OHIO

AKRON

In 2002 the Akron, Ohio City Council passed a law allowing Animal Control to trap and incarcerate all free-roaming cats including pets. Adding to the injustice, up to 82% of cats and kittens were destroyed the first day of impoundment, despite a law requiring the city to hold them for three days.

In 2003, the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) joined forces with Akron's Citizen for Humane Animal Practices (CHAP) to legally challenge the ordinance. With the support of an ALDF grant, attorney J. Jeffrey Holland has filed suit on behalf of six Akron residents with cats. Meanwhile, the slaughter continued.

On February 24, 2005, the Akron Beacon Journal reported :

“Akron's law allowing free-roaming felines to be trapped has come out on top in its most recent catfight.

The 9th District Court of Appeals on Wednesday rejected an appeal by a group of cat lovers who contend the law is unconstitutional.

The appellate court found the law -- which allows for a trap to be set or a warden to pick up a cat after a complaint is made -- is not “unduly oppressive.”

To comply with the law, a cat owner “need only prevent his animal from trespassing upon another's property,” appellate Judge Lynn Slaby wrote.

Citizens for Humane Animal Practices, the group that formed to fight the law, had wanted the appeals court to overturn a May 2004 decision by Summit County Common Pleas Judge Brenda Burnham Unruh.

Jeffrey Holland, the group's attorney, said another appeal is being considered.”

UPDATE:

“A Summit County (Akron) councilman wants to license cats as well as dogs as part of a proposal to offer owners of spayed or neutered pets a lifetime license.

Councilman Tim Crawford introduced legislation this week that would charge owners of neutered pets twice the annual fee - now $8 - for a license that would be good for the life of their dogs or cats.

If the law is approved, Summit County would become the only county in the region to require licenses for cats. Nationwide, about 3 percent of communities require cat owners to get licenses, according to the National Animal Interest Alliance in Portland, Ore.

Crawford's proposal also would increase the license fees by $2 per year for each of 10 years to raise money for the animal shelter, according to a statement Crawford released Wednesday.

‘Establishing a lifetime license fee and annual registration procedure for owners whose domestic animal has been spayed or neutered will encourage increased licensure and responsible pet ownership in Summit County,’ the statement said.

In telephone interviews, some council members said they like the idea of rewarding owners of spayed or neutered dogs with lifetime licenses, but they oppose cat licensing.

Councilman Nick Konstandarus said he cannot support the measure.

‘There are far too many people trying to save cats from being destroyed,’ Konstandarus said. ‘Can I put a burden on these people to license their cats? I don't think so. What will be next? Are we going to license the birds that are flying around?’” (Source: McClellan-Copeland, April. “Cat licenses proposed in Summit: Neutered pets could be registered for life”. Plain Dealer Reporter. 6/8/06.)

Excerpt from the San Francisco SPCA regarding cat licensing:

“The only way cat licensing will reduce the number of stray and abandoned cats is if it is enforced by rounding up unlicensed cats and taking them to the local animal control agency where the vast majority will be killed. And this, we fear, is exactly what will happen. Many individuals and groups openly advocate for cat control measures like licensing as a vehicle for round-up-and-kill measures. And even animal control agencies that disclaim any intention of initiating round-up-and-kill programs will have to respond to complaints about cats from these individuals and groups, which will inevitably result in cats being rounded up and killed.

Without round-up-and-kill measures it seems apparent that cat licensing will only work to increase, not decrease, the number of homeless cats. Faced with citations and penalties for not complying cat caretakers who can't afford the new license fees will be forced to surrender their animals to the local shelter or abandon them to fend for themselves. Neighborhood cats, cats in doorstep colonies or multi-cat households, cherished pets owned by seniors on restricted incomes, feral cats with caretakers on limited budgets. These are the kinds of cats who will be most at risk, and for whom a licensing mandate could well be fatal. Of course, for the stray and abandoned cats already in the community, licensing will do nothing.”

OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY SURVEY OF ANIMAL SHELTERS

Animal shelters reported that, since 1996, the number of dogs they received decreased by about 16 percent, while the number of cats taken in increased by nearly 20 percent. And while the number of dogs euthanized decreased by 39 percent; the number of cats that were put to sleep increased by nearly 14 percent.

“We saw a dramatic drop in the number of dogs euthanized, which we didn’t expect to see,” said Linda Lord, the study’s lead author and a research fellow in veterinary preventive medicine at Ohio State University. “But the survey showed that we are losing ground with cats.”

Lord and her colleagues collected data from 165 animal care and control agencies in Ohio in 2004. They compared the answers to those of a similar study of shelters that they did in 1996. The results of the latest survey are published in the July issue of the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association.

It’s likely that the general findings of this study apply to other states, Lord said.

“What’s going on in Ohio is probably pretty reflective of many parts of the country,” she said.

The researchers mailed the surveys to dog wardens in each of Ohio’s 88 counties, and also to humane societies and municipal animal control agencies in the state. The researchers did not include breed-specific rescue groups in their study. The surveys included questions on vaccination, spaying and neutering practices, relationships with veterinary practices, euthanasia rates and the cost of running a facility.

The study revealed that since 1996:

-The number of shelters that vaccinate and spay or neuter their animals has risen from a little more than half (56 percent) to nearly three out of four (71 percent);

-The number of animal care and control agencies that have an established partnership with a veterinarian or a veterinary practice has doubled (40 percent in 1996 to 80 percent in 2004);

-More than two out of three agencies (68 percent) include the cost of spaying or neutering in the adoption fees that they charge. Less than half (46 percent) of the agencies did so in 1996. (In Ohio, adoption fees for a dog or puppy range from $5 to $150, and the price to take home a cat or kitten ranges from nothing to $80); and

-The cost of running an animal shelter has increased considerably since 1996. Estimated total expenses for all animal care and control agencies in Ohio during 2004 were $57.7 million, up from an estimated $34.2 million in 1996.

The amount of money earmarked by county and city governments in Ohio for animal care and control agencies in 2004 rose to $25.8 million, up from $18.6 million in 1996.

“Non-profit agencies and private donations provide much of the financial support beyond what comes from the government,” Lord said.

Lord said she would like to see more agencies scan animals for microchips, which pet owners can buy and have implanted under the skins of their pets. These chips provide permanent identification about where the pet belongs.

“About 60 percent of the shelters scan for microchips, and that’s up from 48 percent 10 years ago,” she said. “Having the ability to scan for these chips could keep more animals out of shelters.”

Some 63,700 dogs were adopted in 2004, compared to 51,600 in 1996. It’s possible that the fate of orphaned dogs has improved due to more vigilant spaying and neutering policies.

“It may make potential dog owners more likely to adopt an animal from a shelter,” Lord said.

Nearly 40,000 cats were adopted in 2004, up from an estimated 29,400 in 1996. Still, euthanasia rates rose for cats.

“Shelters do everything that they can to care for the animals, but there are so many cats that it’s very difficult to manage the quantity,” said Lord, who also pointed out that, like most other states, Ohio’s domestic animal laws differ for dogs and cats.

“We need a comprehensive strategy in Ohio at the state and local level to deal with stray cats,” she said.

Lord conducted the study with Ohio State colleagues Thomas Wittum, Julie Funk, and Paivi Rajala-Schultz, all with veterinary preventive medicine; and with Amy Ferketich and Ross Kauffman, both with Ohio State’s School of Public Health. (Source: Ohio State University, June 2006)