Mascot Dogs for Proposed Tax Credit Find New Home

As a state representative tries to bolster support for a bill proposal that would give tax credits to people who adopt pets from animal shelters, he’s looking for new pet mascots after a family adopted the original ones.

The legislation (H.B. 1765), by Rep., D-Cecil, would provide a $300 tax credit for people who adopt dogs or cats from rescue shelters. White had used two springer spaniels rescued by Pet Search, a Washington County animal rescue group, as mascots for the bill before Finleyville resident Randy Lowe and his family adopted the two.

Lowe—who along with his wife Cherie and son Willie adopted the dogs, Dakota and Montana, two months ago—said he only recently became aware they had served as mascots for the bill. The family was looking for a new pet after a previous dog died, he said, and the two spaniels were a perfect fit.

“We’d rather get them from a shelter or humane society,” Lowe said, adding that he views breeders as too concerned with profit making.

Though he had no political agenda in adopting the dogs, Lowe said, he supports the tax credit. Shelters are expensive to run, he added, and the tax credit would encourage people to adopt, reducing crowding at shelters and enabling them to help more animals.

“It’s good to get some of these dogs out of these places,” he said. “It’s better for the dogs.”

Lowe first saw the dogs at Pet Search shows in and Canonsburg, he said. While the two come from different litters, you wouldn’t know it.

“They’d been together since they were 6 months old,” he said. “They’re inseparable. You can’t walk one without the other.”

Public support for the bill has been strong since its introduction, according to White.

“I think the challenge now it educating other legislators as to why it is needed,” White said.

The legislation is moving slowly through the house, he said, and members are considering whether and how to put a cap on the total amount of tax credits the state could give out. That doesn’t mean representatives are leery about the measure, he added, but any open-ended tax credit demands cautious consideration.

As the bill is written now, a person or family would be eligible for a $300 tax credit through 2013 for each year in which they adopt pets—regardless of how many. A person wouldn’t be able to “adopt a thousand cats and leave them for dead” while amassing tax credits, White emphasized, addressing concerns he’s heard from constituents.

The credit would help offset the cost of caring for pets, White said, while also reducing the strain on shelters who have experienced a decline in donations and volunteers because of the economic recession.

White described the bill as the first of its kind in the nation and said it has received support from the Humane Society of the United States, as well as local groups such as Pet Search.

He plans to hold public hearings early next year to spread awareness of the bill and the predicament facing animal shelters.

In the meantime, he’s looking for charismatic pets to replace the former mascots, who served in that capacity for less than a month.

“If nothing else, we’ll get pets adopted quickly,” he said.