Thursday, August 11, 2005

Proposed legislation to spay/neuter "vicious" breeds

From the Pasadena Star News, a measure allowing localities to require spaying and neutering of certain breeds of dogs is gaining steam. Here's the text of the bill. Many think that breed bans, so called "canine profiling," are ineffective in stopping or reducing animal bites. One good feature of the proposed law is that jurisdictions who do regulate by breed must submit reports to the state on dog bites, which could be used to measure the effectiveness of the measure.

Dawnwatch also has a persuasive argument that this sort of law advances the interests of animals more than Denver's outright ban of pitballs:
As California kills hundreds of thousand of dogs every year in shelters, most true animal advocates would be thrilled to see compulsory spay/neuter of all breeds as long as there are any dogs dying for lack of homes. Why not start with those breeds deemed dangerous, that tend to attract those who enjoy organizing dog fights for sport? I write that as the adoptive mother of a sweet little red-nose pitbull, who is, of course, spayed. But thousands of her relatives die every year in California shelters and countless others die in organized dog fights. A ban on breeding them would be wonderful. And it is no doubt the compromise needed that will prevent a misguided over-reaching law like that in Denver, which takes loving dogs out of loving homes.

1 comment:

Val Morse said...

I think all those people who oppose this law should take a turn at their local animal shelter. Their job can be killing all the unwanted pets. They should have to look each animal in the eye before they kill them. I wish our state would be as aggressive as California. I've found that only the truely responsible pet owners do not have to be force to spay/neuter their pets. At our animal shelter it's almost impossible to find a dog that's not some pitbull mix or other large breed.