FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Julie Lewin 203-453-6590
CONNECTICUT HUMANE ADVOCATES PASS FIRST LAW TO PROHIBIT THE CONSTANT CHAINING OF DOGS
The Connecticut General Assembly has just approved a bill which, if signed by the Governor, will establish the state as the first in the country to make it illegal to chain, tether, cage or kennel a dog around the clock. With the exception of a few counties and municipalities scattered around the U.S., it is now legal for people to confine their dogs without a break for years. The
bill was introduced for Animal Advocacy Connecticut (AACT), according to AACT President and Lobbyist Julie Lewin of Guilford, CT. It requires
dog owners to provide their dogs relief from confinement for at least two hours every day and at least every 15 hours. The bill also significantly strengthens shelter requirements for outside dogs, Lewin said.
The bill passed the State Senate 36 to 6 today and the House 124 to 17 earlier in the month, in spite of heavy lobbying against it by the Connecticut Dog Federation, an organization of dog breeders, and the Connecticut Department of Agriculture. The chief sponsor of the bill was Rep. Kenneth G. Bernhard (R-Westport). "I began fighting for for humane laws for animals when a neighbor chained a puppy to the fence and all but forgot about the dog for a decade. I learned that such treatment was legal, and vowed that someday I would make that dog a martyr," Lewin said.
