Who let the dogs out? Woof! Woof!

Those kindly looking animal lovers out there can really bare their fangs when they turn on each other -- bless their hearts. There's a lot of yelping, spitting and snarling going on right now about a piece of legislation called the Healthy Pets Act or AB1634, which aims to address the miserable state of pet control in California. The numbers around unwanted animals in this state will ruin your lunch.

In The Bee's Political Notebook Saturday, there's an item about the canine crowd attending a legislative hearing last week and at least 350 people crowded inside the hearing room and lined up outside as the Assembly Appropriations Committee voted on the issue. It passed 10-6.

Here's the editorial we wrote about it. And if you want to read more about the bizarre state of things here in the Valley, here's a story by Pablo Lopez in The Bee that gives you a first hand look at this situation. He focuses on one very effective officer who's trying to make a difference in Huron.

A whole lot of people are excited about stopping the need for staggering euthanasia, including virtually every humane society, animal rescue group, the Valley's own SPCA, the Cat House on the Kings, the HOPE Foundation, which sponsors a very effective spay and neutering clinic. I've never seen such a list of animal groups and I had no idea so many people could come together to support one idea. Take a look.

That's not to say everyone's delighted with it. Look at this list of opponents on the Web site. Not at all. You can see who's on this list -- mostly professionals who are breeders, showdog owners or who use animals in their work.

Think of Opinion Talk as one big dog park: Take off the leash and let your ideas run free.

Cue the theme song: "Who let the dogs out -- woof woof woof woof woof!"