The State of Rescue in Nebraska

The state of Nebraska recently passed Legislative Bill 910. This bill establishes a new licensing category for animal rescues operating in the state. This bill is intended to weed out rescues that operate with very bad conditions, and others that are animal hoarders calling themselves rescues. There is a mandatory $150 annual fee for licensing, a mountain of paperwork to fill out, and required inspection of the property. This applies to state run rescue organizations and national breed rescues that operate in the state of NE.

In the attempt to weed out some irreputable "rescues", the state may also run out some national rescue organizations that work tirelessly to promote breed rescues and save dogs. Pointer Rescue Organization is one such rescue entity. We have foster homes in many states across the US. If every state charged a licensing fee, such as NE, GA and MA do, many, many dogs would die in shelters because no one stepped up to save them.

Pointer Rescue is in the process of determining if they will pull out of state of NE, as it has ceased assisting dogs in GA and MA. As the only Pointer Rescue Organization volunteer in the state of NE it breaks my heart to know this may happen. Rescue organizations are run by volunteers who give their heart and soul to help just one more dog find it's forever home. How sad that in an effort to weed out the few bad "rescues" we also eliminate some of the good ones.