If you feel like you’re read about this issue before, you’re right, but please keep reading – we’ve got a simple, local request for animal lovers who want to do something to help pass laws that will benefit animals and their communities.
The animal control bill, Senate Bill 1033, would improve animal welfare and public safety. Key provisions include creating a statewide fund through a $3 dog license fee that would help pay for low-cost spay/neuter surgeries and vaccinations, as well as provide animal control officers with training. The bill would also improve the law that requires animals who are adopted from shelters and animal control facilities to be spayed or neutered. Communities would benefit from the section that improves the dangerous dog law (while preventing ineffective breed-specific ordinances) as well as through fewer costs incurred resulting from a reduction in the number of homeless animals. The bill would also prohibit certain inhumane methods of euthanasia for dogs and cats and provide other meaningful updates to the state’s antiquated animal control laws.
The good news is that S.1033 has been reported favorably out of the Municipalities and Regional Government Committee. This is a great step forward, but there is still a lot of work to be done. The bill is now in the Senate Committee on Ethics and Rules and needs to be released from the Committee before it gets a vote in the Massachusetts Senate.
The bill has a broad base of organizations and individuals supporting it, but we need your help to counter the opposition coming from the Massachusetts Town Clerks Association, relating to the $3 surcharge on dog licenses.
The town clerks association says that the surcharge would fund state programs, at the expense of municipalities. However, that’s not true – while the surcharge would be handled at a state level, the benefits would apply to all cities and towns. It would actually save them money by: reducing the number of animals (and associated costs) the town handles, reducing the number of dog bites (because in-tact animals bite more than neutered ones), and training municipal animal control officers so that they can perform their jobs more effectively and efficiently.
The town clerks association says that this would be a burden for town clerks, but the benefit to the municipalities would outweigh the effort, plus the clerks get to keep $0.50 for each $3 surcharge processed.
The town clerks association says that the surcharge will prevent people from licensing their dogs. This is unlikely; trained animal control officers will enforce licensing and people who understand how many animals can be helped for a mere $3 will readily comply. Furthermore, towns will retain their ability to set local dog license fees, which currently vary from town to town.
There is good reason to expect S.1033 to be successful: 34 states and Washington, DC have funds devoted to decreasing the number of homeless and stray animals; 8 of these –Vermont, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Illinois, Connecticut, New York, Rhode Island, and DC – have dog license surcharges that are deposited into a statewide fund for subsidized sterilization programs.
Not only has the euthanasia rate gone down in these states (since the inception of New Hampshire’s program, shelters and animal control officers in the state have experienced a 34% decrease in intake rates and a 75% decrease in euthanasia – that means 8,000 fewer animals have been euthanized every year), but Massachusetts could expect to save approximately $3 for every $1 spent on spay/neuter through this surcharge on dog licenses!
For more information on the bill, visit www.mspca.org/animalcontrolbill. If you have questions, email us at advocacy@mspca.org.
Then, find your town clerk’s contact information on your town’s website or online at: http://www.newenglandclerks.org, tell him/her that you would not mind paying an extra $3 to help animals, and ask him/her to support S.1033. If town clerks contact their association leadership about this important legislation, many Massachusetts animals – and people – will benefit.
Thank you.
Sen. Clark seeks to protect animals from abuse
