Current News - Washington Federation

Feb 09 2018

Colleagues – Thank you for your support of SB 6196, designed to expand the limited veterinary services that shelters and animal control agencies can offer to low-income clients.

Senator Cleveland and the five co-sponsors of the bill who serve on the Senate Health and Long-Term Care Committee had alerted us the bill might not move forward due to the session’s impending cut-off dates. Yet we are very pleased to report that yesterday’s hearing was a very positive start to what we know will be a multi-month process to change the existing law. Representatives from Kitsap Humane Society, Tacoma/Pierce County Humane Society, Humane Society of Southwest Washington (HSSWWA), Idaho Humane Society, PAWS and the Federation presented compelling testimony that was complemented by written testimony sent in by nine or more Federation member agencies. (The Federation written testimony is attached for your reference.)

The team of Stacey Graham and Lisa Feder of HS SW WA must be complimented for the groundwork they’ve already done, and for working with Senator Cleveland to be an amazing champion for this bill. Thank you Stacey, Lisa and the Humane Society of Southwest Washington!

In the upcoming months, Stacey and Lisa will be working closely with the Federation to engage the animal welfare community, pet guardians and veterinarians to better understand why the current law needs to change. We’ve already spoken with the Veterinary Board of Governors/Department of Health and the Washington State Veterinary Medical Association, and will be meeting with them again to address concerns and refine the bill’s current language so we are well positioned to gain support and ideally its passage in the 2019 legislative session.

We’ll be asking for your input, your support and ideas, so please watch for upcoming communication on this effort that will dramatically improve our ability to save more lives and keep pets and their families together.

Best regards,

Kay Joubert, CAWA

Director Companion Animal Services

kjoubert@paws.org

Jan 28 2018

DO YOU WANT TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THE LIVES OF ANIMALS IN WASHINGTON STATE?

JOIN US! WASHINGTON STATE HUMANE LOBBY DAY

Join fellow animal welfare advocates from around the State in Olympia this February to learn about issues affecting animals in our State.

Learn about the legislative process and how you can effectively communicate with elected officials to best advocate for laws that benefit animals.

Meet representatives from the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and the Washington Federation of Animal Care & Control Agencies (The Federation) and learn how to get more involved in animal advocacy on a local and State level.

DATE: TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 6^TH

TIME: 10AM – 2PM

LOCATION: OB2 AUDITORIUM 1115 WASHINGTON STREET S.E. OLYMPIA, WA (just to the south of the Capital Building) visit http://leg.wa.gov/LIC/Documents/Maps/Capitol_Campus_Map.pdf

Check-In/Registration begins at 9am. Coffee and light refreshments available.

REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED. DON’T DELAY REGISTER TODAY! DEADLINE TO REGISTER IS FEB 2^nd.

Visit https://secure.humanesociety.org/site/Ticketing?view=Tickets&id=116857 to register. A $5 registration fee is requested. Contact HSUS Washington State director Dan Paul at dpaul@humanesociety.org for financial hardship registration waiver.

Can’t attend in person? No worries. Visit the Federation Facebook page for day of event live stream video and updates: www.facebook.com/WAFederation

Jan 24 2018

ACTION NEEDED: A hearing is scheduled on February 1^st at 10 a.m. for Senate Bill 6196, a bill that would give shelters and animal control agencies the ability to offer expanded veterinary care for low-income pet owners.

Washington’s current law is extremely restrictive, allowing non-profit animal shelters and animal control agencies to provide only spay/neuter, microchipping and vaccines for pets of low-income clients.

Senate Bill 6196 proposes to expand the law to allow these agencies to help low-income clients with additional veterinary care so they can care for and keep their beloved companions – instead of delaying care, surrendering them to a shelter to get care, or even making the heart-breaking decision of having them euthanized, often referred to as “economic euthanasia”.

Many of your agencies understand the challenges faced by individuals and families who love their pet, but lack the finances to address unexpected medical challenges or even routine medical care. The bill would give non-profits and animal control agencies, whose mission already involves keeping animals with their families, the opportunity to expand their medical services to address many of these scenarios.

The proposed law is not intended to undermine the relationships and client-base of veterinary practices, specialty clinics or emergency practices. Rather to create a needed safety net for animals who would otherwise go without the care or whose care would be delayed while the family worked to scrape together the resources or find a program that funds one-time needs.

We need your agency to take action by submitting testimony to the committee (see below for instructions). If you would like to testify in person or have a client that can come to Olympia to share their story, please let me know as we are gathering a list to ensure the committee hears from a variety of stakeholders.

Have clients you’ve helped with medical expenses? Or have volunteers or supporters who would like to weigh in, please encourage them to do so as they can easily submit a comment on the bill: https://app.leg.wa.gov/pbc/bill//6196

As an agency, you might want to send more detailed testimony and then email it to all of the committee members – see below.

We’ve also included some talking points developed by the Humane Society of Southwest Washington, who have been working with committee chair and bill sponsor, Senator Annette Cleveland, to bring this bill before the legislature.

Thank you for taking action prior to February 1^st to voice your support for expanding veterinary care options for pets of low-income clients across Washington State!

Senate Health & Long-Term Care Committee Members

Senator	District	Phone
Cleveland, Annette (D) Chair	49	(360) 786-7696
Kuderer, Patty (D) Vice Chair	48	(360) 786-7694
Rivers, Ann (R) Ranking Member	18	(360) 786-7634
Bailey, Barbara (R)	10	(360) 786-7618
Becker, Randi (R)	2	(360) 786-7602
Conway, Steve (D)	29	(360) 786-7656
Fain, Joe (R)	47	(360) 786-7692
Keiser, Karen (D)	33	(360) 786-7664
Mullet, Mark (D)	5	(360) 786-7608
Van De Wege, Kevin (D)	24	(360) 786-7646

Please feel free to share this message with other agencies, as well as veterinarians who you know to be open to the idea of non-profits / government animals shelter helping with additional veterinary care for qualified low-income clients. Key message points can be found here.

Jan 22 2018

*UPDATE FROM APSCA*

Dear Partner Shelters,

Our ASPCA Relo team did some investigating on how to comply with last week’s memo from the Washington State Vet Office regarding their updated health certificate requirements surrounding small animal interstate TO Washington state. In that memo, the WA State Vet Office relayed that the downloadable APHIS Form 7001 will no longer be valid as an acceptable health cert for small animal transport.

Speaking at length with both the California and Washington State Veterinary Offices, the WA State Vet office has recognized how difficult it will be for transporting organizations & vets (especially in CA) to comply with their updated health certificate policy. They’ve recognized that, currently, there isn’t a viable alternative for small animal vets in CA to create electronic health certs for small animal transport. The WA State Vet Office has reassured us that they are looking into a solution that will eventually allow small animal transporters & vets to comply with their updated health cert policy. Until the WA State Vet Office makes an announcement regarding feasible alternatives, they’ve reassured us that the downloadable APHIS Form 7001 is still OKAY to use.

Summary: For the time being, CA vets and transporting organizations are okay to send small animal transports using the downloadable APHIS 7001 Form until we hear of any updates from the WA State Vet Office.

For direct information, here is contact information for the WA State Vet Office:
(360) 902-1881; bjoseph@agr.wa.gov (Dr Brian Joseph, State Vet)
(360) 902-1889; jjones@agr.wa.gov (Jodi Jones, Division Coordinator)

Please read on if you want the additional details on this situation.

There isn’t a feasible option for alternative health certs for CA vets right now because:

The free mCVI is not available for CA vets yet.
The free WA eCVI (as well as any paper copies of this form) is only for use by WA vets.
The free APHIS platform, VSPS, currently does not have “small animal” option, so it cannot be used at this time.
Large animal (livestock) paper health certs that the CA state vet office issues and distributes for free is a viable alternative (under species to be transported, you would select “other” and write in “canine” or “feline); however these large animal health certs can only be ordered by a USDA accredited category 2 vet (large animal accredited). Most of our shelter partners do not have a USDA accredited category 2 vet, so this is not a feasible alternative for most of us either.

Please let me know if I can help you with any additional questions. We will be sure to update you of any additional information we learn.

Chumkee Aziz, DVM
Senior Director, Shelter Medicine
Shelter Outreach

Original Post:
Dear Partner Shelters,

In an effort to remain compliant with individual state requirements for small animal interstate transport, we are alerting out shelter partners about an updated requirement when participating in interstate transport TO the state of Washington.

The State Veterinary Office of Washington recently announced that they will no longer accept the downloadable APHIS Form 7001 as a valid health certificate for interstate transport of small animals. Please see memo: https://agr.wa.gov/FoodAnimal/AnimalHealth/Docs/MemoToAllStatesNoLongerApproving7001.pdf

Hard copy APHIS 7001 forms can still be used but are not easily accessible. The WA State Vet Office is instead recommending the use of electronic forms that will generate unique certificate identifiers when created and will continue to require a USDA accredited veterinarian’s signature and ID #. Here is information about acceptable alternatives forms: https://agr.wa.gov/FoodAnimal/AnimalHealth/Docs/MemoToWAAccreditedVetsNoLongerApproving7001.pdf and here is detailed information on these acceptable alternatives: https://agr.wa.gov/FoodAnimal/AnimalID/ElectronicCertificates.aspx.

When speaking with the WA State Vet Office, they relayed they will give transporters a window of time to become compliant with this policy change as they understand it will take time for organizations to adapt.

Thank you. Please feel free to write to me if you have any questions. Dr Aziz

Chumkee Aziz, DVM
Senior Director, Shelter Medicine
Shelter Outreach

Aug 13 2017

A big “Thank You” to all our presenters and members that made our 2017 Annual Member Meeting such a success! It was wonderful being able to share ideas and celebrate the accomplishments that have been made for animals in Washington State.

Weren’t able to attend? Check out our 2017 recordings at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiC88QT-GmUbneRqjTrrjhY78Z_y600o2.