Updating your animal control ordinance
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Out of the
Past
Updating your animal control
ordinance
By Cory A. Smith for Animal Sheltering Magazine
July/August 2012
How long has it been since your local animal
control ordinance was updated? Was Clinton
still president? Were people wearing skinny
jeans - for the first time around? Did the radio
station play a lot of Burt Bacharach – or
maybe Bing Crosby?
Just as times change, laws can and should
change along with them. When it comes to the
protection of citizens and animals in a
community, an up-to-date, effective animal
control ordinance is essential. It not only
outlines the basic expectations for those who
want the privilege of keeping companion
animals, it sets a tone for the community’s
attitude towards pets, their guardians, and
public safety. When it comes to the
A comprehensive and well-considered animal protection of citizens and
control ordinance can help ensure immediate animals in a community, an
as well as long term results – and as with
other local laws, animal control ordinances
up-to-date, effective animal
should be tracked and assessed over time as control ordinance is
pet ownership trends and other community
dynamics shift.
essential.
animalfarmfoundation.org
An27effective ordinance should:
Protect public safety through Deal with the protection as Be well-understood by the
mechanisms for preventing well as the control of animals, people enforcing it, so that
animal bites, vehicular supplementing the state animal problems can be addressed in a
accidents, and other dangers laws to establish proper proactive, productive manner.
caused by free roaming and standards for animal care in
improperly confined animals. your jurisdiction. Allow for strong intervention,
implementation, and
Protect public health through Treat dogs and cats as the enforcement procedures.
mechanisms designed to primary concern, but also
prevent the spread of zoonotic provide for the control and
diseases, especially rabies. protection of other species, like
small mammal pets, wildlife, and
Create means to ensure that captive exotics.
every pet is traceable to its
owner in order to foster pet Anticipate and provide
owner accountability and remedies for animal-related
increase the numbers of lost problems likely to occur within
pets reunited with their owners. the community.
Ask the right
Regulate the behaviors of Incentivize pet owners to
those selling, boarding, comply with the law (via
questions
displaying, or otherwise using licensing fees that recognize
animals. responsible behaviors, etc.), and When assessing whether your
penalize those who violate it. current animal control
ordinances need an update, it is
important to keep in mind how
laws are to be implemented,
enforced, tracked, and
measured to ensure efficacy –
and how all these elements will
be funded.
Some ordinances work better in
some communities than others,
and some laws sound better on
paper than they actually are in
terms of measurable impact on
pet populations and animal
management.
There is no cookie-cutter
approach to creating an effective
animal control ordinance. When
considering new ordinances, it’s
really important to think them
through carefully from start to
finish.
By Cory A. Smith for Animal Sheltering Magazine July/August 2012 animalfarmfoundation.org.
27
Ask questions like:
How will this make our
community better?
Will this help our agency to
work smarter, not harder?
Will this have a backlash effect
that we haven’t thought of yet?
If so, is it one we can avoid by
promoting and explaining the
reasons for the ordinance in
advance of its passage?
How will this affect our staff
budget and time?
Outside of our agency, who else
will this impact, and do we have
their buy-in?
Do we have partnerships with
other groups who might have
Consider the practical governments can take
valuable input on these laws?
implementation of a new law, incremental steps towards a
whether there are adequate comprehensive, progressive set
Will we be able to enforce this
resources in place to support the of laws, building an atmosphere
fairly and consistently?
measure, and what real change that supports the joys of pet
may come as a result. companion- ship while
Does the animal cruelty statute
protecting the public and animal
in place for our community
Animal control agencies should health and safety across the
provide adequate protections,
adopt a tiered approach to the board.
or do we want to enhance
laws that govern their
elements within our local animal
community’s relationship with
control ordinance?
animals. Starting with the most A tool for
Are there barriers to
basic laws, such as leash laws prevention
and proper confinement laws, is
compliance that we have not
the first step in building a strong An animal control ordinance
considered?
foundation. provides requirements and
regulations for the community.
Are there laws already in place
Once these basic functions of But at its best, it also empowers
that cover the same territory
animal control are in place and agencies by allowing for new
that could be enforced better or
the community has accepted approaches to animal
differently with the same
them as the standard, local management based on
effects?
prevention tactics.
By Cory A. Smith for Animal Sheltering Magazine July/August 2012 animalfarmfoundation.org.
Where 27previous legal Proper identification is
prohibitions may be in the way increasingly seen as another
of progressive programs, fundamental element of animal Considering cats
ordinance amendments can be control regulations.
made to provide animal control Restraint laws have traditionally
agencies with the green light to Owned animals should be been designed for dogs, and
embark on new initiatives such required to wear a collar and ID came about largely as a public
as legal trap-neuter-return tag, license tag, or have a safety measure. But some
programs for community feral microchip (ideally an animal jurisdictions have passed
cats, the promotion of should have both, sporting restraint requirements for cats –
spay/neuter and humane visible ID that can be read by with mixed results.
wildlife services, and the both officers and citizens who
education and training of animal happen upon her and a Given that many owners still
care and control officers. microchip that can be scanned allow their cats to roam
by animal control and shelter outdoors, some cat restraint
Preventing owned dogs and cats staff). laws can result in an increase of
from roaming freely is one of cat intake to the shelter,
the primary elements of basic This helps animal control officers resulting in increases in
animal control management in determine stray and lost euthanasia. And, if poorly
any community. Free-roaming animals’ origins in order to worded, some cat laws can
animals pose a risk to public return them home, keeping actually prevent lifesaving
safety (dog bites, auto accidents, those animals from long shelter programs like trap-neuter-
etc.), to other animals, and to stays and often keeping them return.
themselves. from ever entering the shelter.
Restraint laws generally require
owners to safely confine pets on
their property and adequately
restrain them when off. Proper
restraint is usually described as
“secured by collar and/or leash,”
or “under reasonable control”
when not on the owners
property. Restraint/leash laws
exist primarily on the local level
– very few states have specific
leash requirements for pets – so
they are a fundamental part of a
good animal control ordinance.
Reminding owners that they are
responsible for any physical or
property damage their animal
may cause while unrestrained is
often enough incentive for most
people to keep their dogs under
control.
By Cory A. Smith for Animal Sheltering Magazine July/August 2012 animalfarmfoundation.org.
27
When considering how to
approach cat
management:
Cat overpopulation stands at
epidemic proportions today.
Shelters are taking in and
euthanizing more cats than dogs
– in most areas, the ration is 2:1
at least. Approximately 3 million
cats are euthanized in shelters
each year.
It is estimated that no more
than 2-5 percent of cats picked
up as strays and taken to a
shelter will be reunited with
their owners, compared to 15-30
percent of dogs. That equals
thousands of cats and even
more thousands of dollars for
local animal control annually,
and when you multiply it by the
number of animal control
agencies nationwide, the figures
Passing unrealistic passed ordinances requiring cat
become startling.
requirements for cat owners is a identification (collar and tag)
waste of time, and can have and/or microchipping or
Given those realities, it’s
tragic results in more cats being licensing for cats, leading to
worth considering whether
surrendered, abandoned, and higher than average return-to-
requirements that cats be
euthanized. Cat ordinances owner rates.
confined will keep them safer, or
should be designed to protect
result in a greater influx of cats
to local shelters. The answer
public safety, protect cats, and Licensed to thrive
provide animal control agencies
may depend on your
with effective, proactive, Government-mandated dog
community.
productive tools to manage cat registration systems to provide
populations and keep cats in license tags to pet owners in
An estimated 50 million feral
their homes, while educating cat exchange for a fee – commonly
cats live in U.S. communities.
owners about the importance of called licensing – have had a
Any ordinances that apply to
spaying/neutering and keeping positive effect in the United
owned cats need to make
cats indoors. States. Communities with higher
specific exceptions for feral cats,
since there are no owners to licensing compliance rates
Most jurisdictions require cats report better numbers for
hold accountable. Ordinances
to be vaccinated against rabies returning animals to their
that enable nonlethal
since they rank in the top homes, saving shelters space,
management of feral cats
listings of vector species. Some time, money, and keeping pets
should be considered.
communities have successfully out of the shelter system.
By Cory A. Smith for Animal Sheltering Magazine July/August 2012 animalfarmfoundation.org.
27
These programs have been Some jurisdictions have begun understandings of the pet
most successful in communities to incorporate microchips into population.
that spread the message that their licensing programs as a
licensing is a pet protection requirement, and most One way to engage the
service rather than a jurisdictions scan incoming community in helping reduce
burdensome tax. Pet owners animals for microchips whether the need for sheltering services
are usually not opposed to they are a requirement or not. and the problem of euthanasia
shouldering some of the But collars and tags are still the is via differential licensing
financial responsibility for No. 1 means for a lost animal to programs, which require a
animal care and control be returned home, whether by a higher payment to license
programs when they value the neighbor, Good Samaritan, or unsterilized animals. This can
programs and services. animal control agency. serve as an incentive for pet
owners to have their animal
Higher pet registration fees, When efficiently run, licensing spayed or neutered, while
coupled with promotional programs can provide shifting more of the burden of
strategies and stricter community pet population animal control cost to pet
enforcement, almost always records, and when your owners who create the need for
results in greater revenues. government knows how many increased services.
Licensing fees will not usually pets are in your community, it
cover the full cost of an effective makes budgeting and setting Charging pet owners who allow
animal control program, but program goals much easier. their pets to contribute to the
they can be a key supplemental surplus of companion animals in
source of income. Your public education efforts, the community, directly
record keeping, and ability to impacting homelessness rates
Ordinances should specify the target problems in the and animal control costs, is a
requirement that dogs wear the community will be much more sensible tactic that educates the
license tag on their collars. effective with better pet-owning public, but allows
people to keep their pets intact if
they choose.
Estimates indicate that more
than 80 percent of counties and
cities in the United States have
differential licensing structure in
place. Some states require that
local governments impose at
least a minimal differential;
while others leave it up to the
jurisdiction.
Most licensing fees for altered
animals fall within the $5-15 per
year range and unaltered
animals fees in the $30-200 per
year range. In recent years the
trend has been towards
increasing the differentials.
By Cory A. Smith for Animal Sheltering Magazine July/August 2012 animalfarmfoundation.org.
27
The majority of dog or cat over the age of 3 residents throughout the
communities across the months without a valid year.
country require proof of rabies vaccination.
rabies vaccination before These services can be held in
issuing a license and Rabies control laws should conjunction with other
registration tags. Some also address quarantine community events and can
jurisdictions require that requirements in case of include other public
veterinarians report rabies animal-to-human bite education on animal care
vaccinations to the animal incidents, domestic animal- and management issues.
control agency, and to-animal bite incidents, or
incentivize veterinarians contact between domestic An animal control ordinance
for selling licenses from animals and wild animals. has the chance to set the
their practice, which has Rabies control should be tone for pet ownership
been shown to increase considered one of the within your community and
compliance rates. primary functions of an for the animal care and
animal control agency, so control agency itself.
Ordinance sections government should budget
pertaining to rabies should for and organize free or
make it unlawful for any reduced-cost rabies
person to own or harbor a vaccination clinics for
By Cory A. Smith for Animal Sheltering Magazine July/August 2012 animalfarmfoundation.org.
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