Bill to create study committee on private animal boarding facilities draws testimony from vets, owners and advocates

Senate Bill 50, introduced on behalf of Sen. Ruth Ward, would establish a committee to study regulation of private animal boarding facilities. Grant Bossi, deputy chief of staff with the New Hampshire Senate, told the House Environment & Agriculture Committee the bill grew from a constituent complaint in which a dog left with a boarding facility went missing and was never recovered.

Patricia (Trish) Morris, an attorney who practices animal law and chairs the governor's commission on humane treatment of animals, testified in support and described the bill as a fact‑finding mission: "what we're really looking at is to determine if we need to regulate these private animal facilities and if we do, at what level and by whom," she said. Morris provided statistics during testimony: she…