Legislation: You Can't Live in the Treehouse

When I was a young boy, whenever the call went out that there was going to be a meetin', we all knew where to go --- the treehouse. When we arrived, the smallest of the group, "chimp", would scale the tree and let down the rope ladder. We would all climb up, pull up the ladder, pop our sodas, unwrap our sandwiches, and get to talkin' and plannin'.

Well, last Tuesday April 11 at 12:15 PM, four of us had a modern-day adult "treehouse meetin'", thanks to the wonders of AT&T teleconferencing.

• State Representative. This representative is committed to initiating legislation to address pet overpopulation.
• Aimee St. Arnaud. Currently with ASPCA. Formerly with Best Friends. Founder of Humane Ohio. Founder of Operation Felix --- a Toledo-based spay/neuter clinic based on the Humane Alliance model. Coauthor with Peggy Kaplan of the PetsOhio license plate legislation.
• Ledy VanKavage. Senior Director of Legal Training & Legislation for ASPCA’s National Outreach. Ledy was responsible for the Illinois legislation.
• Yours truly. United Coalition for Animals. I was the one with the soda and sandwich.

We did lots of talkin'. We talked about the New Hampshire and Illinois pet overpopulation statutes and decided that Illinois was the clear winner, e.g. it covers feral cats. We talked about incentives for spay/neuter, public safety, Ohio's dog bite law, microchipping, cats, feral cats, the need to keep in contact with the OVMA and the AVMA. We debated the relative merits of a dog license $2 surcharge, $10 differential, or simple checkoff. We even waxed philosophical about changing minds and hearts and attitudes and redefining “ownership” --- particularly as it relates to cats.

Heck, if we’d had another 30 minutes, we would have been able to mark up the Illinois statute and submit it to the Ohio Governor for his signature --- but Aimee had a conference call at 1:00 PM and had to go.

As for plannin', we talked about a statewide task force. We learned that the best we can hope for is a bill submitted to the ‘lame duck’ congress in the fall of 2006, consideration in the spring of 2007, with potential passage by the end of 2008.

So what do I think? I think you can’t stay in the treehouse talkin’ and plannin’. You have to come down and do something.

December 31, 2008 is a long way away. At the current rate of 33,000 euthanasias per year in the Greater Cincinnati Area, by the end of 2008 another 88,000 will have been euthanized.

In the arena of ideas and in the halls of state government, there are no guarantees. There are 98 representatives and 33 senators and at this point, the content of any future legislation is completely unknowable. Passage is not even certain.

Having said that, does United Coalition for Animals want to contribute to the political debate? You bet. Any time, any place.

But, the single most significant contribution we can make to any legislative debate is to go about our business and prove that high-volume spay/neuter really works.

-steve-

"Spaying pets. Educating people. Saving lives."

Comments

[Kevin Nester]

I was wondering about the Illinois statute that covers feral cats with regards to pet overpopulation - is it legal/illegal to feed strays an ferals in Illinois? Or is this a local and municipal issue? I belive that in Cincinnati, it is illegal to feed strays and ferals. Indy Feral in Indianapolis helped pass an ordinance that de-criminialized feeding strays and ferals. Are there any Ohio communities that did the same?