Cats and dogs can’t speak for themselves, but their allies have been making a lot of noise in the California Legislature recently.
Overcrowding and unsafe conditions in animal shelters are the subject of several Senate and Assembly bills aimed at improving conditions in California’s animal facilities and curbing stray cat and dog populations.
Proposed bills making their way through committees include promoting certification of more veterinary students, standardizing the data-reporting process at shelters, updating the state’s dog-breeding rules and making it easier to adopt puppies and kittens. Laws are included to make.
Overcrowded animal shelters are not a new problem for large counties across the state, but after the end of COVID-19 lockdowns, some people adopting animals suddenly found themselves having to turn their dogs and cats into an already taxed shelter system. Started handing over.
County and city agencies have pointed to a severe shortage of qualified staff to perform medical procedures as a cause of overcrowding in animal shelters in recent years.
The proposed legislation is a bill to establish high-volume spay and neuter certification programs for veterinary students at UC Davis and Western University College of Veterinary Medicine at Pomona.
senate bill 1233 Author Sen. Scott Wilk (R-Santa Clarita) wants to expand the number of professionals who can perform spay and neuter services and reduce the cost of the procedures, which can cost up to $550, according to the senator’s office.
“Overcrowding in California animal shelters, especially in the high desert, has been at crisis levels for a very long time. “Animals are being abused through no fault of their own and we have a responsibility to do something about it,” Wilk said in a statement.
If the measure is approved, the state Legislature would request the University of California’s governing body to establish the program.
The bill took another step toward becoming law on Monday when it passed the Senate Committee on Business, Professions and Economic Development.
Similarly, Sen. Janet Nguyen (R-Huntington Beach) introduced a pair of bills her office called “PAWs Positive Change 4 Pets” that seek to establish a standardized format for reporting data from the state’s 232 animal shelters and practice. Demands clarification. Catching stray cats, fixing them and releasing them back into the wild.
SB 1459 The two-pronged approach will offer a uniform solution to standardizing reporting practices at animal shelters and controlling cat populations. In counties with more than 400,000 residents, shelters will be required to provide regular updates on the intake of animals, the outcomes of those animals and the percentage of kennel spaces available, as well as the number of animals scheduled for euthanasia.
“Animals have no voice. So we are their voice,” Nguyen said in a statement.
This bill has been designed to improve shelter management. It would also remove some ambiguity in the state’s penal code on animal cruelty, which makes abandoning an animal a misdemeanor. State law does not mandate that some animal rescue organizations rescue stray cats and release them back into the wild, instead placing such animals in shelters or placing them for adoption.
Nguyen says this has hindered efforts by “trap-neuter-return” programs run by shelters to control stray cat populations. His office based part of the bill on the findings of a 2022-23 Grand Jury Report It found that Orange County Animal Services ended its own TNR program because officials believed the program was violating state law.
Another bill from Nguyen’s office, SB 1478The shelter system would require veterinary evaluation of animals upon entering them and establish rules to address medical conditions for shelter animals, such as the spread of infectious diseases in kennels.
Efforts to empty overcrowded shelters and curb stray animal populations are a statewide issue, but it is most evident in Los Angeles.
Nonprofit rescue groups that regularly interact with Los Angeles Animal Services say the city’s shelters are poorly managed and in crisis. The groups argue that dogs and cats in shelters are living in poor conditions despite the city’s best efforts to work with rescue and adoption groups.
City officials say they recognize overcrowding is an ongoing problem, but blame should not be placed on shelter management.
Council member Eunice Hernandez — chair of the Neighborhoods and Community Enrichment Committee, which oversees the city’s animal services — said the problem goes back decades.
“This department has been understaffed and underfunded for years,” Hernandez told The Times in March When animal rights activists called for changes in the management of the city’s shelter system.
The city’s six animal shelters do not have enough space to meet the need. data from City Controller’s Office Shows that more dogs and cats are coming into shelters than are being adopted.
The latest figures show the South Los Angeles animal shelter has about 500 dogs, but only enough kennels and cages for 243.
Several other bills are currently making their way through committees that seek to address animal-related oversight, including Assembly Bill 2425 from Assembly Member Bill Essaly (R-Riverside) that would repeal state laws on dog breeding. and includes AB 1988 from Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi (D). -Rolling Hills Estates) which will simplify adoption rules for puppies and kittens rescued by adoption organizations.
Times reporting partner Caroline Petro-Cohen contributed to this report.
