Keep up with Texas Laws regarding Pet Ownership...
Things are changing rapidly and they do effect us all.
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---- Original Message -----
From: "Responsible Pet Owners Alliance" <rpoa@texas.net>
To: <TX-RPOA@LISTSERV. TAMU.EDU>
Sent: Thursday, April 23, 2009 9:52 AM
Subject: TX: Another city falls ... Plano goes "anti-pet"
TX-RPOA E-News
>From RPOA Texas Outreach and Responsible Pet Owners Alliance
"Animal welfare, not animal 'rights' and, yes, there is a difference."
Permission granted to crosspost.
> Plano toughens pet sterilization rules
> Tuesday, April 21, 2009
> By THEODORE KIM / The Dallas Morning News
> tkim@dallasnews. com
>
> Just months after Dallas adopted strict pet sterilization rules, the Plano
> City Council has approved even tougher requirements.
>
> Plano's council last week unanimously approved an ordinance requiring most
> dogs, cats and ferrets to be spayed or neutered and implanted with
> microchips at 4 months of age.
>
> It applies to all animals for sale or that change ownership, but exempts
> certain hobby dog breeders.
>
> Observers say Plano's ordinance is among the strictest in the nation. The
> rule, which the council approved April 14 in its consent agenda, took
> effect immediately.
>
> The action capped a months-long debate over the merits of mandatory
> sterilization, which has gained steam here and beyond as communities seek
> to contain both vicious dogs and fast-growing populations of strays.
>
> "We hope this will help with the problem," Jamey Cantrell, the city's
> animal services manager, said of Plano's rising number of strays.
>
> A number of cities, including Dallas, have overhauled animal control laws
> to address strays and vicious dogs.
>
> Moreover, state lawmakers are considering more expansive measures to
> curtail wanton and inhumane breeders. For instance, proposals in the House
> and Senate would give Texas regulators the power to police and license the
> commercial breeding industry.
>
> But animal groups remain at odds on just how early in a pet's life to
> mandate sterilization, if at all. The requirements also have riled the
> insular world of hobby dog breeders, who view the rules as heavy handed.
>
> Dallas considered requiring sterilization at 4 months, but later adopted a
> 6-months rule after hobby breeders complained.
>
> Plano tried to strike a compromise: While the city enacted a stricter
> standard, the ordinance attempts to exempt hobby dog aficionados.
>
> Verjean Lunenschloss of Plano, a breeder of great Danes, has been vocal in
> her opposition to the city's spay/neuter requirement.
>
> She also predicted the city would have problems enforcing the new
> ordinance,
> as well as the hobby dog exemption to it.
>
> Yet she lauded Plano for seeking common ground.
>
> "We're not happy with the 4-month requirement. But overall we're
> satisfied,"
> she said.
>
> The spay/neuter requirement is but one part of a broader overhaul of the
> city's animal control laws.
>
> Other changes, adopted in February, include limiting single-family homes
> to owning a maximum of 10 pets and prohibiting anima! ls from being
> tethered to objects in most circumstances.
>
> RPOA Texas Outreach (501C4 Nonprofit)
> www.rpoatexasoutrea ch.org
> Responsible Pet Owners Alliance (501C3 Nonprofit)
> www.responsiblepeto wners.org
>
> 900 NE Loop 410 #311-D
> San Antonio, TX 78209
> $15 Annual dues (January - December)
> To subscribe or unsubscribe, e-mail rpoa@texas.net.
