Hearing Tuesday On Planned

Ordinance Targets Law Abiding Dog And Cat Owners

(Note to sportsmen’s clubs: Please circulate this report widely among your members. Your assistance is vital.)

• Council is correct in identifying a problem with dog attacks in some neighborhoods, but mistaken about the proposed solution.

• The problem actually is being solved right now. In 1978, Chicago reported 11,932 cases of dog bites. By 2007, according to Chicago Animal Care & Control, the number of reported dog bites had fallen to 2,149. That is an 82-percent decline. In addition, hospital records show an even more dramatic decline in the severity of bites, based on actual hospital admission statistics.
  
  
• Strong state and local laws already exist to stringently regulate dogs that are deemed to be dangerous. Chicago’s enforcement of these laws is somewhere between lax and nonexistent.

• Almost all of the problems are caused by people who violate existing leash laws. It is illegal right now to allow a pet to roam in the City of Chicago, or to abandon a pet. This law is not being enforced, and this is the real problem.

• The solution is to vigorously enforce existing laws that directly target the actual problem. Vigorous enforcement would get these dogs off of the streets immediately, and penalize their owners to prevent future problems.

• Moreover, many of the dogs that roam certain neighborhoods do not have an owner. They have been abandoned. Laws affect only dogs that have an owner, as the owner (not the dog) must comply. The ordinance will do nothing about the problem of abandoned dogs that roam the streets because none of them have owners. The only solution is to capture these dogs and attempt to help them to find adoptive homes.

• The new ordinance actually will make this problem much worse, as the requirements and penalties will cause many more people to abandon their pets because they either can’t afford to comply or lack the motivation to comply. This has been proven in every municipality that has tried mandatory spay and neuter. There will be more homeless dogs roaming the streets, and thus more chances for dog bites and attacks.

• Dog fighting is a problem in many urban areas in America.

• However, only a tiny percentage of people are involved in this brutal criminal activity. The vast majority of Chicagoans have never seen a dog fight or participated in any way. Thus, it is ethically wrong, legally unjust and completely ineffective to write a law that targets innocent people.

• Existing state and local laws make dog fighting a felony offense, and this criminal activity also is a violation of animal cruelty laws. These existing laws carry very stringent penalties.

• Dog fighting is a criminal activity, and animal control ordinances are not an appropriate tool to combat crime. If City Council cares about eliminating dog fighting in Chicago, the answer is to make it a law enforcement priority for the police department. This has not been done.

• Animal control ordinances can do nothing to control dog fighting because it is an underground criminal activity at all levels, including breeding. An ordinance simply will drive it deeper underground or outside the city limits to areas that do not have strong police departments. Actual dog fights, however, would remain in the city, because they would become even more profitable. The money is in the city, and crime follows money.

• Dog fighting is associated with other criminal activities, such as gangs and drugs. It is wholly inappropriate and dangerous to place animal control officers in a situation of confronting gangs or drugs. They are not trained or equipped to handle potentially violent situations, and a lack of investigative expertise can destroy evidence and harm legitimate police work.

Homeless Pets

• The ordinance preamble claims that there is a “multitude” of homeless pets in Chicago, and that shelter admissions and euthanasia rates are unacceptable.

• In fact, Chicago animal shelter admissions and euthanasia rates have declined by 54% over the 10-year period ending in 2006, according to official shelter data. This proves conclusively that increased public awareness and voluntary pet sterilization have been extremely successful. Veterinary research shows that 60-percent of dogs are already sterilized.

• An analysis of the official shelter data for 2006 shows that only 736 healthy dogs were euthanized at the city shelter, and this figure includes dogs that were brought to the shelters by their owners specifically to be euthanized. It is probable that many if not most of these 736 healthy dogs were euthanized because of aggression or other serious behavior problems.

• The vast majority of the dogs euthanized were categorized as unhealthy and untreatable. In 2006, 7,220 dogs that were killed at the shelter fit into this category, and 1,195 of these dogs were brought by their owners to be euthanized. These dogs do not reflect a population problem. They simply reflect the fact that many loved family companions grow old, get seriously ill, or sustain serious injuries.

• Chicago shelter admissions also have been inflated because it is the dumping ground for private and non-profit centers. In order to maintain the appearance of being “no-kill,” these private shelters transfer unadoptable dogs to the city shelter, forcing the city to do the dirty work. In 2006, private shelters dumped 1,661 unwanted dogs on the city shelter.

• Those private and nonprofit center also took away the most easily adoptable dogs from the city shelter, to the tune of 2,888 animals in 2006. While the city shelter program struggles for funding, these private shelters were able to sell these dogs for “donations” of up to $300 apiece. In spite of having the most desirable dogs removed, the city shelter still managed to find homes for 5,088 dogs that year – a remarkable performance!

• In fact, there is a major shortage of adoptable dogs in Chicago. We have documented the importation of thousands of dogs into Chicago from other states, as these private and nonprofit shelters struggle to meet the insatiable demand for adoptable dogs. Dogs are routinely brought to Chicago from states as far away as Georgia, Oklahoma and Louisiana, and a substantial number are imported from Puerto Rico, Mexico and other countries.

• The facts show that Chicago has one of the most effective animal shelter programs in America, ranking second only to Denver among all inland cities in having the lowest shelter euthanasia rates. For a city of Chicago’s size, it is nothing short of incredible that only 736 healthy dogs were euthanized in 2006. Because of temperament issues, which are not reflected in the data, the actual number of adoptable dogs euthanized probably is much lower than 736.

• The proposed ordinance actually will cause more problems with abandoned pets, thus resulting in higher shelter admissions and euthanasia rates. The experience of other cities that have passed similar ordinances shows that this always is the result.

• By reducing the number of dogs and puppies available for sale in the city, the ordinance also will have the effect of promoting the exploitive “puppy mill” and pet shop trade, as well as an underground black market. Because of the high demand for purebred and “designer mix” puppies, many puppies born in “puppy mills” will be brought into Chicago legally and sold to local people. It also will create a major market for puppies that are brought in from poorly run kennels in other areas to be sold in Chicago at immense black market profits. Many of these dogs will have serious temperament or medical problems. High quality puppies produced by conscientious local breeders simply will not be available to most Chicago residents.

Canine Health Issues

• The preamble to the ordinance restates what used to be considered “gospel” advice: that spaying and neutering reduces health risks in dogs. However, the bulk of recent research has caused many veterinarians to seriously question or reject this conclusion.

• Margaret V. Root Kustritz, a veterinary reproduction specialist at the University of Minnesota, reviewed 200 studies and found that while spay/neuter surgery has benefits, it is also linked to increases in the incidence of certain diseases and conditions such as bone cancer, heart tumors, hypothyroidism and canine cruciate ligament (CCL) injuries, as well as prostate cancer in male dogs and urinary incontinence in females. Kustritz also found that spaying and neutering may heighten behavior problems such as aggression in some breeds and noise phobias in dogs altered at less than 5 months of age.

• While it's long been believed that spaying and neutering can improve a dog's behavior, one recent large study done at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine found that, with a few exceptions, spaying and neutering was associated with worse behavior in many breeds of dogs.

• A 2007 analysis of the research by Dr. Larry Katz of Rutgers University concluded: “Tradition holds that the benefits of (sterilization) at an early age outweigh the risks. Often, tradition holds sway in the decision-making process even after countervailing evidence has accumulated. Ms (Laura) Sanborn has reviewed the veterinary medical literature in an exhaustive and scholarly treatise, attempting to unravel the complexities of the subject. More than 50 peer-reviewed papers were examined to assess the health impacts of spay/neuter in female and male dogs, respectively. One cannot ignore the findings of increased risk from osteosarcoma, hemangiosarcoma, hypothyroidism, and other less frequently occurring diseases associated with neutering male dogs. It would be irresponsible of the veterinary profession and the pet owning community to fail to weigh the relative costs and benefits of neutering on the animal’s health and well-being. The decision for females may be more complex, further emphasizing the need for individualized veterinary medical decisions, not standard operating procedures for all patients… The number of health problems associated with neutering may exceed the associated health benefits in most cases.”

• The most recent research clearly shows a trend toward serious medical problems for dogs that have been sterilized, especially at a young age. This research exposes the City of Chicago to substantial legal liability in the event that someone’s dog becomes seriously ill or dies because of conditions linked to forced sterilization.
• Another health issue extends to humans. Mandatory pet sterilization laws have been shown to decrease compliance with rabies vaccination laws in every city where they have been passed. Veterinarians are required by law to report information about rabies vaccinations, and these reports contain information about whether the dog has been spayed or neutered. Because of this, people hesitate to take their dog to a veterinarian for rabies vaccinations or for other health issues. Rabies prevention has been an American success story, and there is genuine concern that mandatory pet sterilization will reverse this success.
• The experience of other communities also shows that a dramatic reduction in dog licensing law compliance always occurs following a mandatory pet sterilization ordinance. This happens because unsterilized dogs will be identified during the licensing process. The result will be a major decrease in funds available to run animal control and shelter programs.

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