The Caddo Parish Commission is moving forward with an animal control ordinance that would require sterilization of dogs and cats A public hearing will be held at the December 9th Commission meeting to gather feedback from the community. AKC strongly encourages residents to attend the hearing and contact the commission to express your concerns with this proposal.
Summary:
The parish already mandates sterilization on a second at-large offense. This proposal has been introduced as an attempt to further address shelter overpopulation and other animal control issues.
There is a vague exemption for those who can prove their dog participates in an AKC sanctioned event at least once a year. AKC appreciates this consideration. However, this is difficult to prove, and it is unclear whether the dog must be actively participating in these events. It further offers no exemption for those dogs that have not yet participated in an AKC event. Under this ordinance, if a dog is found to be intact and does not meet the exceptions in the law, then the dog will be impounded and sterilized at Parish expense before it is returned to the owner.
The AKC strongly believes that owners should be responsible for their animals and should comply with all animal laws and regulations. However, this proposal as currently written will not address the parish’s animal control concerns. It will also have an unfair impact on responsible dog owners that choose to keep their dogs intact.
Talking Points:
AKC is encouraging the commission to not proceed with this proposal and instead recommend other alternatives such as offering low cost spay and neuter programs, stronger enforcement and penalties of animal control laws, and public education initiatives on responsible dog ownership. This would protect responsible owners and still hold irresponsible owners accountable.
Visit AKC’s Government Relations “Mandatory Spay Neuter” Key Issue page for more information. Also check out the AKC Issue Analysis Why Mandatory Spay/Neuter Laws are Ineffective and the AKC Issue Brief on Mandatory Spay/Neuter Laws.
What You Can Do:
Caddo Parish residents and those who participate in events in the county are encouraged to contact the commission and consider attending the hearing on December 9. Respectfully ask them to:
1) Not support the proposal as currently written and
2) Delay a vote in order to allow time to develop an effective alternative solution.
Take Action:
The hearing will be held December 9th at 3:30pm at:
505 Travis Street #110,
Shreveport, LA 71101
Using the above talking points, residents should either plan to attend or leave respectful comments in opposition to the ordinance for the commission using this contact form.
AKC Government Relations continues to closely monitor local issues. For more information, contact AKC GR at doglaw@akc.org.