Boone County panel may not have power to change breeding kennel regulations - News - Rockford Register Star - Rockford, IL

 

By Ben Stanley
Rockford Register Star

Posted Aug. 7, 2015 at 12:00 PM
Updated Aug 7, 2015 at 9:05 PM

BELVIDERE — An ad hoc Boone County committee reviewing changes to its boarding and breeding kennels regulations has hit a snag. Turns out, the county may not have the authority to make changes.

"There’s a lot of things we can’t do, maybe even some of the things that we ordered in special-use permits before really shouldn’t have been," County Board member Denny Ellingson said. "So we’re trying to figure out something that the state can go along with and that we can enact."

The Boarding and Breeding Ordinance Advisory Committee formed to review ordinance changes after accusations of animal cruelty and abuse were leveled at a Caledonia dog breeder in 2014. Some questioned whether county regulations were strong enough to prevent future abuse.

For months, county leaders had considered amendments that would have, among other things, banned stackable dog cages and wire or mesh flooring in kennels. But no changes have been passed since the committee's seven members — a veterinarian, two animal-welfare advocates, two community residents, one breeder and one kennel operator — started meeting in January.

"It was designed to have input from people in the industry who have more knowledge about what local ordinances can be enacted to prevent any abuse to animals," Boone County Administrator Ken Terrinoni said. "But where we have to be careful as a county, if you read these opinions, is that this is really a state issue."

The committee found after reaching out to Assistant Boone County State's Attorney Tony Fioretti that outside of rabies control and overpopulation issues, county governments in Illinois, excluding Cook County, don't have much power to impose their own regulations.

In a memo sent to Terrinoni on April 16, Fioretti wrote that the Department of Agriculture is the "sole regulator" in Illinois and "occupies the field in terms of regulating breeding."

"While the county may still require, on a case-by-case basis, a special-use permit for breeders and kennel operators, the restrictions placed on those special uses have to be reasonable and defensible within the parameters of Illinois law and the Department of Agriculture's regulations," he wrote.

Ben Stanley: 815-987-1369

Boone County panel may not have power to change breeding kennel regulations - News - Rockford Register Star - Rockford, IL