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When drafting local ordinances to protect animals and keep your community safe, remember to incorporate elements that will equip law enforcement officials with easy tools to use when necessary, as well as a foundation to enhance good animal care.
Reward Good Behavior: Many cities and counties have enacted differential fees that reward guardians who alter their animals (both dogs and cats) by registering their animals at a substantially lower rate than those who do not sterilize their animals. An increased registration rate for unaltered animals helps recoup costs to the community of unwanted litters, not to mention increased animal control costs, as those same unaltered animals are more frequently at-large.
Direct Punitive Elements Towards Guardians: Animals often bare the consequences of having an irresponsible guardian. Consider for example, how many dogs are unaltered, chained, isolated and forgotten day after day, and then ordered euthanized after biting a passerby? If the guardian had neutered and socialized the animal, not subjected the pack animal to a life sentence of solitary misery on a chain, the bite—and the dog’s ultimate death—could have been avoided.
Keep Families Together: When you can trace the animals in your community back to their guardians, you will increase the number of lost dogs and cats finding their way home. Registration tags or other identification, such as microchips also enable a level of guardian accountability. This goes for cats as well as dogs.
Elevate the Value of Companion Animals: It’s as simple as following the economic principle of supply and demand. When the number of homeless companion animals is extremely high, like in much of New Mexico, animals are often considered disposable. By taking action to limit the breeding of dogs and cats, reducing the flow of animals into your local shelter, you make each of them more valuable to the community.
Provide a Sense of Security: Protecting your community from personal injury or property damage by including provisions aimed to prevent bites, attacks, free-roaming animals and the spread of zoonotic diseases, such as rabies.
Cover All Your Bases: Pet shops, breeders, dealers, groomers, kennels, those with guard dogs and events involving animals, like the circus, can also be covered by your local ordinance. Inspections, licensing and care and handling requirements are some of the basics.
Remember, a law is really only useful when enforced, but a law will only be enforced if it’s useful.
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