I was raised on a ranch in Tucson, Arizona, graduated from the Tucson High and the University of Arizona, and practiced medicine for 41 years. I support this initiative and ask everyone to vote YES

Feeding raw meat to dogs from diseased animals or from animals dead from unknown causes is certainly bad for the dogs’ health. Even more important to me as a doctor is the serious risk to human health this presents. E.coli, salmonella, shigella and other bacteria can cause very serious gastrointestinal disease in people, and can lead to death in young children, the elderly and people whose immune systems are weakened by chemotherapy or disease. Bacteria can be passed to humans who handle diseased raw meat or the dog waste in which bacteria thrive. People can become sick even if a dog shows no signs of illness, because dogs and people can be disease carriers without getting sick themselves.

I also believe the way we treat animals tells us what type of people we are. Giving young females dogs anabolic steroids is completely unnecessary and can cause health problems for them later in their lives. Because all veterinarians take an oath to relieve animal suffering, giving steroids to keep females from coming into heat is wrong, since it can and does lead to unnecessary suffering.

On our ranch we had dogs, cats, horses, chickens, rabbits, and cattle. I have always had dogs as part of my family, and I cannot imagine keeping any dog, including working dogs, in cages or crates for 23 hours a day for years.

Vote YES would put an end to these inhumane practices.