Work for the enactment of ISAR's
Mandatory Identification of Dogs and Cats Law
For many years ISAR has been
proposing that states and various political subdivisions (counties, cities,
etc.) enact legislation requiring that dogs and cats be susceptible of easy,
permanent identification. Predictably, we've met with strong resistance. Opposition
to our proposal has recently surfaced in Mexico City where mandatory ID has
become part of a proposed package of animal protection laws.
The New Zealand Herald
Mexico
City vets, pet owners object to animal law
10:15 AM Friday May 16, 2014
MEXICO
CITY (AP) Pet owners, breeders and veterinarians in Mexico's capital are
howling over a law passed by the city council requiring sterilization, chip
implants and registration of all cats and dogs.
Veterinarian
and breeder groups published full-page newspaper ads Thursday saying the law
could endanger thousands of jobs at clinics, pet salons and breeding and
training facilities by causing a sharp drop in pet numbers. The Mexican Dog
Fanciers Federation said the law was rushed through in early May without
adequate consultation.
The city
of nearly 9 million people has a serious problem with strays, puppy mills,
animal mistreatment and illegal pet sales.
Over a
few weeks in late 2012 and early 2013, at least five people were killed by what
investigators said was a pack of dogs running loose in a park on Mexico City's
east side.
But
usually, dogs suffer more than humans from the lack of controls. Animal pounds
and rescue shelters are inadequate, and many dogs lucky enough to have a home
are confined to narrow balconies or small rooftops for much of the day.
The law,
which is not yet formally enacted, would require owners to register pets, implant
identification chips, use collars with ID tags, and provide animals with
adequate food, water and space.
Trainers
could not work with pets in public. Pets would have to be leashed in public,
while children under 14 wouldn't be allowed to walk pets alone.
Special
permits will be needed to own "potentially dangerous" dogs, including
pit bulls, mastiffs and Rottweilers. Those dogs would have to be muzzled and
leashed in public.
The most
controversial aspect is a requirement that all pets must be sterilized.
Legal
breeders say that violates owners' rights to breed animals responsibly. Worse,
they say, the law could force legitimate facilities out of business, leaving
puppy and kitten breeding in the hands of unscrupulous dealers who sell animals
out of car trunks or from crates at street markets.
"The
decision to sterilize pets should be voluntary," said Juan Luis Martinez,
administrative director of the Mexican Dog Fanciers Federation.
He said
the law's requirements, including fines from about $100 up to as much as
$5,000, could lead some poor residents to abandon pets in streets or parks.
"This
could encourage noncompliance with the law, or lead people to dump them in the
street," Martinez said.
***
ISAR
has been unable to ascertain what arguments were made in support of the
mandatory ID part of the proposed law, but there is a strong case for it, one
which ISAR's proposed statute/ordinance has been making for years.
MODEL MANDATORY
IDENTIFICATION OF DOGS AND CATS
In
recent years there has been an increased public awareness of something that
shelters, humane societies, and animal protection advocates have known for
years: There is an incalculable population of unwanted cats and dogs in
America. Despite the heroic, front-line, efforts of shelters, humane
societies, and animal protection advocates in caring for (and disposing of)
many unwanted animals, the appalling statistic is that millions1 of
them are euthanized every year. Year after year. Decade after decade. Countless
millions more unwanted dogs and cats scratch out a feral existence awaiting
premature deaths, or, too often, fates worse than death.
Although
for decades society has wrestled with the surplus dog and cat problem, and
recently municipal governments have begun to grapple with the situation, sadly,
it remains clear that no overall solution has been found. Dog licensing does
not affect how many canines one can possess, nor does it limit breeding, either
in backyards or at puppy farms. Felines are not licensed at all. Currently, spaying
and neutering is voluntary (see ISAR'sModel Mandatory Spay/Neuter Statute
and its ModelAdoption Sterilization Statute.)
Dog and cat contraception is far from a reality, and even if feasible would
remain largely, if not wholly, voluntary.
This
means that society in general, and shelters, humane societies, and animal
protection advocates in particular, face a hopelessly growing surplus dog and
cat population. The prognosis is worsened because few people, even those in the
animal rights/welfare field, understand one of the several major reasons for
the surplus animal problem.
Dogs
and cats that individuals want to keep and care for present no surplus problem—although they may cause a surplus problem if they are allowed to breed
indiscriminately and their progeny then become unwanted. The latter are then
added to the surplus population. If the progeny are dumped, and thus become
feral instead of being taken to a shelter or humane society, their surplus
status will compound exponentially. If these unwanted progeny live long enough
to reproduce, their offspring become surplus—and so on down the years until
the numbers become uncountable.
This
fact suggests that a root of the surplus problem is not, as popularly supposed,
the ease with which a dog or cat can be acquired, but rather the ease
with which a dog or cat can consequence-free be disposed of, especially anonymously.
Acceptance
of this proposition suggests a way to alleviate the surplus dog and cat
problem. If ease of anonymous consequence-free disposal of unwanted dogs
and cats is a major contributing factor to the surplus of these animals, it is
exactly that—ease of anonymous consequence-free disposal—that must
be dealt with. This is the key. If a wanted dog or cat is to become unwanted,
there must be consequences for the identifiable animal's custodian. To
do that, we repeat: The custodians of such animals must be identifiable.
Solve
the problem of custodian identification, and a significant step is taken toward
alleviating the surplus dog and cat problem. Once the appropriate authorities
know who has disposed of a dog or cat by surrender or dumping, that person must
pay a price.
Essentially,
apart from killing an unwanted dog or cat, there are two ways to dispose of it:
by surrender to a shelter or humane society, or by dumping it. If the dog or
cat has been implanted with a microchip, the custodian can be identified and a
penalty assessed if appropriate. ISAR's Model Mandatory Identificationof Dog and Cats Statute is aimed at the animal that has not been
chipped.
ISAR
proposes a simple solution: Mandatory permanent identification of dogs and
cats, stringent penalties for non-identification, and (except in hardship
cases) making it costly to dispose of a healthy but unwanted dog or cat by
surrender or dumping.
Without
providing here the details and specific language that would constitute a
statute embodying this proposal, the essence of such a law would be as
follows:
At a
reasonable time after birth or rescue, companion dogs and cats would be
required to have a permanent, easily detectable, identification number applied
by a veterinarian by means of a microchip. Willfully failing to so identify
one's animal would be punishable by a civil fine. (Think of failing to register
an automobile, or for selective service.)
The
animal's identification number and other relevant information would be recorded
by the state and would constitute the dog or cat's animal's permanent license
number.
Dogs and
cats impounded by animal control authorities, or otherwise brought to shelters,
would be examined for their identification number. Animals lacking a microchip
would receive one prior to being adopted or returned to their custodians.
Penalties would be provided for (a) custodians (not rescuers) whose animals
lacked an identification number, and (b) custodians (not rescuers) surrendering
animals whose animals possessed an identification number. The severity of
penalties would depend on why the animal was impounded or otherwise brought to
a shelter, why the animal lacked an identification number, and why the dog or
cat was being surrendered.
Upon
the transfer by sale, gift, or otherwise of a micro chipped dog or cat, it
would be the transferor's duty to inform the state registry of the name and
address of the transferee. There would be a penalty for noncompliance.
The
intent of such a law is obvious: to make it difficult and costly for the
custodian or possessor of a companion dog or cat to dispose of the animal by
surrendering it to a shelter or humane society or dumping it.
It must
be recognized, especially by the custodians of companion dogs and cats, that
they are not inanimate objects, like plastic toys, to be acquired capriciously
and disposed of on a whim. It must be recognized that companion dogs and cats
are members of living species with whom we share this planet, that they are
sentient beings whom humans have domesticated and who depend on us entirely for
their well-being and survival, and that they, like us, can acutely experience
fear, pain, and death. In sum, companion dogs and cats are our responsibility
and we must control their numbers in order to prevent their suffering. It is as
simple as that.
To
those who would complain that this proposal to deal with the surplus dog and
cat problem unduly interferes with the custodians' so-called "right"
to do whatever they wish with their animals, ISAR reminds them that there are
already plentiful anti-cruelty and other animal protection laws on the books of
every state and nationally, and that animals, like defenseless children, need,
and are entitled to, protection from abuse and exploitation.
To
those who would complain that the proposal sounds too expensive, ISAR contends
that it would actually save much of the hundreds of millions it now costs
annually to exterminate millions of unwanted dogs and cats.
To
those who would complain that the proposal cannot work, ISAR answers that it
must work—for it is a moral outrage to visit the sins of irresponsible
custodians on helpless, innocent, dogs and cats, by systematically and
relentlessly exterminating them.
1Neither ISAR, nor any other organization in the United States,
has available a reliable estimate for how many dogs and cats are euthanized
annually by animal shelters in this country.
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