Vet Lobby Fights to Overturn Ban on Cat Declawing
by Imjusta Messenger
Thursday Jun 19th, 2008 5:39 PM
Five years after the city council of West Hollywood enacted their landmark prohibition of the practice of declawing, the California State legislature, prompted by a vet special interest lobby, is considering a bill which would overturn the humane ordinance.
The California Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA), a trade and lobbying organization that lost its battles fair and square in the California courts, got Assembly member Mike Eng to introduce AB 2427 as a “backdoor” attempt to regain the right to amputate cat toes (declawing).
The Secretary State web site shows the CVMA has donated over $169,000 to the legislators voting on this bill.
Dr. Jennifer Conrad initiated the 2003 ban in West Hollywood with its then Mayor John Duran. A veterinarian herself, and the director of the Paw Project, a nonprofit organization that promotes awareness of the crippling effects of declawing, Dr. Conrad said, “The California Veterinary Medical Association is a group of veterinarians primarily concerned with lobbying to maximizing profits for their own practices. One would hope that the CVMA would be more interested in promoting the well-being of animals and less consumed with fighting for the right to maim defenseless cats.”
The declawing procedure may make veterinarians as much as $1,200.00 an hour.
Declawing is the full amputation of the last knuckle of each toe. The procedure cuts through ligaments, tendons, nerves, skin, and blood vessels and is often done with a dull guillotine-type instrument that crunches the bone. This amputation leaves many cats defenseless and in constant pain, causing permanent health problems and bad behaviors such as biting and litter box avoidance.
The CVMA stated in their court brief of 2005 that, “Whether viewed in the abstract as moral or immoral, ethical or unethical … declawing is a part of veterinary medicine.” The CVMA alleged that veterinarians should be allowed to perform declawing on animals without interference from cities such as West Hollywood.
“By this logic, veterinarians should not only be allowed to declaw cats to stop them from scratching furniture, but be able to amputate the legs of dogs to stop them from jumping on the couch.” Dr. Conrad added.
Declawing is it is considered “Unnecessary mutilation” in the United Kingdom. It is absolutely illegal in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, Brazil, Australia and Poland.
The California Veterinary Medical Association sued West Hollywood in 2005 in an effort to overturn the city’s humane ordinance outlawing declawing; however, in 2007 the Court of Appeal ruled that the city could ban the surgery, which the City Council considers “cruel and inhumane.” The California Supreme Court has upheld this view. The only way to sneak around this would be to change state law.
In early 2008, Assembly member Mike Eng (D-El Monte) introduced AB 2427, which would amend the Business and Professions Code to prohibit a city or county from restricting practices by any profession that is licensed or certified by the State Department of Consumer Affairs. As intended by the CVMA, this law would likely threaten the declaw ban, but since it also would have such wide-reaching effects on the traditional regulatory functions of local government, AB 2427 is actively opposed by the League of California Cities and the California State Association of Counties.
Contact: Jennifer Conrad, DVM
Phone: 310 795-6215
http://www.pawproject.com/ http://www.pawproject.com/http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/06/19/18509071.php~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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California Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA) bribes candidates before key vote
by Animal Activist
Wednesday Jun 18th, 2008 12:44 PM
The California Veterinary Medical Association gave last minute contributions to legislators voting on a bill they themselves introduced. Assembly member Mike Eng introduced the bill and a few days later he registered a campaign contribution from CVMA. Previously legislators were opposed to the bill. After the contributions they voted 61 to 5 to pass the bill. We must stop this corruption in our capital.
In 2003 West Hollywood passed an ordinance forbidding veterinarians from declawing domestic cats for non-medical reasons. The city felt it was a cruel practice. When cats are "declawed" the veterinarian just chops off the last digit of the cats' toes.
Veterinarians make a lot of money selling this cruel and unnecessary surgery to uninformed cat owners. The CVMA sued the City of West Hollywood in 2005 claiming they had no authority to regulate their own actions. CVMA lost their lawsuit. The California Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal in 2007 ruling that West Hollywood had the right to prohibit cruel declaw surgeries within its borders.
The CVMA tried to get around this city ordinance by proposing California state bill AB2427. This bill would make it illegal for cities or counties to regulate any businesses or professionals licensed at the state level. This means that anyone could violate numerous city and county laws if they had a state license of any type. Contractors could do loud construction all night long if they had a contractor's license. They would be exempt from city noise ordinances. It sounds crazy but that is the can of worms that is AB2427.
This bill is currently opposed by the California State Association of Counties, the League of California Cities and animal activists. The bill will be heard by the Senate Business, Professions, and Economic Development Committee on Monday, June 23. Let your legislators know that you oppose AB 2427, and ask them to vote against this bill without delay. Calls expressing opposition must be made immediately. Please, contact the members of the committee here
http://www.senate.ca.gov/ftp/sen/committee/STANDING/BUSINESS/_home1/PROFILE.HTM To learn more about declawing, go here
http://www.stopdeclaw.com To learn more about the bill and who voted for it, go here
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/postquery?bill_number=ab_2427&sess=CUR&house=B&author=eng To see which politicians accepted money from CVMA , go here
http://cal-access.ss.ca.gov/Campaign/Committees/Detail.aspx?id=1022620&session=2007&view=contributions http://www.stopdeclaw.comhttp://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/06/18/18508457.php