What’s the deal with animal welfare?

COLUMBUS

Am I the only one scratching my head over the “agreement” reached to keep that animal welfare issue off the November ballot?

The one announced during a late afternoon press conference last week, with Gov. Ted Strickland and the heads of the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation and the Humane Society of the United States.

In a display of like-mindedness, the three announced they had negotiated a deal to address animal welfare advocates’ concerns about the treatment of pets and livestock in the state and agricultural groups’ concerns about the real-life economics of farming.

That’s all well and good, but the announcement raises a lot of questions:

Where were the members of the Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board?

That’s the group approved by voters and mostly appointed by Strickland to develop standards for livestock care in the state. Members hosted a series of regional listening sessions and have been busy working on the new rules.

But none were to be found at the press conference. It seems strange to me that the governor, Farm Bureau and the Humane Society have finalized an agreement that essentially dictates what the standards board will do.

Granted, Strickland and Co. said the standards portion of the agreement included “recommendations” that will be forwarded to the board. But the setup adds fuel to the fire burning in some critics’ minds, who believe that Big Agriculture is really writing the state livestock rules and not a board that has a measure of public accountability built into it.

WHY NOT GO TO BALLOT?

If it really had 500,000-plus valid voter signatures in hand, why wouldn’t the Humane Society of the United States go ahead and submit them to the secretary of state’s office?

In reality, that’s a pretty low number, considering it isn’t unusual to have half of the submissions tossed as part of the verification process.

The group would have had more time to gather more signatures, but it would have been an uphill battle to get the 400,000-plus needed to secure a spot on the November ballot.

Plus, a couple of the issues in the amendment — livestock euthanasia and downer cows — likely will be addressed by the Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board before the general election, making part of the ballot issue moot.

If law and rule changes are needed to control puppy mills, cockfighting and citizens’ ownership of wild animals, why haven’t they been made already?

Part of the agreement included assurances from Strickland that he would push lawmakers to pass separate bills increasing penalties against cockfighting and regulations for dog breeding kennels. And he said he would push administrative rules to stop new ownership of lions, bears and other exotic animals by Ohioans (with those who already own such “pets” grandfathered in).

But if those issues are of such importance, why haven’t law changes been instituted before now? Bipartisan bills on the issues have been introduced in recent General Assemblies with no executive push for their passage.

Marc Kovac is The Vindicator’s Statehouse correspondent. E-mail him at mkovac@dixcom.com or on Twitter at OhioCapitalBlog.