Bill will make it harder for pet owners to access veterinary care
Last month, amid ongoing efforts to expand access to veterinary telemedicine in a number of states across the country, Colorado took a major step backward. As a Coloradan and pet owner, I was extremely disappointed when the state legislature passed Colorado House Bill 1048, which will make it even harder for Colorado pet owners to access the veterinary care their pets need.
HB 1048, which blocks Colorado-licensed veterinarians from practicing telemedicine or prescribing medication absent a recent, in-person exam, will hurt Colorado’s pets and pet owners, and it will disproportionately impact our state’s more vulnerable populations. Senior citizens, disabled pet owners and people living in remote areas often face additional barriers to transporting their pets to on-site appointments. Colorado has a “veterinary care accessibility score” of 58 with most of our rural and farmland ranking as “difficult to access” or “nearly inaccessible” for veterinary care.
HB 1048’s onerous and unnecessary in-person requirement only hurts these families more and makes pet ownership more inequitable.
I believe that all of Colorado’s pet owners deserve the ability to access care for their beloved companions. I hope our state lawmakers will reconsider their latest decision and act, instead, in the best interest of the people and animals in our state. I encourage my fellow Coloradans to heed this setback and support every effort to expand access to veterinary telemedicine moving forward.
Ashlee Andersen, Boulder
Protest Israeli government, but not Jews
Watching and reading about the demonstrations on college campuses in support of Palestine and against Israel reminds me of my college days in the late 1960s and early 1970s when I demonstrated against the Vietnam War. However, even though I was against the war I was not against the veterans who went to fight in Vietnam. Many were drafted and did not want to be there. I lost a high school best friend who was drafted and killed in action and had other friends who were also drafted and served. Some coming back with severe PTSD and some wounded.
My anger about the war was directed at Congress and the president who continued this needless war knowing full well what the consequences were.
But demonstrating against Jews and Jewish students is wrong. Many of them are also against the destruction of Palestine and loss of innocent lives but are horrified by what terrorist organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah have done to Israelites and how some college students appear to be supporting these organizations. Jewish students should not be afraid to attend classes. I am devastated by students threatening Jewish students, as I am by the loss of innocent Palestine women, children and men, and innocent Jews who were killed by the terrorist attack and taken hostage.
Threatening Jewish students is as flat-out wrong as what was done to Vietnam veterans coming back from their war. It is not their fault. Demonstrating students please wake up and do not succumb to these terrorist organizations. Students against Israel and Jews in this country don’t understand this is exactly what terrorists want to happen. Demonstrate against the government of Israel, particularly Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and ask for peace, but show love and peace to Jews, especially your fellow students. But, I repeat, do not support terrorist organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah.
Jeff Connor, Boulder
