Sen. Elizabeth Dole's "canned" reply to constituents who have sent letters in opposition to Senate Bill 1139/HR 2669 (also known as PAWS) has been received and read with great dismay. Senator Dole offers the same worn out puppy mill rhetoric quoted by supporters of the bill, including Sen. Rick Santorum, Humane Society of the United States, PETA and the Doris Day Animal League, whitewashing a fatally flawed piece of legislation. It is quite clear by her reply that the senator is not only misinformed about this bill but completely out of touch with many of her constituents.

After months of contact with the senator's offices pointing out the widespread collateral damage this bill brings to pet hobbyists, hunters and rescuers, our message has been ignored.

Cleverly nicknamed the "puppy mill bill" in hopes of swift passage, PAWS is touted to "close a loophole in the Animal Welfare Act" to protect mass-produced puppies sold at retail.

The truth is, PAWS is an animal-rightist effort to reverse a federal appeals court decision which upheld the USDA's decision to license only commercial sellers and brokers. PAWS has the potential to have USDA license and inspect every single hunting dog seller. PAWS will add expensive, unnecessary federal regulation over existing state and local animal welfare and cruelty laws, draining finite funding and reducing overall animal protection. PAWS will bring federal inspectors into private homes, dictating the type of facilities in which cats, dogs, rabbits and other small animals must live and be bred. PAWS will eliminate many private breeders, which are the best source of home-raised pets for the public.

Twenty-five North Carolina animal related organizations and countless individuals in the state are opposed to this bill.

Senator Dole, are you listening yet? We respectfully ask you to withdraw your name from this devastating bill.

-- Susan Wolf

Spencer