COMMITMENT AND COURAGE NEEDED
Commitment & Courage Needed
No experience necessary Apply Within
BY Joe Overlease
Breeder Advocate
Tue Sep 16, 2008
There are lots of people who have different views on as many topics as you can possibly think of, and strange as
it may seem, our common love for our rights and our animals may have created some strange bedfellows. I hope we
can learn to respect each other's opinions and varied approaches.
Living and doing business in Missouri, I have seen the hard work and efforts our breeder clubs and Associations
move the overall performance of the Missouri Pet Breeding Industry forward by leaps and bounds. And we have done
it the old fashion way, through hard work and education.
Missouri has also experienced a few things that just our neighbors and professional breeders across the United
States only hear about and/or fear. And this is our State law's licensing and inspection program. In the past,
without question, we had some bad breeders, with poor facilities and who were poorly educated as to how to raise
dogs in a healthy, proper environment. I’m not saying that the Missouri pet industry is perfect today, but our
state has by and far the best kennels and breeders as group that you may find anywhere in the world. This has not
been accomplished without a lot of hard work, and heartbreaking efforts by the Department of Agriculture, MoFed,
the MBPA, and other breeder associations and clubs statewide. Our dilemma has been how do we support the entire
industry while we are working and supporting the efforts of each other while getting rid of the bad guys and improving
our existing base? Quite frankly it has been and continues to be a tough road to travel.
We have watched the AR people destroy the breeder business in other states, we see the AR people go unanswered
week after week, and the public continues to be uninformed. (Well actually, they are pretty well informed on how
all of us are monsters) We see well-intended people get run over by the overwhelming presence of these AR people,
and at the end of the day, we see restrictive laws finding their way onto the books in Florida, Virginia, New York
, New Jersey, Maine, and Texas... just to name a few.
All because the politicians see it as a “win” vote being politically correct, because we have failed as an Common
Interest group to stand up and get our message out when challenged publicly. I personally find this to be shameful,
we have all of these people and we all seemed content to do is sit on our hands... waiting... afraid that to speak
out may make someone mad at us.
Experience tells us you cannot negotiate positions with these people (AR People), they don't just want to make
it hard on you as a animal owner, they want to put you out of business and then kill whatever dogs are remaining.
Don't forget Wayne Pacelle's "One Generation and Out" Program, that has not gone away.
An excellent analogy is: Prior to WW II, we had lots of people here in America and in England who thought they
could negotiate with the Germans, all that did is cost the lives of millions of Jews. We cannot let this kind of
thing happen with our beloved animals here in America.
Failing to present a dynamic, aggressive front just encourages these people to do their evil things. I, for one,
will not be run out of business by these people, and you can rest assured that every time these people come around
I will do my best to run them out of town.
We do not need people who want to play patty cake with people who want to harm our animals and us. It's time for
people to be courageous, to stand up, to be counted, for your animals, your rights and your business.
As most of you know, I have been responding to countless attacks by the HSUS and others for a long time. Only every
once in a while do I see anyone besides me step up and deal with these creeps. Walt (Hutchens) did a good job with
the Oprah deal and I thought it was great. Thank you and Good Job, Walt! But we need more people being active,
every day on watch and then act.
We need to have an action plan where each of you make a personal commitment to take the time and respond to these
news stories and activities as they are reported. Make sure you get your message out, and hopefully, by providing
a strong response, you will dilute the efforts of our enemies. Post the link so we all can see it and go to respond
with you.
Every time an article is published, we need to respond to the source. The HSUS has a media war room where they
release stuff to the Associated Press everyday. They send articles to AR-friendly newspapers and TV stations, the
publisher, the editor and to the advertisers of the media promoting our destruction. These news releases are usually
built with a common headline concerning a dog or cat, first paragraph, second paragraph, they slide into the topic
of discrediting breeders, and the third paragraph, almost without exception, proclaims some awful and tragic conduct
that must be stopped. An example: "These poor dogs are kept prisoner and bred against their will every time
until they can no longer breed and then they are killed."
Now, sorry being so wordy, but I feel it is important that we all understand this critical point. "Failure
to respond to the lies and innuendo of our enemies only empowers them in their effort to destroy us." These
people in Springfield, (MO,) were on TV and were on the radio and they had the newspaper in their pocket. They
had attacked and lied and misrepresented Missouri and our industry in an effort to raise money to support their
political lobbyist activities. These guys are not the local HS (humane society), they are they guys that talk to
the elected officials and make campaign contributions, etc. We must demoralize them we and we must prevent them
from raising money. Every dollar we deny them, means we don't have spend five dollars to defeat their efforts.
Some view me as being too aggressive. I view myself as a Warrior, and feel sorry for the future generations should
we fail, for those who will be denied the pleasure or even the opportunity to have, own and experience the love
of a great companion animal.
The only time you can be conciliatory to your enemies is when you stand over their cold, dead carcass and recognize
them for being a resourceful and worthy opponent. Any other approach, will only net you being in the box instead.
Thank you for the read.
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PETA on targeting children: "Everything we do is based at adults." Ingrid Newkirk, PETA President on CNN, March 21, 2002
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