BILL NUMBER: ACR 74 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Portantino
MAY 18, 2009
Relative to the treatment of animals.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
ACR 74, as introduced, Portantino. Animal shelters: No Kill
movement policies.
This measure would urge local animal services agencies, local
animal shelters, agencies under contract to provide animal services,
societies for the prevention of cruelty to animals, and humane
societies to embrace the philosophy of the No Kill movement and
implement its programs and services aimed at ending the mass killing
of sheltered animals.
Fiscal committee: no.
WHEREAS, Societies for the prevention of cruelty to animals,
animal shelters, and other humane organizations were formed to
establish standards for humane treatment of animals and to protect
them from harm; and
WHEREAS, Traditional sheltering practices allow the mass killing
of sheltered animals; and
WHEREAS, Every year animal shelters in California are killing
thousands of healthy and treatable animals that could be placed in
homes and thousands of feral cats that do not belong in animal
shelters; and
WHEREAS, Citizens have a right to expect animal protection
organizations, animal services agencies, animal shelters, agencies
under contract to provide local animal services, societies for the
prevention of cruelty to animals, and humane societies to do
everything in their power to promote, protect, and advocate for the
lives of animals; and
WHEREAS, Citizens have a right to have their government spend
their tax dollars not on programs and services that kill animals but
on those that save and enhance the lives of animals and protect
animals from cruelty; and
WHEREAS, Citizens have the right to full and complete disclosure
about how animal shelters operate; and
WHEREAS, The No Kill movement in the United States has
successfully implemented new and innovative programs that provide
alternatives to killing sheltered animals; and
WHEREAS, Under the No Kill animal sheltering method, shelter
directors dedicate themselves and actively commit management and
staff to animal lifesaving programs and policies to promptly end mass
killing of sheltered animals; and
WHEREAS, The No Kill animal sheltering method creates and funds
high-volume, low- and no-cost spay or neuter services; and
WHEREAS, The No Kill animal sheltering method incorporates the
following animal lifesaving programs and policies:
(a) Volunteer foster care network programs to care for sheltered
animals that are underaged, traumatized, sick, injured, or otherwise
in need of refuge, unless the prognosis for rehabilitation of that
individual animal is poor or grave.
(b) Comprehensive adoption programs that operate during weekend
and evening hours and include offsite adoption venues.
(c) Medical and behavioral rehabilitation programs, which may
include the creation of a special public monetary fund, that allow
outside veterinarians to do voluntary rotations to supplement staff,
provide medical help, diagnose, vaccinate, and administer medication
and treatment.
(d) Pet retention programs to solve medical, environmental, or
behavioral problems, which include, but are not limited to,
shelter-housed pet care libraries, free in-home dog behavior problem
solving taught by volunteers, low-cost or volunteer-provided dog
training, and pet behavior classes.
(e) Multilingual public education and awareness programs.
(f) Feral cat trap-neuter-return or release (TNR) programs for the
purposes of ending the policy of accepting trapped feral cats to be
destroyed as unadoptable, and establishing TNR as the accepted method
of feral cat control by educating the public about TNR and offering
TNR program services.
(g) Animal socialization programs using community volunteers.
(h) Volunteer programs to socialize animals, promote adoptions,
and assist in shelter operations.
(i) Voluntary animal training programs offered to government
controlled shelters by dog and cat breed clubs, certified training
groups, or animal trainers.
(j) Government-employed animal shelter staff participation in
breed identification training.
(k) Creation and maintenance of a directory of local nonprofit
rescue groups.
(l) Prekilling notification to rescue groups before animals are
killed.
(m) Rescue group access to sheltered animals during normal
business hours for the purpose of identification, adoption, or advice
on the treatment of their breed.
(n) Adoption or release of animals to rescue organizations for
rehoming.
(o) Documentation that all efforts to save an animal have been
considered before killing the animal, including medical and
behavioral rehabilitation, foster care, rescue groups, neuter and
release, and adoption.
(p) Killing an animal only after the shelter has made an
independent determination that the animal is irremediably suffering
or cannot be rehabilitated.
(q) Temperament testing by persons trained in animal behavior
sciences which results in less killing of animals that are not truly
vicious but can be placed in homes or released, such as shy, timid,
or frightened animals.
(r) Owner counseling on owner-requested killing of animals to
ascertain if there is an alternative that will allow the owner to
keep the animal and to determine whether the animal can be rehomed.
(s) Examination of animal control ordinances, such as cat
licensing, pet limit laws, bans on feeding stray animals, bans on
specific breeds, and mandatory spay and neuter programs, to assess
the effectiveness of those ordinances and their impact on animal
death rates; and
WHEREAS, The Legislature believes animal lifesaving changes will
come about if No Kill programs are embraced and further developed;
now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate
thereof concurring, That the Legislature encourages No Kill animal
shelter policies and procedures as the foundation for animal
sheltering; and be it further
Resolved, That the Legislature urges all local animal services
agencies, local animal shelters, agencies under contract to provide
animal services, societies for the prevention of cruelty to animals,
and humane societies to embrace the philosophy of the No Kill
movement, and to immediately begin implementing programs and services
to reject failed kill-oriented policies and end the mass killing of
sheltered animals; and be it further
Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of
this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.