Summary:
On Wednesday, April 3, the Los Angeles Neighborhoods and Community Enrichment Committee is expected to discuss a 2023 proposal to suspend the issuance of new breeding permits. This would impact all who breed in the city, and as currently enforced it could also impact all owners of intact dogs even if they are not currently breeding.
Background:
In 2023, the Los Angeles City Council directed the City Attorney to draft an ordinance to suspend the issuance of new breeding permits until animal shelter occupancy rates fall below 75 percent for three consecutive months, as expected. This is the ordinance that will be considered at the April 3 hearing.
Note: there has been much confusion concerning intact animal permits and breeding permits. Under current law, city residents do NOT need an animal breeding permit to obtain an intact animal permit. In addition, current law provides that animals may remain intact so long as they meet certain qualifications, including the dog being registered with a national or international registry (with appropriate documentation), and the dog “must actively show or compete and shall have competed in at least one show or sporting competition hosted or staged by, or under the approval of, a national association, unless it is too young to compete.” While AKC still has concerns regarding current law, we appreciate these important distinctions that allow certain intact animals in the city.
However, numerous public statements from local officials have conflated the two types of permits. As such, AKC is very concerned that people are being required to purchase a breeding permit to obtain an intact animal permit. This is also causing the number of breeding permits to be artificially high; this number is then being used to say there are too many breeding permits being issued.
AKC believes that if the proposed ordinance passes, (in addition to punishing responsible breeders) it could impact the ability of city residents to obtain an intact animal permit at all – meaning they could not lawfully own an intact animal.
What You Can Do:
Attend the Los Angeles City Council’s Neighborhoods and Community Enrichment Committee meeting and express your opposition: The proposal is scheduled to be discussed on:
Wednesday, April 3 at 10:00 AM
City Hall, 200 N. Spring St., Rm. 401
Los Angeles, California
Note: The audio for Committee meetings is broadcast live on the internet at https://clerk.lacity.gov/calendar The live audio can also be accessed at: (213) 621-CITY (Metro), (818) 9049450 (Valley), (310) 471-CITY (Westside) and (310) 547-CITY (San Pedro area). The Committee will take public comment from members of the public inperson only; there will be no public comment by teleconference.
Contact members of the Neighborhoods and Community Enrichment Committee:
- Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez; hernandez@lacity.org; 213 473-7001 (author of proposal)
- Councilmember Heather Hutt; cd10@lacity.org; 213 473-7010
- Councilmember John Lee; Lee@lacity.org; (213) 473-7012
Some points to be sure to mention to your councilmember:
- Remind them that responsible breeders are not the reason for shelter population concerns. In fact, responsible licensed breeders are part of the solution – providing well-bred dogs to families and ensuring these dogs never end up in shelters.
- Ensure that the councilmembers understand the difference between an intact animal permit and a breeding permit and that under current law residents should not be forced to purchase a breeding permit simply to maintain an intact animal. Remind them that responsible owners of intact animals are not the reason for shelter population concerns.
- Ask your councilmember to consider adopting the same standards or similar standards for issuing an intact animal permit for issuing breeding permits, including allowing a permit for dogs registered with a national or international kennel club with appropriate documentation.
- In terms of addressing issues in animal shelter system, offer your councilmember the following steps which would have a greater impact on shelter system than banning responsible breeding:
- Ensure good data collection to determine where issues are originating and allow for arising problems to be adequately addresses.
- Require all animals received in the shelter system to be checked for microchips so lost pets can be quickly reunited with their owners and don’t languish in shelter system taking up valuable space and resources.
- Make sure low-cost spay and neuter funds are available to all who need it and ensure that program availability is widely known through community outreach.
- Statistics provided by the city demonstrate that many of the dogs coming into the shelter system are owner surrender. It is highly unlikely this is all due to irresponsible breeders. Often, dogs are surrendered due to economical or other unforeseen circumstances, including housing. Consider offering tax credits or other programs to incentivize greater acceptance of pets in residential housing to address issue of pets ending up in shelter system only because of housing issues.
- Develop a plan to manage “dangerous dogs” taken in and kept in the shelter system.
Visit Breeding Regulations and Restrictions in the AKC Legislative Action Center for more talking points and information.
AKC GR will provide updates as warranted on next steps in the coming weeks. For questions or more information on California legislation, contact AKC GR at doglaw@akc.org.