[Mardelin]

SB 250
Page 3

1)Purpose . According to the author, it costs California
taxpayers approximately $250 million each year to house and
euthanize dogs and cats. The author contends that part of the
problem is that there are few incentives for pet owners to
license their animals - which would ensure fewer lost or
roaming pets. In addition, local animal shelters are
overwhelmed by the state's pet overpopulation problem
(approximately one million dogs and cats enter our shelters
each year) because there are few laws which discourage
over-breeding and no existing laws that encourage
sterilization of non-breeding animals.

The author believes that SB 250 would help reduce the number
of unwanted pets that roam the streets and end up in shelters,
as well as encourage responsible pet ownership by requiring
owners to license and sterilize their animals or purchase an
unaltered license if they intend to keep their pets intact.

2)Existing Spay/Neuter Programs . In 1995, the county of Santa
Cruz implemented an ordinance requiring cats and dogs over six
months old to be spayed or neutered unless an unaltered animal
certificate is issued. This certificate is available to anyone
meeting specified criteria, such as not having any
animal-related convictions within a certain amount of time and
providing a proper environment for the animal. The ordinance
also requires these owners to furnish the director of animal
control services with a statement agreeing to have only one
litter per year unless expressly permitted by a veterinarian
to have up to two litters a year (cats only). The ordinance
also exempts from the certificate requirement service dogs,
law enforcement dogs, herding dogs, rescue dogs or animals
that can not be spayed or neutered due to health reasons.
Supporters of this bill provided information showing that by
2003, intake of cats and dogs into Santa Cruz county shelters
declined by 60% and the number of euthanized animals declined
by 75%.

Many state and local municipalities have implemented publicly
funded spay/neuter programs that include varying degrees of
increased licensure fees with mandatory spaying and neutering
of cats and dogs. New Hampshire implemented a statewide
publicly funded spay and neuter program in 1994. Between 1994
and 2000, the state's eight largest shelters admitted 31,000
fewer dogs and cats than in the six years preceding the