The Massachusetts bill, an Act Prohibiting Devocalization, H.344 is in the Third Reading committee. That's good, but it may be stuck there. We need your help now. 

If you live in their districts, contact MA state Speaker of the House Rep. Robert  A. Deleo (Winthrop, Revere) and Third Reading Chair Rep. Vincent A. Pedone (Worcester) and urge them to move H.B. 344 out of 3rd reading without amendments for a vote by the full House of Representatives. 

If you don't live in their districts, but know someone who does, send them this link and urge them to call or write.

Contact information:   

Speaker of the House Rep. Robert A. DeLeo, Robert.DeLeo@state.ma.us

Phone: 617-722-2500

Fax: 617-722-2008

and Rep. Vincent A. Pedone, Rep.VincentPedone@Hou.State.MA.US, Phone: 617-722-2410; Fax: 617-722-9268

Continue to contact your State (Beacon Hill) Rep. Tell him or her you keep writing or calling because banning devocalization is personally important to you. Continue to keep it brief and polite.

Why this bill must pass without amendment.

Those profiting from devocalization have hedged their bets. If they can't kill the bill outright, they hope to render it worthless with loopholes by adding language like the following:

1)  "Allowable as a last resort or for behavioral problems or if the owner has been charged wiht having a noisy animal" are all amendments that would make the law unenforceable.

• No vet can determine, and some won't try, whether a client pursued all humane options or provides proper care. (Bored, lonely or anxious dogs bark more--they may also bite!)  Also, allowing devocalization for any behavioral problem or if the owner has been charged with having a noisy animal, the bill would sanction exactly what it is trying to outlaw - inhumane convenience devocalization.  The bill would be unenforceable and pointless.
• This loophole is baseless too: Respected shelters testifed that devocalized animals are abandoned like any other. It does not save lives. There is no evidence that devocalization will prevent noisy animals from being surrendered or abandoned. In fact, we have found it's just the opposite. Nearly all the devocalized dogs we've found were adopted after their breeders, who ordered the surgery, dumped them.

  Devocalization can require multiple surgeries if tissue grows back. It also results in scar tissue and can mean health complications for the animal. Owners who do this to their animals are more likely to get rid of them if there are too many costly surgeries or health problems.

  Banning devocalization will save animals from being surrendered or abandoned.

  Surgical devocalizing or silencing does not address the problem causing the barking such as stress, fear, loneliness, frustration, illness, injury, poor socialization, lack of training, and instead is akin to cutting the vocal chords of a noisy child. Unable to bark to signal distress, for example, a dog may act out in other ways, including by biting, and as a result, end up in the pound.   

• Responsible selection, care, training and housing, not convenience surgery,  keep behavior from becoming a "nuisance."

2) An amendment that says devocalization is "permissible if performed by a licensed vet" would maintain the status quo, and animals would continue to suffer.

• It's vets who are devocalizing now! Yet animals are suffering.
• Devocalization poses serious, life-threatening risks regardless of who performs it--including the prominent Mass. Veterinary Medical Assn. member whose patient, a little Pomeranian, choked to death after she devocalized him.
• Angell Animal Medical Center endorses this bill with good reason
• More than 200 MA vets have taken an ethical stand despite MVMA's alignment with the breeding community against this humane bill. Make sure your vet is on board! For a veterinary endorser near you: CPRPets@aol.com

Watch the video below and hear Hear what animal experts say

This bill is endorsed by Angell Animal Medical Center, veterinarians statewide and the following Massachusetts humane organizations: 

New England Federation of Humane Societies
and
Baypath Humane Society
Berkshire Humane Society
Boston Dog Rescue
Buddy Dog Humane Society
Dakin Pioneer Valley Humane Society
Friends of the Plymouth Pound
Kitty Connection
Marblehead Animal Shelter
MassPAWS
MetroWest Humane Society
Merrimack River Feline Rescue Society
MSPCA
New England Society for Abandoned Animals
Northeast Animal Shelter
Poodle Rescue of New England
Save A Dog
South Shore Humane Society
Standish Humane Society
Sterling Animal Shelter
Underdog ResQ
          Worcester Animal Rescue League          

Go here for more information about devocalization and an Act Prohibiting Devocalization, H.344 and also read more below from CRPets !

Demi's breeder had her vocal cords cut to stifle her voice; some do this routinely. When a rescuer had her spayed, scar tissue made it difficult to keep her airway open. Devocalization will compromise Demi's health for life. Other dogs will die. You have the power to stop this cruelty.