A pair of bills focused on animal welfare that were submitted by two Aroostook County legislators both died in the Legislature this session.
LD 828, which was introduced by Sen. Michael Carpenter, D-Houlton, and Rep. Chris Johansen, D-Monticello, would have required a licensed veterinarian to be on the premises or available on call during all agricultural fairs in the state. A fair could not be held unless those conditions were met, according to the bill heard before the Legislature’s agriculture, conservation and forestry committee.
Carpenter said he submitted the bill in response to an incident at the Houlton Agricultural Fair in 2016, in which a piglet obtained after being won at the fair’s annual pig scramble died after being left by a woman in a hot car.
Two people testified at a public hearing held on the bill in March. Angela May Bell, an onshore volunteer for the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, said she was in favor of the legislation.
“As a lifelong resident of Maine, I have attended many agricultural fairs,” she said. “I was born and raised in Aroostook and grew up with many of my extended family members running farms. I had friends in 4H. Those I know who spend their lives around animals, for companionship or income, seem to always care about the well being of those animals. Having a veterinarian on premises seems necessary and humane. I cannot believe it hasn’t always been the case.”
Amanda Bisol, a veterinarian and legislative chair for the Maine Veterinary Medical Association, also testified in support of the bill.
“We feel it often is important to have a veterinarian involved with agricultural fairs,” she told lawmakers. “We feel allowing for the veterinarian to be on call for the events will make this a much easier law to follow for hosting organizers and owners. We do recommend that the fair organizer contact the veterinarian they wish to use a few weeks before the event to confirm that they will be available for on call sen/ices. We do not feel this needs to be written into the law itself.”
Despite the public support, the committee members voted ought not to pass, and the bill did not advance further. Carpenter said he was comfortable with the bill being killed after finding out that the Houlton Fair had taken steps to remedy the situation and that state fair’s that have horse racing have a veterinarian on call.
An official with the Northern Maine Fair in Presque Isle, which runs through Aug. 5, said that a veterinarian was on the scene there each day.
Another bill, LD 653, which would have established changes to animal welfare laws, also did not get out out committee this session. Carpenter and Johansen also sponsored this legislation, which would have convened a working group of interested stakeholders to propose changes to the animal welfare laws and rules and submit a report to the Legislature’s agriculture committee.
“Ladies and gentlemen, you were not elected to reinvent the wheel,” said Margaret Spence of Fort Fairfield in testifying for the bill. “You were elected to do a job and in this case that job is clear. Find out why animal welfare is broken. Right now, animal welfare and all its employees are wasting our tax dollars by not doing their jobs. There has not been an annual report that can be found since 2014.”
Bisol told lawmakers, however, that the Maine Veterinary Medical Association did not support the bill.
“The MVMA recommends a vote of ought not to pass on the resolve to create a separate working group within the state to address animal welfare laws and rules, “she said. “This group already exists within the state as the Animal Welfare Advisory Council. We are unclear as to where the benefit would be of creating a separate group with similar intent. We feel there may be strong differing opinions behind the recommendation to create this group, and that in having two groups we may create more debate than actual change and improvement in animal welfare.”
Liam Hughes, director of the state’s Animal Welfare Program, had the same suggestion. He said he also thought that bill was “redundant” because there already is “a group of stakeholders that meets regularly to discuss the animal welfare laws and offer advice to the commissioner on the laws and rules for Animal Welfare.”
He added that the “Animal Welfare Act is a very complicated law that deals with some very passionate topics. Making any sort of changes or improvements is not something to be taken lightly and the members of AWAC volunteer their time to help make sure that the people and animals of the state of Maine are protected by smart sensible laws.”
The committee eventually issued a vote of ought not to pass, which Carpenter also said he was comfortable with, after further investigation revealed that the AWAC was adequately performing its duties.
