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Experience shows spay-neuter laws do work

By Sam Womack/Staff Writer

Mandatory pet-sterilization laws do work to combat pet overpopulation, although it may take a few years, according to officials in other California counties that have implemented such programs.

Enforcing pet sterilization, they say, does decrease unwanted animals and result in a decline of the euthanasia rate of adoptable pets.

During the heated and oftentimes emotional public hearings held recently on a proposed mandatory spay-and-neuter ordinance in Santa Barbara County, proponents and opponents differed sharply on whether it would succeed or fail.

After two lengthy hearings, the county Board of Supervisors last month gave preliminary approval to the ordinance, which re-quires all dogs and cats over the age of 6 months be licensed and spayed or neutered, with a few exceptions.

Pet owners can avoid the obligation by getting clearance from a veterinarian, but they will have to pay extra for an unaltered animal license. Working ranch animals will be exempt.

The ordinance received final approval Tuesday.

If the new law is adopted, the experience in other counties around the state suggests it will have the intended results.

In 2004, Lake County in Northern California was euthanizing up to 75 percent of the adoptable dogs and 85 percent of the adoptable cats annually, according to Paula Werner, with Lake County Animal Care and Control.

Thousands of animals were killed a year in the 60,000-population county, and so a mandatory spay-neuter ordinance was passed.

Since then, the euthanasia rate for adoptable pets has dropped dramatically, while the number of incoming dogs and cats has remained steady, Werner said.

In 2008, only 20 percent of adoptable dogs and 25 percent of adoptable cats were euthanized, she said.

“We’ve seen far fewer litters of puppies” with no increases to the department’s budget or staffing, Werner said. “Incoming numbers have remained steady despite a growth in population ... enabling us to put more resources toward the rescue and adoption end of things, and that has a direct effect on the euthanasia rate.”

Santa Cruz County passed a mandatory spay-and-neuter ordinance in 1994, and has had 15 years to determine its affect on pet overpopulation.

Before the law was passed, the county’s animal service division took in approximately 8,500 cats and dogs annually, and 50 percent were killed, said Henry Brzezinski, general manager of the Santa Cruz Animal Services Authority.

Two years after the law went into effect, the intake numbers were down, along with the euthanasia rate, and they have continued to decrease, Brzezinski said.

Even though the animal services authority had reason for its numbers to increase, such as absorbing another city’s shelter and housing animals affected by the fires in the area, only 4,800 animals were handled by the Santa Cruz Animal Services Authority in 2008.

And the euthanasia rate decreased to 29 percent, Brzezinski said.

“We just moved into a new shelter about 14 months ago, and it was one dog run less than the last location,” he said, noting that most other jurisdictions are having to build larger shelters to accommodate the prolific overpopulation of animals.

“The most crucial benefit of having a spay-and-neuter ordinance is that we don’t euthanize for more shelter space,” Brzezinski added.

Santa Barbara County has three shelters and takes in approximately 10,000 dogs and cats annually, and puts down 24 percent of all canines and 28 percent of felines.

The majority of intakes and killed pets are from the Santa Maria shelter, county staff said.

Space is always limited in the shelters, and volunteers with foster homes are tapped out, which is why a spay-and-neuter ordinance was recommended, staff reported.

The final reading of the proposed law is before the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors Dec. 1 and apply to all unincorporated areas beginning Jan. 1. Lompoc is the only other jurisdiction within the county to also approve a spay-and-neuter law.

Brian Zamora, director of the San Mateo County Public Health Services, said in his experience, if cities within the county do not pass similar ordinances, the result could be mixed.

“It creates a huge problem in gaining traction when only the unincorporated county adopts it,” Zamora said. “I can’t tell you if there’s been a substantive decrease in unwanted litters, because there’s no way to determine where the animals come from.”

However, the Peninsula Humane Society, which contracts with San Mateo County for animal control services, states on its Web site that it went from handling 45,000 dogs and cats annually in 1975 to under 10,000 in recent years.

Although the spay-and-neuter laws are called “mandatory,” in each case exceptions were made for owners who wish to keep their pets unaltered.

Lake and Santa Cruz counties did not see any increase in enforcement costs, because there were no significant changes in officer duties.

Complaints are investigated as usual, and if a pet is unaltered, then the owner is cited with a “fix-it ticket” urging compliance by either sterilizing their pet or qualifying for an exception.

Also, Brzezinski noted that an added side effect to the ordinance was a decline in dog bites.

Unaltered male dogs are more aggressive and more likely to wander, roam and become territorial, said Lloyd Massey, co-owner of Caring Hands Pet Clinic.

“I would never recommend not getting your animal spayed or neutered. The benefits far outweigh the risks, both behavioral and medical,” Massey said.