Mark Peake, R-Lynchburg stated he guaranteed he would stand against the bill HB 1900 and protect hunting rights for VA citizens. This petition is to stand up against Virginia's HB 1900 and join forces as dog hunters. United, we protest the actions of HB 1900 and see the bill NOT pass. From July 2014 to June 2015, 5% of hunting complaints involved dogs (Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries).
The new York times: article written in 2014-
“Over all, there are more than 600 enclosures in almost 20 states. Nearly 60 percent are in Virginia, the Carolinas and Georgia. An effort to ban the practice in North Carolina, which has over 130 pens, failed in 2009. Florida prohibited them in 2010. The Virginia legislation was a compromise hammered out by lawmakers, pen operators, the state attorney general’s office and the Humane Society of the United States. It outlaws future fox or coyote enclosures, but grandfathered existing fox pens for the next four decades.”
Pre-filed 1/2017 for proposal:
D. Any person who violates subsection C is subject to a civil penalty of $100 per dog per occurrence. An occurrence shall be defined as a dog running at large on prohibited property during a 24-hour period. Such penalty shall be collected by any animal control officer, conservation police officer, or other law-enforcement officer by bringing an action in civil court. Any civil penalty assessed pursuant to this article shall be paid into the treasury of the city or county where such civil action is brought and used for the purpose of defraying the costs of local animal control.
For purposes of this subsection, there may be no more than one actionable occurrence per owner or custodian within any single 24-hour period, and no dog shall be restrained or otherwise detained by the landowner, lessee, or agent, except for the purpose of prompt identification.
After line 39, substitute insert (2. That the provisions of this act shall not apply to localities west of the Blue Ridge Mountains. )
