The Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services is soliciting public opinion about new ordinances to help curb Columbia/Boone County's companion animal overpopulation problem. You can
leave a comment on their website. Here is what I wrote, and I encourage all of you to voice your opinions as well:
I think there should be a fee for owners of intact animals, for example, if someone wants to keep his pet intact to one day breed him. The fee should be high enough to discourage most people from keeping their animals intact, say, $500 or $250 per pet: a Pigovian tax.
If someone don't want to pay this fee, s/he must get his animal spayed or neutered, or be fined, and additionally ordered to spay/neuter/pay the $250 fee (with the fine money going to trap-fix-'n-release programs like SNAP).
This way, people legitimately interested in breeding their animals have a way around the ordinance, but the general public will be strongly financially motivated to make sure their animals are spayed or neutered.
I also think that breeders should be required by law, under a new ordinance, to guarantee that their customers will either pay the $250-or-whatever 'intact fee,' or alternatively, spay/neuter the bred animals, *before* the new owner can take possession. This will help with enforcement. The law should also say that if a breeder is unable to find a buyer for an animal, s/he is still responsible for ensuring that the animal is either spayed/neutered or that the 'intact fee' is paid, say, before the animal is 1 year old (for cats & dogs).
By the way, the Central Missouri Humane Society already offers low-cost spaying & neutering surgeries, based on the owners' income. |
Please
leave your own comment as well so we can let the Health Department know how we feel about this! Columbia and Boone County must be pro-active in our fight against animal overpopulation if we are to support the mission of CMHS in preventing animal cruelty and alleviating the suffering of all animals. Thank you for your help.
- Dave Muscato
CMHSmakeover.com webmaster
(573) 424-0420 cell / voicemail / text
mail@davemuscato.com
