No More Homeless Pets Can’t Be Legislated – Or Un-Legislated

An Analysis

By Ellen Gilmore, Best Friends Campaign Specialist for First Home Forever Home

California’s finances are in big, big trouble, and that means that animals entering state-supported animal shelters are in big, big trouble, too.

June is budget month in California, and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has been traveling the state to talk about the financial crisis as well as his proposed solutions.

Among them, he’s proposed a reduction in mandated shelter hold times from the current four- to six-day hold back to a maximum required 72-hour hold time for pets entering a shelter. This cost-saving idea has brought forth a flurry of objections from the pet-loving public in recent weeks.

The Governor’s Proposal & Rationale

This proposal is wrapped up in an abyss of funding cuts for anything not covered by the complex Proposition 98, which was approved by voters in 1998, more than a decade ago. The exact proposal to reduce mandated shelter hold times is not in the specific written language in any of the documents posted on the California budget website, but the Governor has confirmed his intentions in an email response to a Best Friends Network volunteer:

”As you know, we are in the midst of the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression. We now face a budget shortfall that has grown to $24.3 billion. I have proposed cuts that I would have never proposed except in a worst-case scenario, including eliminating General Fund support for programs like Healthy Families, CalWORKs, Cal Grants and State Parks. This was not an easy decision for me. As a dog owner myself, I have always supported animal welfare and have worked to ensure the humane treatment of animals.

“Currently, the state requires all shelters to hold stray animals for four or six days and reimburses them for the associated costs. To address our budget crisis, I have proposed to suspend some Non-Proposition 98 mandates, including the reimbursement funds for these shelters. To help local shelters deal with the challenges of this difficult budget situation, I have also proposed that the state no longer require the four or six day hold time. Shelters still have the flexibility to keep the animals for more days, but my proposal avoids placing an unnecessary burden on local communities.”

It’s All About the Money

In the past year, more pets have been relinquished to shelters or abandoned because their families are facing tough economic times. An increase in relinquished or abandoned pets impacts shelters and their operating budgets, and economic crisis is affecting families as well as local and state governments.

The Governor’s proposal to shorten the opportunity for pets in shelters to be reunited with their families or to be adopted into a new home is clearly unacceptable from the point of view that pets are living, feeling beings and should never be seen as disposable.

Clearly, viewing pets as fiscal waste is the wrong message to send to citizens when humane groups everywhere are working tirelessly to educate the public about responsible pet ownership, puppy mills, adoption alternatives, breed-specific legislation, community cats, spay-neuter, and the empathetic treatment of animals.

Enacting a reduction in mandated shelter hold time will certainly save money, but it will also certainly increase the number of pets euthanized.

Nevertheless, the Governor’s proposals are merely a deeply disturbing symptom of the real solutions that must be pursued in the Golden State and elsewhere.

The Best Friends No More Homeless Pets movement is focused on bringing about a time when homeless, unwanted animals are no longer being destroyed in shelters, and when every healthy dog or cat can be guaranteed a good life in a caring home.

Empathy and responsibility for pets begins at home in local communities, starting with the family and growing through grassroots efforts.

First Home Forever Home

The Best Friends First Home Forever Home campaign is part of Best Friends’ mission to bring about a time when there are No More Homeless Pets. The campaign focuses on all aspects of helping people make and honor a lifetime commitment to their pets.

Budget cuts or not, millions of companion animals die every year in crowded shelters because their families decided to let them go for some reason. Through education, intervention and action, First Home Forever Home provides guidance and resources to help people care for their pets and keep them as loved members of their families.

The campaign goal is to help individuals and families understand that bringing a pet into one’s life requires commitment of time, energy and resources to ensure that the animal has the quality of life he or she deserves. We create awareness about the need for careful consideration of the lifetime care required when someone gets a pet. Best Friends networks in communities across the country to support local efforts, offer assistance with projects, and share available resources.

How You Can Help

Post your opinions about the proposed budget cuts, stories about shelter best practices, successful local efforts, or anything else relevant on our First Home Forever Home community forum here. Click the “new topic” icon to create your post.

Contact your California county or city animal shelter to tell them that you oppose shortened holding periods. Since the hold time is ultimately a local decision, encourage local government to investigate and consider innovative programs that incorporate a variety of incentives for responsible pet ownership. One such program is described through an interview with the Orange County Register, posted here.

Work with local authorities to start a “Friends of the Shelter” support group to assist with education and enhance shelter programs and services. To get ideas about forming this type of group, check out some of these organizations:
Friends of Animal Services in Antioch, CA
Friends of County Animal Services in San Diego, CA
California Animal Shelter Friends in Sacramento/Woodland, CA

Promote spay-neuter in your community!

Check out the Best Friends Spay-Neuter Resources.

We also have some great new spay-neuter posters that you can download, print, and post: Stud poster, Nympho poster, and Sex Machine poster

Help start a Spay-Neuter Program in your community to reduce the number of homeless pets.

Help educate children and families in your community about responsible pet care by becoming a Best Friends Education Ambassador.

You can further help educate the citizens in your community by familiarizing yourself with and sharing the resources available in the Best Friends Pet Care Library, the Best Friends No More Homeless Pets Resource Library

Learn more about the proposed Pet Responsibility Act and encourage your legislators to consider the addition of an exclusion for feral cat caregivers.

And, of course, don’t leave out the Governor. Email Governor Schwarzenegger to let him know you oppose any measures that reduces the mandated shelter holding period in California. Make a phone call to his office at 916-445-2841 to voice your opinion, and call your district office to register your opinion there.

Stock photos provided by Clay Myers, Best Friends staff photographer.