04/17/2025
Please grab a lil' bevvie, find your favorite part of the couch, and peruse some newly-proposed regulations, courtesy of PACFA, won't you?
The red, underlined text is proposed rule changes that are being discussed at a public, Zoom hearing on April 24th at 9am. If enacted, they should be implemented sometime in the third quarter this year.
Helpful context:
- Rabies vaccines cannot be given to dogs until they reach 12 weeks of age. Some vets won't do it until 16 weeks, but 12 weeks is the absolute minimum.
- Over 30,000 puppies are brought into the state of Colorado each year by various rescue organizations to be adopted into homes.
- Animals cannot be tested for rabies while alive.
- Most dogs are brought in from New Mexico and Texas; New Mexico had one dog rabies case in 2023, and otherwise had zero dog rabies cases back to 2019. Texas, which is admittedly more of a mess but also has significantly more land area and people, and therefore pets, had 4 dog rabies cases in 2023, an outbreak in one rural county in 2022 that amassed 17 dog rabies cases, then 5, 8, 6 cases in 2021, 2020, and 2019, respectively.
While we fully respect the need for our governing body and public health officials to protect the public, this rule, based on ONE dog rabies case in an organization that no longer operates, will directly result in the euthanasia of not less than 10,000, and more likely in the ballpark of 20,000 puppies who simply cannot cross into the state of Colorado because they're not old enough for a rabies vaccine.
Join the meeting if you can.
Email people if you can.
Help the puppies, if you can.
Link to the full PACFA regulations document containing the proposed rule changes: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-IrhZiK5OTEGLASjF9i6haVhTUd782Tj/view?fbclid=IwY2xjawJtJnFleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHncO7ok7n60lmhHs6iOR76_-BJJogMk96iD5JsNuUXpKh-rMvxmd2x5uOQfX_aem_bWj_dTeei2KzbAn0Jt0Kqw
Link to the Zoom meeting info: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1q1NzeMe_MJcyExZpOTHqn3bX9ebx-eDcfPFwpOX4sNw/edit?fbclid=IwY2xjawJtJvNleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHkzWTHEUjLWv_4RToU4CCAbcITbLjSfPbVvBBw3gahH_8HpVj1hB5OQnQHJK_aem_8_WMwi2rR529VhDNh95xPQ&tab=t.0 =h.lrr4u7knm7is