on rescuers,"
O'Keefe said.

St. Clair County Animal Control Director Jim Jacquot said he no
longer calls rescue groups in Missouri because of the law.

"It all seems like nonsense. Because of our proximity to St. Louis we
would use them, but now we're restricted to who we could call," he
said. "There are not a lot of ways our facility could get into
trouble, except that. We could get our license taken away."

Jacquot sends the animals down the street to the Belleville Area
Humane Society to handle adoptions. If the facility becomes
overcrowded, the rescue groups are called. When a dog or other animal
cannot find a home and the facility is overcrowded, euthanasia is the
last resort.

While Jacquot does not think euthanasia rates are skyrocketing due to
the law, he said "one more euthanasia is one too many." However,
Jacquot also said the Humane Society usually is successful in finding
homes for animals.

At the Belleville Area Humane Society, Assistant Manager Erin Hagerty
said there are no exact figures for the number of animals euthanized
in the Metro East area. She said she has heard anywhere from 15,000
to 60,000 per year. Additionally, many of these cases are dogs with
health or behavior problems, not just deaths due to overcrowding.

Hagerty also said she would try to help Missouri groups obtain their
Illinois license, or find another Illinois rescue group before
resorting to euthanasia.