Item 19: The Pick-a-Pet problem
This is a first reading, meaning nothing sticks until the final vote next time.
First we get a quick background on the shelter, and their efforts to move towards no-kill, or at least less-kill. Listen: it’s always a big problem when the presentation is not provided to the public. It leads to me squinting and trying to figure out what the hell is going on in a graph like this:
Wow! Over the past eight blurry marks on the x-axis, we’ve improved six blurry marks on the y-axis! What a nice upward trend that is. (Elsewhere they said that we’re currently at 92% live outcomes.)
So now we get to the proposed changes. Let’s take the main ones one at a time.
- The second time an animal has been in the shelter, they have to get spayed or neutered. So if you got your dog from the shelter, and they escape and get picked up, you’d be on the hook.
Gleason proposes changing this to the third time. Your pet gets out and gets picked up one time? Fine, but the next time, you’ll have to handle their spay/neutering.
The Vote:
Yes: Mark Gleason, Jane Hughson, Jude Prather, Max Baker, Saul Gonzalez
No: Alyssa Garza
2. Stray-holds for cats: how long should they hold your cat when they pick it up?
This conversation is incredibly confusing. I actually listened to this part twice, and then I went to the actual ordinance and I’m still confused.
First, this is only about cats. Cats do much worse at shelters – it stresses them out, and they’re susceptible to illness and disease. The old rule is that all cats get held for 5 days. After that, your cat can get adopted out or euthanized.
Based on the presentation: the new proposal is to break out different cases:
– Kittens under 3 months old are basically always from feral litters. Kittens don’t escape from homes when they’re that little. So the first proposal is no stray-hold for little baby kittens. They can just be adopted out. (Everyone is fine with this.)
– The next category is cats with traceable identification. Is there a tag, or a microchip? Can we get in touch with the owner? If so, we’ll hold the cat for five days, or three days after reaching out to the owner.
It sounded like this category includes any cat that appears to have an owner – does it have out-dated microchip? Has it been spayed or neutered? But I couldn’t tell for sure.
– The third category is cats without traceable identification, who are healthy. These cats would get spayed and neutered and returned to wherever they got picked up. That way, a healthy outdoor cat does not languish in a shelter. This is Trap/Neuter/Return, or TNR. (Here’s a link I found explaining TNR more thoroughly. It sounds good.)
This third category is the contentious category. Should we hang on to cats without identification for five days?
Based on what’s in the ordinance:
– That third category, cats without traceable identification, are called Community Cats. Feral cat colonies are fine. You’re allowed to feed and love your colony of community cats. Hopefully they’re gradually picked up and spayed and neutered, and any that are injured or sick need to be tended to, and kittens should be removed for adoption.
It does not talk about TNR at all. The presentation did a little, but I don’t see it in the ordinance. What the ordinance says is that visually healthy cats should not get picked up in the first place.
So what happens if your cat gets picked up, despite that? The presentation certainly made it sound like it could happen!
According to the section on Impoundment, cats with no traceable identification will not be held for 5 days. So what happens to them? It doesn’t say! It does not say that we’re implementing TNR and will return them.
What happens to the other cats, the ones with ID? If you don’t pick up your cat, there’s a few options:
– it gets put up for adoption,
– transferred to a different rescue organization,
– fostered out
– euthanized
Nowhere does it say that your cat may be returned to where they found it.
Furthermore, here’s another problem: what happens when the line between community cats and pets gets blurry? Is your cat getting returned to where they found it, or adopted out/euthanized?
Mark and Alyssa are very concerned with a situation where someone is trying to slowly tame a stray cat, and has been putting food out for them, and befriending them, but hasn’t yet been able to catch the cat and take it to the vet for a check-up. If that cat gets picked up by the shelter, what happens?
Mark wants a 5 day hold for this pet, and it sounds like he believes that otherwise the cat will be immediately put up for adoption or euthanized. He never refers to TNR or returning the cat.
Alyssa also wants a 5 day hold. She did acknowledge that the speaker said the cats would be returned, but she was still troubled by this. So she is not on board with TNR. (I’m not sure why. Why would it be better for the cat to sit in a shelter for five days, over being returned to their familiar habitat?)
Here is my opinion: TNR is good, but the ordinance is very poorly written on this point. It should say explicitly which cats will get returned to where they’re picked up, which cats will be held for five days, and what happens to those cats at the end of the five days. TNR should be clearly stated in the Community Cat section, Impounded animals, and Disposition of animals. Right now, it’s written as though it will always be perfectly clear which cats are community cats and which cats are pets, and that bright line does not exist.
3. Finally we get to the big item: pet stores shall not sell cats and dogs unless they come from a shelter. San Antonio has this ordinance, New Braunfels just passed this. It’s a thing that’s going around.
The idea is that the USDA is supposed to visit breeders, and check for humane violations, but they’re massively underfunded and show up maybe once every few years. Under the ordinance, you would still be able to buy a pure bred dog, but you have to buy directly from the breeder. Apparently the American Kennel Club explicitly says that members shouldn’t sell their dogs to pet stores.
I cannot tell you how horrified Gleason is by this. He starts at 4:31.
- He doesn’t think this will affect puppy mills. It’s futile.
- We’re trying to close down Pick-a-pet.
- We’re trying to outlaw pure bred dogs.
- We’re shutting down all breeders!!
- When he was in High School, he saved his pennies and purchased a beloved pet for bird-hunting. You can’t believe how much he loved this dog. His uncle has a sheep dog … for herding sheep!!
- People should be allowed to buy a dog from a store!
- Pet stores won’t have a functional business model.
He’s open to compromise: he wants a rule that pet stores can’t buy from any puppy mill with any infraction from the USDA. Jude Prather is also on board with this.
It’s pretty easy to pick apart Gleason’s arguments, and mostly this occurred.
- Breeders can still sell pure bred dogs.
- Buy your bird-dog and sheep-herder from the breeder. No one is stopping you.
- PetSmart and other pet stores seem to do just fine selling supplies and not actual pure bred dogs and cats.
- I believe you loved your dog, Mark. No one doesn’t believe you.
This was the most entertaining moment to me: Remember how the USDA may only get around to inspecting a puppy mill once every five years?
In response, Mark says, “If we don’t know anything about them, then they could be GOOD! We don’t know! Maybe they’re GOOD!”
Yes. Maybe they’re full of warm snuggles and blankies and rawhide bones. Those mean old activists just hate the snuggly love of a good puppy. You figured it out, Mark.
I don’t want to come down too hard on Mark. I think he was very emotional, and channeling his emotions through nonsensical arguments. I think in his heart of hearts, he believes:
- Puppy mills aren’t that big a problem
- This is about outlawing pure bred dogs, and he loves pure bred dogs.
He’s wrong, though, and he cannot take in information to the contrary.
The vote: Do you want to stop pet stores sourcing puppies from puppy mills?
Yes: Alyssa Garza, Max Baker, Jane Hughson, Saul Gonzalez
No: Mark Gleason, Jude Prather.
There’s one last vote: delaying this part of the ordinance for a year, so that Pick-a-Pet has a chance to convert its business model. That passes 6-0.
Again, all this has to be finalized at the next meeting. First readings are not the final story.
The San Marxist 