cdocdogtalk

We are pleased to announce that the California Senate today passed Molly's Bill (AB 258) 38-0. It was managed on the Senate floor by Senator Leno.
This has been a long time in the making - we started this in the last legislative session - and while it is not a perfect bill, it will, if signed by Governor Brown, for the first time offer a clear path so that unhealthy dogs whose health would be further compromised by receiving the rabies vaccine can be granted an exemption from the anti-rabies vaccine.
This year the bill was co-sponsored by Concerned Dog Owners of California and the Veterinary Arm of HSUS. Assembly Member Curt Hagman and his Capitol Director Victoria Stewart did a great job of overcoming the constant hurdles. In that they were assisted by the California Veterinary Medical Association, their Sacramento representatives Mike Dillon and Christina DiCaro. Our thanks to Assembly Member Hagman, Victoria Stewart, Senator Leno, Jennifer Fearing, Scott Sadler, Val Fenstermaker, Jean Dodds, Pam Runquist and Lisa Lippman for all the time and effort on this bill.

And thanks to CDOC members and dog lovers throughout the state for their calls and letters. We are sure that Sutter, First Dog of California, will whisper in Governor Brown's ear that this is an excellent bill.

And then Molly and others like her will be safe.

ANIMAL WELFARE ORDINANCES TO GET SPECIAL MEETING DATE

This morning an email from Jana Ransom advised that the City Council realizes the Animal Ordinances proposed by the Council will need "discussion at some length". For that reason is tentatively scheduled for late September or early October. Irvine has committed to a 30 day notification period on its website at http://www.cityofirvine.org/cityhall/cs/animalcare/proposed_animal_welfare_or.... CDOC will also post as soon as a date is announced.
Please continue your dialogues with members of the City Council about these ordinances, none of which make any sense for Irvine. As CDOC was told by a City staffer, Irvine wants to 'look progressive', evidently at the expense of small business and animals.

It has often said that 'dog people' are their own worst enemy and this 2011 legislative season seems to be proving that.

According to the New York Times, The City Costa Mesa has fired half of its city employees, including some in the Animal Control section of the Police Department.  

If you are a responsible and knowledgeable dog owner who opposes Mandatory Spay and Neuter, you probably have some not so fond memories of Allan Drusys*.  He is the veterinarian in Riverside County who traveled all over the state with Judie Mancuso talking about why MSN was such a great policy.  He spoke to local governments and was a speaker for Lloyd Levine and Dean Florez.  And Drusys prefaced all his talks by stating that he was an elected official - he was on the Yucaipa City Council. 

Congratulations to the responsible dog owners of Santa Barbara and their reasonable elected officials.  This is  from Ginny White and Janet Lee Vining.

On October 5, 2010, the City of Santa Barbara, California, passed an ordinance amending the existing City pet licensing law.  Although the original proposal was to make the City ordinance consistent with the County of Santa Barbara's recently passed spay/neuter ordinance, the City significantly changed the language and did not support a mandatory spay/neuter approach.  The City designed an ordinance based on education of pet owners regarding spaying/neutering options and responsible pet ownership.  

A veterinary certificate will be required to license an unaltered dog or unaltered cat, but unlike the County ordinance, it does not require the veterinarian's authorization to keep the dog or cat intact.  The City's certificate would state only that the veterinarian has counseled the owner on the concerns and responsibilities associated with owning an unaltered pet and has provided educational material on responsible pet ownership.  The intent is that this discussion would take place during the visit for rabies vaccination so there would be no additional cost to the owner.  To make it easier to have licensing coincide with rabies vaccination, license options were expanded to 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, or 3 years.  This is the first time licenses will be required for cats.  

The fee for licenses for unaltered dogs and unaltered cats will include a small surcharge which will be used to fund educational outreach programs and activities on responsible pet ownership including spaying/neutering.

This is looking out for dogs at the local level. There is an election in November for the Yucaipa City Council (there are two openings) and Dr. Allen Drusys is running for re-election along with some current members and some new faces. The two candidates receiving the highest number of votes will take seats on the Council. The candidates being endorsed by PUPPY are current council member Tom Masner and Tom Bogh.
To provide a refresher on Allan Drusys, he came to the Los Angeles City Council in 2007 and worked hand-in-hand with Judie Mancuso to get MSN pushed through in Los Angeles. In fact, when he was asked about all the places where MSN had been unsuccessful, he told the City Council it had never been implemented in those places. And that was just a starting place for this ambitious politician.

Drusys testified for AB1634 in Sacramento, lobbied for SB250, drove through MSN in Riverside and is active as an advocate in other places. Because Drusys is an "elected" official, other electeds tend to pay attention. The community in Yucaipa has joined together so that Drysus cannot continue raising kill rates and costs around the state.

The PUPPY website is here - https://sites.google.com/site/250puppy/. To find out how you can contribute to PUPPY contact terraglo@aol.com. PUPPY will also be contacting Yucaipa voters. Please be sure to see the story of Hannah. It was only through CDOC bringing pressure from Sacramento and through Hannah's Supervisor that her owner was able to avoid charges by Drusys. Please pass this along so dog people across California realize Yucaipa is taking action. A politician who loses a local election is less likely to end up in Sacramento and that is where Drusys aims to go.

The first of two Town Hall Meetings was held on Thursday, September 16th to consider raising pet limits. The sense of the crowd was overwhelmingly in favor of raising the limits. The audience was divided between rescue people and, for want of a better work, dog activity people - those who compete and sometimes breed, with the rescue people being in a majority. Everyone makes the case that if it were possible to have more animals, there would be more adoptions from the shelter and more income for the City of Los Angeles.
Opposition for the plan was led by Phyllis Dougherty who has been working hard to drum up support to defeat this idea. In her press interview Dougherty called the plan a disaster for the animals and said it would result in Los Angeles being called the "barking city". She also sniped at General Manager Brenda Barnette for her past association with purebred dogs. Dougherty led a local campaign against the hiring of Barnette. Also lukewarm was Laura Beth Heisen who was not only Judie Mancuso's hand-picked candidate for the Spay/Neuter Advisory Board but who was also gunning for the job Barnette has.

The meeting, which was described by someone as a "love fest" showed great unanimity among those attending. And it was quite clear that the community embraces Ms. Barnette and welcomes her openness and attention.
The next meeting will be Wednesday, September 22nd at 6:30 pm at the West Los Angeles Animal Care Center, 11361 W. Pico Boulevard. With more time for Ms. Dougherty and Ms. Heisen will be able to drum up opposition it will be interesting to hear the tenor of that meeting. This change in limits was sponsored by Los Angeles City Council Member Bill Rosendahl and seconded by Council Member Paul Koretz

Bill Bruce will be coming to California next week to give his presentation on licensing rather than MSN as a way to keep dogs out of shelters. 

If you go to this website, your can order your No on SB250 Bumper Sticker for only $3.95.

This is a great way to let the general public know about SB250. Also, be sure and direct people to www.SB250.org, CDOC's informational site on this bill.