Finally, we’ve got some numbers to back up the ongoing debate over mandatory spay-neuter proposals.
Thank you, Santa Cruz, for showing us such mandates can and do work.
My colleague Teri Sforza over at OC Watchdog has some fascinating news from Lisa Carter, the executive director of the Santa Cruz Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
(And to borrow from Teri’s book of tactics, that good looking pup above is available for adoption. Click on the photo for more details.)
A brief tidbit to entice you to click on over:
Santa Cruz has been the focus of much interest because we are among the earliest adopters of a mandatory spay/neuter law.
The statistics tell our story best. In 1994, the year before we began implementation of the new ordinance, Santa Cruz County shelters took in 3309 dogs and 5016 cats, with 30.28% of dogs euthanized and 59.9% of cats. Those numbers were roughly similar for 1992 and 1993, with a slight increase from a lower dog euthanasia rate of 29.91% in 1991. (Cat numbers were still declining somewhat, from a 64.5% euthanasia in 1991.) In the years following passage of our ordinance, the numbers went as we had hoped: Within two years, at the end of 1997, the number of dogs coming in had dropped to 2817, and the euthanasia rate to 20.1%, while the number of cats dropped to 3451, and the euthanasia rate to 47.6%. Five years after passage, the number of incoming dogs was 2359, and the euthanasia rate was down to 19.2%; the number of cats had dropped to 2830, and the euthanasia rate was 36%. By 2003, our numbers were as good as we could ever have hoped to see: 1403 dogs impounded (less than half the number from 1994) and 1805 cats impounded, a 64% drop!
Read the full report at OC Watchdog.
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