Passed in May, and effective immediately: All "adoptions" from shelter/rescue and dogs sold at retail must be sterilized. (police, service and competition dogs exempted).
Sale of Unsterilized Animals Prohibited. No animal retailer shall sell a dog or cat on a retail basis unless the animal is of an appropriate age for sterilization and the animal has been sterilized by a licensed veterinarian. In addition to a fine for any unsterilized cat or dog sold in violation of this subsection, the Animal ControlSome provisions in this ordinance sound eerily similar to the Title 10 ordinance in LA, including the requirement for kennels to have staffing for 18 hrs per day. However, the mandatory sterilization requirement in LA applies to every owned dog.
Agency may order an animal retailer to cease operations for up to one year from the date of a violation.
Does the "sold at retail" provision apply to private parties (i.e. small home breeders)? According to the definition included in the ordinance, it just might apply depending on what is considered a "business". If you deduct your expenses for tax purposes, are you a "business"?
Animal Retailer. A person in the business of selling dogs or cats to the
ultimate owners of such dogs or cats, including but not limited to a pet shop kennel under the Dog Law, and a dealer, to the extent such dealer engages in the retail sale of dogs or cats.
As in LA, the requirements necessary to qualify for an exemption as a "competition" dog have not been cearly defined. See page 15-16 for the MSN requirements.
http://www.pijac.org/_documents/pa_philadelphia_mandatory_spay-neuter_ordinance_2011.pdf
But wait! As if that mandatory sterilization law is not enough to make you want to move to some freer nation (Mexico perhaps?), there are yet more chilling new rules now in effect under this ordinance. Now veterinarians must verify dog licensure in order to treat the animal. And, a seller reporting requirement sounds strangely similar to a bill currently in the California legislature, AB 1121, that mandates "pet dealers" report the details of their sales to the local licensing agency.
(a) Licensing Upon Purchase or Adoption. A person obtaining a dog
that must be licensed under this Section from an animal retailer or animal shelter shall submit an application and the applicable fee for such license to a dog licensing agent or the Animal Control Agency as a condition of obtaining the dog. No animal retailer or animal shelter shall release a dog to a person unless such person has submitted a license application and applicable fee.
(b) Licensing Upon Provision of Services. Whenever a veterinarian, veterinary hospital, boarding kennel, or groomer provides services for a dog that must be licensed under this Section, such service provider shall verify that the dog is licensed.http://www.pijac.org/_documents/pa_philadelphia_mandatory_spay-neuter_ordinance_2011.pdf
Can you imagine how many dogs will not be treated when they need it? Bad enough to make vets report their rabies vaccinations to the state, but now for veterinarians to be the licensing police??
All this out of a city that saw the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the assembly of the Continental Congress, and that was the seat of the new Republic in the 18th century. All traded away for Gestapo-style tactics aimed against the citizenry.
A sad reflection on how far we have strayed from the freedoms which founded our nation.
even dog groomers have to ask if the dog is licensed.. ( Taxed) Getting others to do your dirty work is common in these types of laws.. can you imagine a dog coming into a vet hit by a car and the vet saying HOLD ON..is this dog licensed?
ReplyDeleteThe Liberty Bell just cracked a bit further..
I just re-read the AKC alert on this ordinance that was posted last April. Apparently, there is currently a 12 dog limit or one must apply for a kennel license; HOWEVER, previously, only four of those twelve dogs could remain intact. Now, however, they are reducing that limit to TWO intact dogs. How can a small hobby breeder have any sort of meaningful breeding program with only TWO intact dogs? Just go ahead and breed them even in they develop a genetic health problem, I guess, after all, they'll be the only ones left with their reproductive organs so there will be no choice in the matter.
ReplyDeleteAnd, let's not forget all those poor dogs that are forcibly sterilized at the price of their good health. What is wrong with our elected officials? MORONS.
If the owner does not produce proof that the dog is licensed or that the owner has applied to the Animal Control Agency for a license, the service provider shall take a license application and collect the license fee from the owner under Section 10-103(6). If the owner refuses to license the dog, the service provider shall issue a notice to the owner of the City’s dog licensing requirements, the owner shall sign the notice, and the service provider shall maintain the signed notice on file for two years. The service provider shall notify the Animal Control Agency within five (5) days of providing services that such dog is not licensed. Such notice shall include the owner’s name and address.
ReplyDeleteHow does that affect your business as a dog groomer.. or boarding kennel.. just another reason to groom your dog yourself and to hire an in home pet sitter.. there by taking tax dollars out of the public coffers at a time when that sort of thing is NOT needed.. making vets, groomers and kennel owners the licensing police is the city having its work done for them by a private party.. WRONG
As a retired groomer, I simply refuse to be a part of their police force. If I wanted to be a cop, I'd have gone to the police academy.
ReplyDeleteor bought a uniform.and a fake badge li9ke the HSUS. LOL
ReplyDeleteAs in so many over-regulated jurisdictions, people will begin to operate their businesses word-of-mouth out of their homes. This will not only hurt the tax collector, but the advertising business, commercial leasing, etc. However, this already goes on in NYC, LA, Boston, etc., and, I assume, Philly. The idiots who write the rules just don't get that people will always figure out a way around the rules. Fascism as a sustainable mode of government just does not work
ReplyDeleteIt took an all-out revolt from rank-and-file California veterinarians against the CA statewide mandatory spay/neuter bill AB 1634, back in 2007 - to get the California Veterinary Medical Association Board to admit their HUGE mistake in spon...soring AB 1634 without bothering to check with their membership. As the list mounted of vets who stated they would not renew their CVMA membership unless CVMA withdrew support of a bill mandating medical procedures with SERIOUS-TO-FATAL health risks - the organization was forced to back down. What lesson was learned? Not the obvious one: Let veterinarians practice medicine, while earning trust from their clients? No - apparently the AR movement learned that they better just flat-out remove the doctor's Constitutional rights, along with their client's. Hey we've been getting legislators to pass unconstitutional laws that get more egregious every year. Let's roll the dice and see if we can get away with this too. Forcing veterinarians to double as bad cops and greedy bureaucrats - hey that's what they spent 8 years in college for, right?
ReplyDeleteSection 10-114 (2) "Newborn animals and new animals introduced into a kennel shall receive a wellness examination from a licensed veterinarian within three calendar days after entry into the kennel." Do canine vets in that area make "house calls" to kennels? Even if so, there's still risk of viruses, etc... hitching a ride into your kennel on clothes, shoes, etc... from wherever vet was earlier that day. But still beats the alternative... Which is - within 3 days of birth - every Philadelphia kennel operator with a newborn litter is REQUIRED BY LAW to load up a mother and all her puppies - stressing them out and compromising their immune systems - during the exact window of time they are forced to take them into the nearest environment most likely to be crawling with nosocomial infections and contagious, deadly diseases. And what's the rationale behind a law mandating a "wellness exam" of 3 day old puppies? In those first few days, if a puppy is truly failing to thrive, isn't it usually Darwin at work? And this is coming from someone who weighed the puppies twice a day from Day One, in the last big litter whelped - to ensure a puppy never got to fail. It worked, they all lived. I've only whelped a handful of litters, so I'd be curious to hear the opinions of expert breeders on this subject. This provision is clearly insane from an epidemiological standpoint right? So that leaves a hidden agenda feel. But what? Getting an early head count of puppies born in Philadelphia kennels for tracking purposes? Canine Population Control in Philadelphia via Parvo Epidemic?
ReplyDelete