The Virginia Federation of Humane Societies has taken the following position on bills impacting community cats -- if you agree, please call or email your state senator and delegate today! (Especially those of you in Senator Ebbins district -- he sits on the Senate Ag Committee and these bills can make or break ongoing TNR programs here in Northern Virginia and elsewhere in the Commonwealth): VFHS Position on Community Cat Legislation The Virginia Federation of Humane Societies is so grateful to the many Good Samaritans across Virginia who are currently participating in community cat programs, and we strongly support the efforts of animal shelters, organizations, and volunteers to spay, neuter, and vaccinate community cats. These programs improve the lives of individual cats through spay/neuter and vaccination, humanely reduces the population of outdoor cats over time, and keep unadoptable cats out of animal shelters. Community cat programs are a win-win for the cats and the community. VFHS strongly supports SB 693, which would clarify that Virginia law does not prohibit localities, organizations, and individuals from engaging in community cat programs. SB 693 would provide peace of mind to individuals participating in TNR programs, and would give an extra tool to animal controls and shelters to address the outdoor cat population. It would NOT mandate any local government or animal control agency from participating in community cat programs, if they don’t want to. VFHS opposes SB 699, unless amended. Unfortunately, this community cat bill would put existing programs on hiatus pending the lengthy process of obtaining a local ordinance. Newly introduced amendments to SB 699 would also require new government regulations that could restrict volunteers from providing spay/neuter assistance to outdoor cats. VFHS agrees with the goal to clearly authorize community cat programs, but we believe SB 699’s current wording is the wrong approach. VFHS strongly supports SB 698, which would create a strong statewide spay/neuter fund in Virginia. The fund would be directed to serve animals most in need of spay/neuter: community cats, dogs and cats in animal shelters, and dogs and cats in low-income households (research shows that spay/neuter rates are closely tied to income). SB 698 would fill the gaping hole between our state’s spay/neuter needs and the currently available. VFHS strongly opposes HB 1565, which mandates seizure and impoundment of certain animals, and almost certainly would result in more animals taken to and euthanized in animal shelters. Under the current law, procedures for seizure of a companion animal carefully balance property owners rights, companion animal owners rights, and animal welfare. This bill upsets that balance and contravenes personal property owner rights. Further, it is an unfunded mandate on animal control officers by mandating they impound certain animals. vfhs.org
Posted on: Thu, 22 Jan 2015 13:00:45 +0000
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