i hope Los Angeles law spills over to the rest of the country.
____________________________________________________________
Mike,
After hearing from a resident, I went last night to the carnival to see for myself and it was worse than I imagined.
The rabbits were in a small cage, while others were huddled in corners inside a pen. People were being handed a rabbit for a prize with no food, no instructions, no real care for the animal. Just gave it away.
It was a sickening sight. I spoke to my husband, State Representative John Kavanagh, and asked him if there was any state law against this. Of course he, too, was utterly appalled and surprised that this even happened, but said that there is no state law.
Well, there will be if my husband has anything to say about it. He will be introducing a bill in the next session banning the act of giving a live animal away as a prize for a game of chance. He’s going to try to put it through as an emergency measure, if he can get enough support, so that it will become law immediately and not have to wait until after the session ends.
This morning I telephoned our local animal control for Maricopa County. Unfortunately, without a law there was nothing they could do. I then telephoned Sheriff Arpaio, knowing how much he cares for animals. I wanted to make him aware of what was going on and ask for his support for the bill to ban this disgusting practice.
Of course he will support it.
Please also be aware that this is a private enterprise on private land partly sponsored by the Community Theater, which is also private, not a part of our town government. This event had absolutely nothing to do with the town government. The only thing the town is allowed to do is an inspection for the electrical and the fire department does a fire code inspection. We had no idea that this was going on.
I will continue to pursue this on the local and state level so that this can never happen again in any part of Arizona.
Thank you for the history on this company.
Best regards,
Linda
Linda Kavanagh
Mayor, Town of Fountain Hills
From: Frank Ferrara [mailto:xxxxx@fountainhillschamber.com]
Sent: Monday, November 05, 2012 10:08 AM
To: ‘Longhairmike’; xxxxx@fountainhillschamber.com; xxxx@mcso.maricopa.gov
Cc: Linda M Kavanagh; ‘Shawn White’
Subject: RE: Frazier shows giving away LIVE ANIMALS as prizes at fountain hills fest
The Carnival that was held in Fountain Hills this past weekend was NOT sponsored by The Chamber of Commerce NOR DO WE CONDONE SUCH PRACTICE. Since this is a Town matter, I am forwarding your message to our Mayor to alert our Town Leadership of this situation.
Thank You
FSF
I wanted to officially inform you that it has been reported that Frazier shows is giving away live baby bunnies again as carnival prizes at your fountain hills festival this weekend.
they have already done this twice this year at festivals in Anthem. We recommend you put a boot down on them immediately.
this email is also going to Maricopa county sheriff’s office, where sheriff Arpaio takes an extremely tough stand on animal cruelty and neglect.
STUFFED animals are one thing, but a baby bunny is a live 10-year commitment.