BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 1810 Page 1 Date of Hearing: March 25, 2014 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON BUSINESS, PROFESSIONS AND CONSUMER PROTECTION Susan A. Bonilla, Chair AB 1810 (Maienschein) - As Introduced: February 18, 2014 SUBJECT : Deposits for keeping: abandoned animals. SUMMARY : Permits a veterinarian or animal care facility to turn over an abandoned animal to a public animal control agency or shelter rather than euthanize it, as long as the shelter has not refused to take the animal, and deletes the requirement that an abandoned animal be euthanized 10 days after abandonment. Specifically, this bill : 1)Makes permissive, rather than mandatory, that an abandoned animal be euthanized after the person into whose custody the animal was placed looks for a new owner for 10 days, as specified. 2)Makes permissive, rather than mandatory, that a veterinarian euthanize an animal abandoned with a veterinarian, or a facility that has a veterinarian, and a new owner cannot be found, as specified. 3)Permits an abandoned animal to be turned over to a public animal control agency or shelter, society for the prevention of cruelty to animals shelter, or humane society shelter, provided that the shelter has been contacted and has not refused to take the animal. 4)Makes other technical and clarifying amendments. EXISTING LAW : 1)Requires a depositary of living animals to provide the animals with necessary and prompt veterinary care, nutrition, shelter and to treat them kindly, under penalty of civil damages, as specified. (Civil Code (CC) Section 1834) 2)States the policy of California that no adoptable animal should be euthanized if it can be adopted into a suitable home and no treatable animal should be euthanized. (CC 1834.4) AB 1810 Page 2 3)Deems an animal "abandoned" if an animal is delivered to any veterinarian, dog kennel, cat kennel, pet-grooming parlor, animal hospital, or any other animal care facility pursuant to a written or oral agreement and the owner does not pick up the animal within 14 calendar days after the day the animal was due to be picked up. (CC 1834.5) 4)Requires the person into whose care the animal was placed to first try for a period of not less than 10 days to find a new owner for the animal, and, if unable to place the animal with a new owner, humanely destroy the animal. (CC 1834.5) 5)Requires a veterinarian to humanely destroy an abandoned animal, if the abandoned animal was left with a veterinarian or with a facility which has a veterinarian, and a new owner cannot be found. (CC 1834.5) 6)Specifies that an abandoned animal, as specified, cannot be used for scientific or any other kind of experimentation and may not be turned over to a pound or animal or regulation department of a public agency. (CC 1834.6) 7)Provides that every sick, disabled, infirm, or crippled animal, except a dog or cat, that is abandoned may be "killed" by the peace officer, humane society officer, or animal control officer if, after a reasonable search, no owner of the animal can be found, and provides for other circumstances under which a dog or cat may be "killed," or "destroyed" or "disposed of." (Penal Code (PC) Section 597.1, 597(f)) FISCAL EFFECT : None. This bill is keyed non-fiscal by the Legislative Counsel. COMMENTS : 1)Purpose of the bill . This bill modifies current law to give veterinarians and specified animal care facilities such as kennels, pet groomers or animal hospitals the discretion to decide whether or not to euthanize an abandoned animal after it has been abandoned for at least 10 days, or to turn over the abandoned animal to a public animal control agency, shelter or designated humane association. Current law appears to require that veterinarians and animal care facilities destroy abandoned animals after 10 days, and this bill is AB 1810 Page 3 intended to relax that requirement. This bill is sponsored by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASCPA). 2)Author's statement . According to the author, "Existing law declares an animal abandoned if it has been left at an animal care facility 14 days after it was supposed to be picked up by its owner. Following those 14 days, the animal care facility is obligated to spend 10 days looking for a new home for that animal and if a new home cannot be found the animal must be euthanized. Existing law also prohibits the animal from being given to animal control. [This bill] authorizes animal care facilities to turn over an abandoned animal to animal control, humane society or society for the prevention of cruelty to animals, provided that the shelter has been contacted and has not refused to take the animal; and [this bill] repeals the requirement that an animal care facility "shall" euthanize an abandoned animal after 24 days, granting facilities more flexibility to find a new home beyond those initial 24 days while retaining their current authority. [This bill] does not change the timeline of 24 days before the facility can decide how to proceed with the animal. California has made great strides enacting laws aimed at attaining more positive outcomes for abandoned animals [and this bill] revises an outdated portion of the law to better reflect our modern view of animal welfare." 3)Deposited animals . Under current law, if an animal is not retrieved within 14 days after it was due to be picked up, the animal is considered to be abandoned. Once the animal is determined to be abandoned, the service provider must keep the animal for an additional 10 days while attempting to find the original owner or a new owner. If after the initial 14 days and the additional 10 days (for a total of 24 days), the legal owner has not retrieved the animal or the service provider has been unable to locate a new home for the animal, current law requires the service provider to "humanely destroy" the abandoned animal. Because veterinary clinics, pet groomers, boarding centers and other animal care facilities are not required to report or maintain data about abandoned animals it is unknown exactly how many animals are abandoned and euthanized annually. Because each animal care facility may have its own procedures AB 1810 Page 4 and protocols for treating abandoned animals, this bill will clarify that animal care facilities need not euthanize abandoned animals if they would prefer to wait or turn them over to a shelter, if permitted. According to the Humane Society of the United States, animal shelters care for 6-8 million dogs and cats every year in the United States, of whom approximately 3-4 million are euthanized. At this time, there is no central data reporting agency for animal shelters, so these numbers are estimates. Further, because there is no central data or data reporting requirements for shelters or animal care facilities, and because shelters or other rescue facilities are not required to maintain data about the number of surrendered, reclaimed or euthanized animals it is difficult to know the total number of animals that may have been turned over to an animal care facility if they were abandoned at places such as veterinarians, pet groomers or other animal care service facilities. 4)Arguments in support . The ASPCA writes in support, "[This bill] will simply modernize existing law relating to animals abandoned at animal care facilities - veterinary offices, spay/neuter clinics, grooming facilities and so forth. Under existing law, an animal is declared abandoned at an animal care facility 14 days after when the owner was supposed to pick up the animal. Current law obligates the facility to spend 10 days trying to place the animal with a new owner. After those 10 days, for a total of 24 days, existing law mandates that the animal be euthanized. Additionally, current law explicitly prohibits the animal care facility from turning the animal over to a shelter." 5)Previous legislation . AB 1279 (Fletcher) of 2011, would have changed and deleted obsolete terminology dealing with the seizure, impounding, rescue, adoption, and euthanasia of abandoned and surrendered animals by animal shelters and rescue organizations. This bill was held at the Senate Desk. REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION : Support American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals AB 1810 Page 5 (sponsor) Opposition None on file. Analysis Prepared by : Elissa Silva / B.,P. & C.P. / (916) 319-3301