Seems as if rural Virginia is in an uproar over HB1900, a bill that would permit localities to pass an ordinance that would allow property owners to — with so much as a verbal warning — slap a $100 fine on dog owners for each instance of trespassing.
Susan Sili over at our sister publication Bearing Drift has more:
This series of articles will investigate and track the progress of this year’s premier “Buddy Bill,” one that is unfortunately being carried by Bill Howell, Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates. The bill, HB 1900, is ostensibly a private property protection bill, aimed at penalizing trespass by dogs on the property of another after the dog’s owner has been notified to keep the dog off the property. Each violation could cost the dog owner $100 in civil penalties. The bill is largely aimed at deer hunters who use dogs to corral deer – a form of deer hunting that has been common in the eastern part of Virginia for centuries.
The bill’s proponents have put together a cute, if unoriginal, website, wherein this issue is given the “Downfall” Nazi video dubbing treatment that was all the rage in 2009. You can watch the link here. Maybe even watch it twice. And yes, that is the Honorable William J. Howell’s name superimposed over an image of Adolf Hitler in the Führerbunker, because what could better explain the horrors of deer dog hunting in the Commonwealth than a Nazi analogy.
Dog owners across Virginia should probably just invoke Godwin’s Law at this rate, if not for the fact that Speaker Bill Howell is carrying the bill.
One can’t help but notice that the degree of vitriol from those supporting the bill is way over the top. Conservatives can instantly see the problem — one simply doesn’t use government as a substitute for conversation. Animal rights activists can also see the issue up front and close as well, as the longstanding Virginia tradition of “right to retrieve” helps protect lost dogs from the actions of a radical and cruel few.
For instance, two years ago a family’s German Shepherd wandered onto the property of a Fauquier man, who promptly shot the poor animal from a tree stand with a bow and arrow. The man was recently found guilty of two class 6 felonies for animal cruelty.
This has not stopped future incidents. Just this year, a landowner in Richmond County was charged in a machete attack on a nine-month old puppy dog that the local press could only describe as brutal:
Talk with Dameon Brooks for just a few minutes, and it becomes obvious how passionate he is about his hounds.
“I just love coming out here, feeding them, cleaning the pen, talking to them,” said Brooks. “I just love it. I don’t even have to kill the deer. I just love hearing the dogs run. I just love being around them. I love it.”
However, Dameon’s heart is heavy after his nine-month-old coon hound Butch was attacked Saturday by a man wielding a machete.
“I’m really hurt. They’re my children. It’s just like if somebody with an actual child, their child getting stabbed by a knife, it’s the same exact feeling. I hurt. I’m really, really hurt. I don’t understand why someone would do this to my dog,” said Brooks.
Combine just these two incidents alone, and one can see why the proponents of HB1900 wanted to include all dogs in every setting — pets and hunting dogs alike, rural and suburban settings as well.
Needless to say, rural Virginia is watching. Pressure is building on the Virginia General Assembly to kill the bill in subcommittee, as it appears as if the bill was written in just such a way as to be sent to House General Laws where it had a modicum of a chance to survive vs. House Agriculture where the folks who understand the players and the problem would have given the bill a more peaceful death than the Fauquier landowner gave our German Shepherd friend.