Spay/neuter now mandatory in Las Vegas
In a heroic effort to reduce pet overpopulation, Las Vegas city council members ruled that all pets over the age of four months must be sterilized, with exceptions for service and law enforcement dogs, animals with extenuating medical conditions, and show dogs registered under fanciers' permits.
Last year, 62 % of pets taken into shelters in Las Vegas were put to death--over 12,000 animals. The Humane Society of the United States says, "Many people believe that their pet's puppies or kittens would never become homeless shelter animals. But the reality is that every time the dog finds his way under the fence to visit the neighbor's female dog, or the indoor/outdoor cat comes back home pregnant again, the result is a litter of dogs or cats. Even if they are placed into homes, it is still possible for them to end up in shelters once they become "hard to handle," or for them to reproduce further and for the next generation of puppies or kittens to wind up homeless.
Many people are surprised to learn that nationwide more than 3 million cats and dogs are euthanized in shelters. Spay/neuter is the only permanent, 100-percent effective method of birth control for dogs and cats."
The Las Vegas spay/neuter ordinance was adopted in November, and goes into effect today. A similar mandate will go into effect in Clark County on May 1st.
posted by Jaime at
4:06 PM
2 Comments:
Good article; I didn't know that was happening! (Perhaps because I live in Ohio!)
How many people do you think will actually abide by this? (I ask bc people over here would roll their eyes and laugh at the law. Not even joking. I wouldn't... I like the whole premise of spay/neuter.)
But... also.. four months? I'm getting a new baby girl named Koda and though I plan never to breed her, I don't plan to spay until after about a year. (Breeder's contract, and want to show before I spay =] like a cheater!)
I hope it actually does cut down on unwanted puppies and on actual euthanasia in your area! ...and maybe then other places will follow the example, and less animals will have to die. =[
Do you guys, btw, have a breeder's law? Uhm. Hmm! Oh! Like where you have to be a "Registered Breeder with the State" ?
I wish we had that here. Spay/Neuter = awesome, but registration would also cut down on puppy mills and the like (or so I hope!)
What do you think?
Good points! It's true that there will likely be some people who will breed anyway, and the really unfortunate part of that is that they won't seek appropriate vet care, or even vaccinations, for their animals (because that would lead to a fine or other consequences, including eventual spay/neuter). In fact, opponents of the ordinance used the threat of a massive rabies (or other) epidemic to try to scare people into not passing it. I see their point, but personally I don't believe that the argument "but if we pass this law, some people will break it anyway!" is all that much of an argument.
In CA, we don't have laws against breeding, although in San Francisco there is some breed-specific legislation requiring pit bulls to be spayed/neutered.
Congrats on your new puppy! What kind of dog is she? I don't think anyone could argue that you're doing anything wrong by waiting to spay her (especially since it's because you want to show). Have you seen the article "Spay It Ain't So" in this month's Animal Sheltering mag? It's really interesting--some recent research shows that dogs left intact until age 4 live longer than if they were spayed/neutered younger. There's also evidence that some musculoskeletal issues and cancers can be mostly avoided by waiting to spay/neuter until dogs are sexually mature. If I were you, I'd wait too. :)
Not that that would work in a shelter setting. Just sayin.' :)
Thanks for your great comments!
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