Local animal control leader testifies in support of new measure
By J.M. BROWN
Posted: 04/25/2009 10:25:27 PM PDT

SANTA CRUZ -- The head of Santa Cruz County's animal control agency testified before a state Senate panel last week in favor of a measure that would strengthen the state's spay and neuter law.

Henry Brzezinski, general manager of the Animal Services Authority, told lawmakers that Senate Bill 250 would help California control its overpopulation of cats and dogs just as the county's spay-and-neuter ordinance has done here. Brzezinski said the county shelter has cut euthanasia of dogs and cats more than 70 percent since the local law requiring owners to buy certificates for unaltered cats and dogs was passed in 1994.

"Shelters across California and the nation are just overwhelmed by cats because they are such prolific breeders," Brzezinski said in an interview after his testimony before the Local Government Committee, which passed the measure. "We already have something in place. This bill will take it a step further."

The bill, which now moves on to the Senate Appropriations Committee, seeks to reduce the death rate among the 1 million-plus cats and dogs kept in shelters statewide each year. Senate Majority Leader Dean Florez, D-Shafter, who is sponsoring the bill, says about half of those animals are euthanized, costing taxpayers $250 million.

The bill requires dogs older than six months to be spayed or neutered unless their owner obtains a license. Roaming cats would also have to be altered after six months of age.

Lisa Carter, executive director of the Santa Cruz chapter of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, supports the plan, saying it would reinforce the county's rules. Before the local ordinance was put in place, Carter said shelters were killing between three to five animals per day who were "highly adoptable."

"Because the shelter was so crowded, there was nowhere else to put animals," Carter said. "Even if you don't like animals, you don't care about killing animals, it's about saving money."

Carter has worked with animal advocates in Los Angeles, Riverside, Chicago and elsewhere to draft stronger spay-neuter restrictions.

"I am dedicated to saving millions of dog and cat's lives and millions of taxpayer dollars to warehouse and kill animals," she said.

The bill excludes animals that could be physically harmed by sterilization and says licenses to keep animals unaltered can be denied if an animal has a history of violence or nuisance.

PetPAC, a Sacramento advocacy group for pet owners, says the measure overreaches and will actually cost taxpayers more to enforce it.

"At a time of fiscal crisis across California this bill is fiscally irresponsible," Bill Hemby, chairman of PetPAC, said in a statement last month. "Experience has shown that local jurisdictions cannot recoup the costs to administer and enforce mandated pet sterilization laws from penalties and fees alone. To pay for the new bureaucracy, funds are taken from other city and county services, including law enforcement and public safety."

Brzezinski said the cost of getting a $100 license to keep an animal unaltered has led to more sterilization. The Friends of Santa Cruz County Animals also helps low-income pet owners cover the costs of spaying and neutering.

"More and more people are getting it," Brzezinski said. "We still have to use enforcement to push people in that direction."

http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews/ci_12226288