BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1810
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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)
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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
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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
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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
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(sponsor)
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Elissa Silva / B.,P. & C.P. / (916)
319-3301