Mandatory Spay/Neuter bill
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cg...8NOC0OD129.DTL
Mandatory spay/neuter bill upsets dog, cat breeders
(02-28) 19:18 PST Sacramento -- Breeders of domestic pets are howling mad over a bill that would require all dogs and cats in California to be spayed or neutered unless they are registered purebreds and have special, government-issued permits.
The main goal of AB1634 is to combat the overpopulation of stray pets -- a problem that forces cities like Los Angeles to spend millions of dollars to expand and build new animal shelters, said the bill's author, Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, D-Van Nuys. Shelters euthanize nearly half a million dogs and cats every year, he said.
"We simply have a huge problem in the state with pet overpopulation," Levine said. "I can't tell you how many people have complained to me about cats defecating in their yards, flowerbeds ... and in sandboxes where kids play. It's a huge public safety and public health issue."
The bill, which was introduced Friday and hasn't yet had its first committee hearing, already has picked up a co-sponsor in Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, a former speaker of the Assembly.
But dog and cat enthusiasts argue that the bill would force breeders to go underground and in the end wouldn't make a dent in the growing population of strays.
"It may be well intentioned, but it's poorly aimed," said Diane Jacobsen, 65, of Sebastopol, who has been breeding Rhodesian ridgebacks for 45 years.
If the bill becomes law, Jacobsen's dogs would qualify for an intact permit, which would exempt animals from spaying if they are purebred and registered with the American Kennel Club, the United Kennel Club, the American Dog Breeders Association or the International Cat Association.
The only other exceptions would be animals used for professional purposes, including guide dogs and the police canine unit.
The permit fee, which would apply to each pet, would be set by local animal control agencies. If similar actions taken by other local governments in the past are any indication, the fee could range from $100 to $150, Jacobsen said.
"I have 25 dogs. Do you know what that will cost me?" she said. "I don't have that many litters, but I have intact bitches because I want to retain my breed."
Pet owners who don't get permits and don't spay or neuter their dogs or cats by the time they are 4 months old would face costly fines under the proposed law. They would be issued a ticket that would give them 30 days to alter the animal without penalty or pay a $500 fine for the first month and $50 for each subsequent month. Animal control officers would be required to check any pets they came in contact with.
Money collected through fines and the new permit would be retained by local animal control agencies to help pay for subsidized spaying and neutering programs.
"It's going to just impact law-abiding folks," said Jacobsen, a member of the Bay Area Rhodesian Ridgeback Club.
Cynthia Kelly, 60, of Berkeley, also a member of the club, echoed her sentiments, adding that irresponsible "backyard breeders" who don't test their breeding stock for such things as genetic diseases will never fess up to animal control and will simply go underground.
"They won't get the permit, and they're going to have their litter of puppies anyway," said Kelly, who owns four Rhodesian ridgeback dogs and is an artist specializing in animal portraits.
Breeders already go out of their way not to contribute to the problem of stray animals clogging local shelters, she said.
Kathy Morlang, 52, of Sutter Creek in Amador County, said her network of Bengal cat breeders also follows strict guidelines, such as spaying or neutering any kittens that are sold, and thus doesn't contribute to the problem that Levine is spotlighting.
"It's simply not fair to the breeders who are filling the demand for healthy kittens," she said.
Yet another concern is the bill's requirement that the animals be fixed at such a young age, Kelly said.
"There's been studies done on spaying and neutering where they've seen higher cases of cancer and hip dysplasia," Kelly said. "We still support spaying and neutering for pets, but new findings have made us all look at that issue again."
Proponents of the bill argue the numbers are overwhelmingly in support of curtailing the number of dogs and cats that are being picked up by animal control officers every year.
In 2005, the latest year for which state data is available, 44 out of 61 local jurisdictions reported a total of 607, 164 cats and dogs entering animal shelters, according to the veterinary public health section of the California Department of Health Services. The data is incomplete because many local agencies do not report the figures despite a requirement to do so, said Judie Mancuso, campaign director for a coalition of bill supporters that includes animal control directors and some veterinary groups.
She believes the actual statewide number is more than 841,000 and thinks about half of those pets were euthanized.
The problem isn't as acute in San Francisco, where aggressive pet-owner education and low-cost spaying and neutering programs have reduced the number of strays entering the animal shelters, said Carl Friedman, director of San Francisco's Animal Care & Control department. More than 80 percent of the 9,000 cats and dogs the city took in during the last fiscal year were adopted or recovered by their owners.
Mancuso said the legislation would not lead to the end of mixed breeds because some pet owners always will neglect to have their pets spayed and neutered, and local animal control officers won't be going door to door enforcing the measure. She said animal shelters will always have strays available for adoption.
The bill is "not the end-all, be-all solution, but this gives animal control officers another tool," she said.
AB1634 is not groundbreaking legislation. Rhode Island has a similar law, and New Mexico is considering a similar bill. Some California cities have addressed the issue. San Francisco has a spaying and neutering requirement for pit bulls, the result of a mauling incident two years ago.
Mancuso said her group is working with Levine's staff to amend the bill to allow local ordinances that are stricter than the state legislation if it becomes law.
But the legislation is a "club approach" that will have unintended consequences, said Assemblyman Doug LaMalfa, R-Richvale (Butte County). He said it will have a tough time finding support among many Republicans.
"A lot of folks like to breed hunting dogs, for example, and they shouldn't have to go through a government bureaucracy just to have a few more Labradors," he said.
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I think that, at the point where the overpopulation problem is at right now, this is a good, and indeed a necessary thing. I think the responsible breeders won't have much gripe about jumping through this hoop, especially the ones who have worked in rescue and seen how many dogs and cats are euthanized each year.
