When Ethan Branscum was 6 years old, he saw on the news that Ohio had just declared rescue animals to be the official state pet.
Even at that young age, he and his mom, Miche, regularly went to visit his local shelter, the Franklin County Humane Society, to take photos of adoptable animals and post them online.
In Ohio, advocates hoped that having shelter pets honored in that way would drum up adoptions.
“I figured that that might be a good way to try and get these animals adopted” in Kentucky, said Branscum, now 13. His dogs, Hank and Dixie, are former shelter pets. While advocating at the Capitol, the teenager is also busy looking out for animals around Frankfort, in particular making sure that unhoused people have food for their pets.
In 2019 he wrote a letter to a former lawmaker, Rep. Joe Graviss, who at that time was representing parts of Frankfort.
“Honestly, we weren’t expecting to get a reply back or for it to get introduced, but he actually loved the idea,” Branscum said. In 2020, right before Kentucky got its first COVID-19 cases, House Bill 27 made it through the House floor 90-2 but failed to be heard in the Senate.
Under that bill, all domestic cats and dogs “that reside in or have been adopted from Kentucky animal shelters or rescue organizations are named and designated as the official pets of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.”
Since then, lawmakers from both parties have filed the bill but it has stalled. COVID-19 derailed the legislation in some ways: “I just haven’t really been able to gain the traction,” Branscum said.
He and his mom are hopeful this year will finally be the year Kentucky honors rescue pets — his bill has been tacked onto another piece of dog-related legislation that is almost law.
Kentucky’s official dog breed?
For the past two years, Rep. Erika Hancock, D-Frankfort, has filed Branscum’s bill. Her House Bill 193 from this year never got a committee hearing, but she has filed it as an amendment to another bill that is closer to the legislative finish line, which would designate Kentucky’s official dog breed as the treeing Walker coonhound.
That bill, Senate Bill 37, unanimously passed the House agriculture committee Wednesday and needs a vote on the full House floor. In February it unanimously passed the Senate. Hancock filed the state pet language as an amendment to that bill, which will still need to be voted on.
The American Kennel Club says the treeing Walker coonhound is “as Southern as biscuits and gravy, magnolia trees and William Faulkner.”
Sponsor Sen. Robin L. Webb, R-Grayson, said during the Wednesday committee that this is the only breed Kentucky can claim to have originated that is registered with the United Kennel Club and American Kennel Club.
Webb said the bill is “timely” ahead of Kentucky’s 234th birthday on June 1 and told committee members Wednesday that “there’s just nothing more Kentucky than this.”
Hancock said there’s been no pushback on the bill that she filed this year and last — other issues just had to take precedence over it.
She hopes the House floor will vote on Webb’s bill — and her amendment — before the veto period on April 2.
“I think that there are definitely more high priority bills with affordability issues and housing issues and things that are really … kind of heavy topics,” Hancock said. “But every now and then, when we get to pass a bill like this, it’s a reminder that sometimes we need to take pause and find even the smallest thing that we can agree on, even if it’s something as small as …. a state symbol. But, you know, our state symbols bring us together.”
Her amendment would “name and designate as the official pets of Kentucky domestic cats and dogs, both purebred and mixed breeds alike, that reside in or have been adopted from Kentucky animal shelters or rescue organizations.”
Keeping pets fed
As Branscum works to honor shelter pets at the state level, he keeps busy, spending what his mom estimates is 15 hours a week to help animals around Frankfort. This is even as Hank, his bull terrier who is now around 8 years old, has terminal cancer.
Through Ethan’s Rescue Pet Project he promotes adoptable animals online and is hoping to form a nonprofit to expand his work.
He has an Amazon wish list where people can donate pet supplies and basic necessities for the humans who love them. He drops off the items he collects at various drop boxes around town, including one at his church, the Church of the Ascension-Episcopal.
He is especially passionate about getting supplies to unhoused populations around Frankfort. Branscum asks people to donate small items for easier distribution.
“We prefer the small bags, just because … if they’re large, we have to break them down, because most of the people that we are serving are unhoused,” he said. “And you can imagine how hard it would be to get from wherever you were camped out at … how hard it would be to carry around a 20-pound bag of dog food.”
‘A joy to watch’
Branscum will keep working to elevate shelter animals as Kentucky’s state pets — and he’s realistic about the slow nature of making law.
“It’s politics. It can be extremely hard to get things passed,” he said. “My hat goes off to anybody who’s actually trying to get anything with actual legal implications other than just another line of code on the Kentucky website.”
Hancock said it’s been “a joy to watch” Branscum’s advocacy and “I’m really proud of the work that Ethan’s done.”
If her amendment makes it into law this year, she said: “It’s not my bill. It’s Ethan’s.”
