Pet licensing on table: FINALLY!
Lead story on Page A1 of today's paper talked all about the plan to implement pet licensing at $7 a year for spayed or neutered pets and $35 for those not altered. I am for this 100%!!
I was shocked when I moved here and found there were no pet licensing requirements. Having lived in many places, this was the FIRST I ran into requiring it. Maybe it's common in the South, so behind in humane animal issues, but not common in the south in larger cities like Clarksville, especially one with a big animal problem due to the transient population.
For those of you who post to stories on Story Chat, please join the conversation under the story. While a lot of people support the initiative, there are those who are not. I am surprised that some with pets are against it because they feel they should not have to pay because they are "responsible" pet owners and why have a "tax" to deal with the irresponsible?
That is a lame argument. Sadly, that is what a civilized society must do: clean up the messes of the irresponsible. That's why we have police and jails. Should we say, "I don't commit crimes, I don't want to pay for jails," and on and on for anything we don't agree with. Nonsense
ONLY if irresponsible pet owners know that they will not be tolerated, only if spaying and neutering is done more often will our animal problems change. Some complain about Animal Control not doing enough, but do they not understand it's because they DO NOT GET ENOUGH MONEY that they can't keep up with the problems, especially in light of our population growth? Sure, there will be those who ignore the law, but that's not excuse not to deal with the problems we have in the same manner other cities do.
And those who are responsible and love animals should be happy to pay. Why? To help those not as lucky as their own pets. $7 a year is NOTHING, and if someone can't afford THAT they certainly aren't getting pets spayed or neutered and should not own a pet if they aren't willing to pay such a small fee.
WE have to buy tags for our cars,licenses for fishing and hunting, which supports those things. Animal control efforts should be no different.
Please call or write your County Commissioner and tell them you support this plan and that it's long overdue and that the next step should be a ban on chaining a dog 24/7. Animal control needs more officers to write those citations and get those fines.
Picture above is my friend's dog Freeway she adopted from the local Humane Society five years ago.This was him before he was adopted. She was the one who adopted Scooter first too. I will never let her forget how I helped her with THAT problem. LOL. She lived in Nashville, which like most cities, has pet licensing. So when you hear people whining about pet licensing, tell them it's not something new...we're just behind, like we are with most animal issues.
Later I will post about one story chat comment that REALLY ticked me off. Maybe if you go read them you can guess which one.
posted by Sandy at 6/22/2007 03:37:00 PM
Pet People
10 Comments:
Well, Sandy, I read them all, and I couldn't find one single post that ticked me off, I found A WHOLE BUNCH of them!
Grrr. If we could tax stupidity, the city/county would be rich!
Sandy, haven't read any story chats yet and now afraid to but here's my feelings on the pet license law. I will gladly pay whatever it takes if it will help the poor homeless animals in the long run. My animals have all always been spayed and neutered. We did it for them and thier health but it helped the community as well. Something needs to be done now! Bring on the fees! I agree with you pearcehart, there are so many stupid ideas people are clinging to.
Pam and Pearcehart, I agree with what you said. I used to post comments on the story chat page until I realized that there are a select few that use it for their own chat page. More times than not, they love to criticized your type O’s, or usage of words. Or just don’t have a clue. And if you haven’t made 1000 posts, they ridicule you as a “newbie” and belittle your opinions even more than others. Then there is that one that thinks he is god himself, and if someone doesn’t support his cause, you’re wrong. They began to argue if it’s a license or a tax. They will bicker back and forth amongst themselves like kindergartners, completely losing sight of the actual issue that the article was about. Oh, that’s right, I forgot. It is their own little chat page. Never mind the rest of us that might actually want to discuss the issues in this city.
And for anyone to make the statement that “They really could care less about animals and just want someplace to euthanize, rather then care for them” just goes to prove that he has no knowledge of the animal control employees or the things that they do and have to endure, with little or no money and not enough manpower. He just wants to use Story Chat as his personal soapbox and make him self feel important. Well, I have news for him and the rest of the “regulars” on Story Chat, they are not important, and wouldn’t know really intellectual discussions if one bit them on their collective butts.
Pet licensing makes sense. Pet licenses should help pay for animal control. Just like hunting and fishing licenses help pay for wildlife and conservation. Oh, but I get confused. Is that a license or is it a tax?? Maybe I should ask the Story Chat expert for his lordly opinion on that.
Time to go. Wifey poo has dinner ready (finally). Took her forever to find the right recipe for that damn Canadian Goose.
Here kitty, kitty, kitty……want to fly????
Pam, Pearceheart & dragon,
I am totally with ya'll. I ried to post to the story chat before and they I think can be quite narrow minded at times(some of them). I love my pet babies and their is no trouble that is too much trouble to go thru for them....nuff said..right??? Margaritas at my house for all those agreeing with me sometime over this summer ok????or beast for mrs Pam!!!
I know I do not live there, but every place I have lived has required that your pets be licensed. I was glad to pay for my pets to be licensed when we lived in CO since a portion of every license went to low cost spay and neuter certificates. The certificates were available once a year through the humain society. K9 certificates are $25 and Felion certificates are $15. When you purchase a certificate you have 30 days to use it from a list of vets that you are given. This was great for us when we got Stella. We were not making very much money and our vet wanted to charge us $250 to spay her because of her size. I was able to get a certificate and make an appointment with my vet. It was great to have that available to us at a time when we didn't have a lot of money.
In addition to the money they receive from the pet licensing, there is also a place on your CO state tax form were you can donate a dollar amount from your tax return to the state spay and neuter fund. CO, like the Clarksville area, has a large transplant population. In the Colorado Springs area alone there are 5 military bases. There is also a large rural population where people are less likely to bother with altering their pets. Developing the spay and neuter reform was a way to help the population at large with taking care of there pets.
There are also hefty fines if you are caught with unlicensed pets.
Most local fire departments host quarterly vaccine clinics where you can get lost cost vaccines for your pets from a licensed vet who volunteers their time. A portion of the cost of the vaccines goes back to the fire department that was hosting the clinic. So not only are you keeping your pets healthy, but you are also helping out your local fire department.
I for one think there should be a Federal law about spaying and neuter as well as a Federal fund to help the humain society with it. We pay fees and taxes for cars, homes, food and clothing why not our pets too. However, if we are going to have to become a more responsible society in regards to pets, then I also think we should get a tax break like people with dependants do. Maybe not as much of a tax break, but there should be something.
Good luck with it. I think it will pass as it is not an uncommon thing. Hopefully it will be the first step in a long line of pet laws for your area.
Oh Adrienne, I am so with you on it should be a federal law on spaying and neutering! Maybe someday it will happen. We can only pray it will.
Shannon I am so there at your place for the Beast! Let's party girl!
Did someone say MARGARITAS?????
Count me in. Just tell me where and when....
Pam, a federal law on spaying and neutering, might be a little more than the mighty congress can handle. What is needed is something simple that works with out cost overruns. But if was something that would get them reelected they would have a committee on it tomorrow. Beside King George would veto it.
Adrienne, I can imagine the citizens of Hooterville taking up arm if the fire departments host quarterly vaccine clinics where you can get low cost vaccines for your pets from a licensed vet who volunteers their time. They would scream their city tax dollars wasted on animals when they should be out fighting fires. One day we will make it to the 19th century where humans’ dogs and cats can live peacefully together. Oh wait a minute, that would be mass hysteria.
Did some one say, Party Girls and Margaritas????????
Count me in. Just tell me when, where, and who..............
Next Leaf Chronicle poll online is about the licensing and whether it's fair to charge more for non spayed or neutered pets. So all of you go and take the poll!!!!! Encourage others to as well!
Yes, Dragon, there are those here who will be against anything and everything. You crack me up.
Last night on the news they announced that in California they are trying to pass a state law that all dogs and cats over the age of 4 months have to be spayed and neutered. The only exception will be those who apply for a breeder license for pure bred pets only. I like it, but then again I don't for the simple fact it could cause problems with over charging for spay and neuters and from breeders. We'll have to see how this pans out. It could be the start of major changes.
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