Tails in the News
By Erin Auerbach
Los Angeles signs mandatory
It’s official. On Feb. 26, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, backed by Bob Barker, PETCO Foundation President Paul Jolly, and City Councilmen Richard Alarcón and Tony Cardenas, signed the Spay/Neuter Ordinance, mandating pet sterilization for most dogs and cats by the time they are 4 months old. The law goes into effect this month.
While the new law makes exemptions for professional breeders, show and service dogs, and canines used in law enforcement, the average person with a pet who violates the ordinance could face up to a $500 fine or 40 hours of community service.
“By requiring that all cats and dogs be spayed or neutered, we can help to humanely decrease the number of pets abandoned and euthanized each year,” says Villaraigosa. “This ordinance, which contains clear guidelines and enforceable penalties, creates a valuable tool to take this city another step closer toward eliminating the unnecessary euthanasia of animals.”
This may also help boost Assembly Bill (A.B.) 1634, the proposed state legislation to enforce sterilization, which lacked necessary support in the Senate when Assemblyman Lloyd Levine presented the bill last year.
“It’s the economically and morally responsible thing to do, and the timing on the ordinance worked out perfectly,” says Judie Mancuso, campaign director for A.B. 1634.
The revised version of the proposed state bill will be up for a vote this month. If it makes it through the first round, it will either go to an appropriations committee or the Senate floor.
While many humane organizations support the ordinance, Concerned Dog Owners of California (CDOC) and several other groups oppose it, deeming it ineffective and potentially dangerous to animals.
“Studies have shown that spaying and neutering animals at too young an age can actually be detrimental to their health and temperament,” says Cathie Turner, executive director of CDOC.
With spay and neutering costs too high for some people, CDOC argues the law could result in fewer people licensing their dogs and cats and getting them necessary rabies vaccinations, which is why it advocates education and raising funds to help low-income families afford proper vaccinations and sterilization services for their pets.
“We cannot compromise on mandatory spay and neuter because in every place it’s been implemented, licensing has gone down and euthanasia has gone up,” says Turner. “We have hired attorneys and anticipate challenging the law and look forward to putting in sensible programs to address the issue.”
California Assemblyman Pedro Nava (D-35th district) and the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) recently announced the introduction of Assembly Bill 2281, legislation that would make it a felony to be a spectator at dogfights. State law currently classifies this offense as a misdemeanor, making California the only western state where it is not a felony.
“My wife and I have three rescue animals at home,” Nava says. “After our dog died last year, I went to the Santa Barbara County Animal Shelter to get another pet and saw nothing but rows and rows of abandoned, aggressive Pit Bulls. It wasn’t the animals’ fault. It was people who made them that way.”
Nava, whose district covers parts of Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties, looked into the matter and found out that there were about 1,000 Pit Bulls in Ventura County shelters, 60 percent of whom had injuries connected with abuse and dogfights.
An estimated 40,000 people take part in organized dogfighting, resulting in the deaths of 250,000 dogs—mostly Pit Bulls— each year. Under current federal law, it is a felony to organize a dogfight or participate in interstate commerce or activities related to animal fighting, and most states punish spectators.
A former deputy district attorney, Nava explained that misdemeanor convictions carry only a maximum sentence of one year in a local jail, while felony convictions result in longer sentences in state prison. Those convicted of organizing dogfights in California face between 16 months and three years in prison.
Not only do those who attend dogfights fuel the “sport” by gambling on the fights and paying admission fees, but when law enforcement arrives to break up the event, organizers often try to blend in with spectators so they won’t face as harsh of a sentence. Changing the status of the law against spectators from a misdemeanor to a felony will eliminate this problem, Nava explains.
The proposed law will be up for its first committee vote in early April.
“I think that we’re going to have a lot of bipartisan support,” Nava says. “Dogfighting is a serious offence, and I don’t think anyone wants California to be seen as being in any way a hospitable location for this kind of crime.”
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) has filed lawsuits against the Animal Liberation Front, the Animal Liberation Brigade, the UCLA Primate Freedom Project, and five other animal-rights groups believed to be involved in recent acts of intimidation and violence against professors conducting animal research, including the firebombing of a researcher’s home in February, according to the Associated Press and campus news reports. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Gerald Rosenberg issued a restraining order against the animal-research foes in February, requiring them to stay away from UCLA animal researchers, remove their personal information from activism websites, and cease harassment and violent threats.
When Jennifer King went to the Inland Valley Humane Society in Pomona four years ago to get a license for her dog, she brought in towels and blankets in response to the shelter’s request for donations. She sensed the staff’s urgency to get the supplies to the animals and asked to walk through the kennel area.
“What I saw broke my heart, and I knew I had to do something,” King says. “I called my husband in tears and told him we needed to help as much as we could.”
Three years ago, she officially founded Blankets for Buddies, a nonprofit organization that collects new and used blankets and towels and delivers them to animal shelters in Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernadino, and Riverside Counties.
King has established relationships with 14 locations throughout Southern California, mostly at Petco and Centinela Feed & Pet Supply stores. Giant baskets are set up for people to make donations.
Volunteers check the baskets weekly and take their contents to nearby animal shelters. They send King the tax receipts so she can keep track of which shelters received donations and ensure that the blankets and towels have been delivered. King says the 16 Blankets for Buddies volunteers often help out at the shelters and periodically walk through the kennel areas to make sure that animals are getting the supplies.
So far, King, who has four dogs and is a volunteer at the Baldwin Park Animal Shelter, has funded this organization herself, but her ultimate goal is to bring Blankets for Buddies to shelters across the country. Plans are in the works for an online fundraiser this summer and a live event in 2009.
To find out more about Blankets for Buddies, including donation drop-off locations, visit Blankets4Buddies.org.
When you see orange, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) wants you to think animal welfare. Through ASPCA Mission: Orange, the organization partners with several target communities across the country, providing them with educational and financial resources as well as training opportunities to increase adoption rates of animals, among other goals, as a way of attaining “humane-community” status.
The cities of Austin, TX; Gulfport-Biloxi, MS; Philadelphia, PA; Spokane, WA; and Tampa, FL make up the target communities for 2007. Through Mission: Orange, the organization has made a three-year commitment to each of these communities to enable them to have raised shelter adoption rates 10 percent by the end of 2007 and to achieve a 75-percent save rate for shelter animals by 2010. ASPCA is engaged in an ongoing pursuit to incorporate other communities throughout the country into this initiative––eventually empowering them to actively promote and establish high levels of animal welfare. —Melissa Wiley
Los Angeles signs mandatory
spay/neuter law
It’s official. On Feb. 26, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, backed by Bob Barker, PETCO Foundation President Paul Jolly, and City Councilmen Richard Alarcón and Tony Cardenas, signed the Spay/Neuter Ordinance, mandating pet sterilization for most dogs and cats by the time they are 4 months old. The law goes into effect this month.
While the new law makes exemptions for professional breeders, show and service dogs, and canines used in law enforcement, the average person with a pet who violates the ordinance could face up to a $500 fine or 40 hours of community service.
“By requiring that all cats and dogs be spayed or neutered, we can help to humanely decrease the number of pets abandoned and euthanized each year,” says Villaraigosa. “This ordinance, which contains clear guidelines and enforceable penalties, creates a valuable tool to take this city another step closer toward eliminating the unnecessary euthanasia of animals.”
This may also help boost Assembly Bill (A.B.) 1634, the proposed state legislation to enforce sterilization, which lacked necessary support in the Senate when Assemblyman Lloyd Levine presented the bill last year.
“It’s the economically and morally responsible thing to do, and the timing on the ordinance worked out perfectly,” says Judie Mancuso, campaign director for A.B. 1634.
The revised version of the proposed state bill will be up for a vote this month. If it makes it through the first round, it will either go to an appropriations committee or the Senate floor.
While many humane organizations support the ordinance, Concerned Dog Owners of California (CDOC) and several other groups oppose it, deeming it ineffective and potentially dangerous to animals.
“Studies have shown that spaying and neutering animals at too young an age can actually be detrimental to their health and temperament,” says Cathie Turner, executive director of CDOC.
With spay and neutering costs too high for some people, CDOC argues the law could result in fewer people licensing their dogs and cats and getting them necessary rabies vaccinations, which is why it advocates education and raising funds to help low-income families afford proper vaccinations and sterilization services for their pets.
“We cannot compromise on mandatory spay and neuter because in every place it’s been implemented, licensing has gone down and euthanasia has gone up,” says Turner. “We have hired attorneys and anticipate challenging the law and look forward to putting in sensible programs to address the issue.”
Assemblyman proposes law to make dogfight spectatorship a felony
California Assemblyman Pedro Nava (D-35th district) and the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) recently announced the introduction of Assembly Bill 2281, legislation that would make it a felony to be a spectator at dogfights. State law currently classifies this offense as a misdemeanor, making California the only western state where it is not a felony.
“My wife and I have three rescue animals at home,” Nava says. “After our dog died last year, I went to the Santa Barbara County Animal Shelter to get another pet and saw nothing but rows and rows of abandoned, aggressive Pit Bulls. It wasn’t the animals’ fault. It was people who made them that way.”
Nava, whose district covers parts of Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties, looked into the matter and found out that there were about 1,000 Pit Bulls in Ventura County shelters, 60 percent of whom had injuries connected with abuse and dogfights.
An estimated 40,000 people take part in organized dogfighting, resulting in the deaths of 250,000 dogs—mostly Pit Bulls— each year. Under current federal law, it is a felony to organize a dogfight or participate in interstate commerce or activities related to animal fighting, and most states punish spectators.
A former deputy district attorney, Nava explained that misdemeanor convictions carry only a maximum sentence of one year in a local jail, while felony convictions result in longer sentences in state prison. Those convicted of organizing dogfights in California face between 16 months and three years in prison.
Not only do those who attend dogfights fuel the “sport” by gambling on the fights and paying admission fees, but when law enforcement arrives to break up the event, organizers often try to blend in with spectators so they won’t face as harsh of a sentence. Changing the status of the law against spectators from a misdemeanor to a felony will eliminate this problem, Nava explains.
The proposed law will be up for its first committee vote in early April.
“I think that we’re going to have a lot of bipartisan support,” Nava says. “Dogfighting is a serious offence, and I don’t think anyone wants California to be seen as being in any way a hospitable location for this kind of crime.”
UCLA researchers sue and seek protection from animal-rights groups
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) has filed lawsuits against the Animal Liberation Front, the Animal Liberation Brigade, the UCLA Primate Freedom Project, and five other animal-rights groups believed to be involved in recent acts of intimidation and violence against professors conducting animal research, including the firebombing of a researcher’s home in February, according to the Associated Press and campus news reports. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Gerald Rosenberg issued a restraining order against the animal-research foes in February, requiring them to stay away from UCLA animal researchers, remove their personal information from activism websites, and cease harassment and violent threats.
Spotlight on: Blankets for Buddies
When Jennifer King went to the Inland Valley Humane Society in Pomona four years ago to get a license for her dog, she brought in towels and blankets in response to the shelter’s request for donations. She sensed the staff’s urgency to get the supplies to the animals and asked to walk through the kennel area.
“What I saw broke my heart, and I knew I had to do something,” King says. “I called my husband in tears and told him we needed to help as much as we could.”
Three years ago, she officially founded Blankets for Buddies, a nonprofit organization that collects new and used blankets and towels and delivers them to animal shelters in Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernadino, and Riverside Counties.
King has established relationships with 14 locations throughout Southern California, mostly at Petco and Centinela Feed & Pet Supply stores. Giant baskets are set up for people to make donations.
Volunteers check the baskets weekly and take their contents to nearby animal shelters. They send King the tax receipts so she can keep track of which shelters received donations and ensure that the blankets and towels have been delivered. King says the 16 Blankets for Buddies volunteers often help out at the shelters and periodically walk through the kennel areas to make sure that animals are getting the supplies.
So far, King, who has four dogs and is a volunteer at the Baldwin Park Animal Shelter, has funded this organization herself, but her ultimate goal is to bring Blankets for Buddies to shelters across the country. Plans are in the works for an online fundraiser this summer and a live event in 2009.
To find out more about Blankets for Buddies, including donation drop-off locations, visit Blankets4Buddies.org.
ASPCA initiative encourages target communities to “go orange”
When you see orange, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) wants you to think animal welfare. Through ASPCA Mission: Orange, the organization partners with several target communities across the country, providing them with educational and financial resources as well as training opportunities to increase adoption rates of animals, among other goals, as a way of attaining “humane-community” status.
The cities of Austin, TX; Gulfport-Biloxi, MS; Philadelphia, PA; Spokane, WA; and Tampa, FL make up the target communities for 2007. Through Mission: Orange, the organization has made a three-year commitment to each of these communities to enable them to have raised shelter adoption rates 10 percent by the end of 2007 and to achieve a 75-percent save rate for shelter animals by 2010. ASPCA is engaged in an ongoing pursuit to incorporate other communities throughout the country into this initiative––eventually empowering them to actively promote and establish high levels of animal welfare. —Melissa Wiley
