Annie Burris of the The Orange County Register reported today that Huntington Beach’s City Council voted to implement a mandatory pet program which includes spaying, neutering and requires the insertion of microchips in all dogs and cats residing within the city. HB is the first city in California to mandate micro-chipping of pets and it has many wondering if the government has reached too far and whether their city or county will adopt a similar program in the future.
There is currently a mandatory spay/neuter bill moving the state assembly. If passed, AB 1634, California Healthy Pets Act, would require that dog and cat owners have pets older than six months spayed or neutered. Visit the “official site” to see the lengthy list of supporters. There are also numerous opponents of the bill as well. See an article written by Christina Macon-Greene of The Village News which outlines some of the issues raised by those on both sides of the issue.
The two most widely recognized microchips used are AVID® and HomeAgain™. All microchips used within the United States for the purposes of tracking pets, operate by sending and receiving radio wave signals at 125 kHz. Shelters and animal rescue operations have a universal scanner that reads all brands of microchips transmitting at this frequency. The cost of implanting a chip is between $20-$40. Spaying and neutering fees vary significantly but are generally from $50 - $100.
Like Huntington Beach, Rancho Santa Margarita also contracts HCA Animal Care Services, a division of Orange County Health Care Agency, to provide temporary shelter and medical care to “lost” pets. RSM does not maintain it’s own shelter. A list of shelters is provided at the OC Humane Society website.
I have a call into Doug Fraijo, Code Enforcement Officer for Rancho Santa Margarita to see there has been any discussion by Rancho Santa Margarita politicians or government officials on the subject of mandatory spaying, neutering and “chipping”. I’ll post his response as soon as it comes in.
In the meanwhile, what are your thoughts on AB 1634 or Huntington Beach’s decision to mandate the spaying, neutering and micro-chipping of pets?
Amendment to original post: The issue for Huntington Beach City Council’s vote was not to ‘implement’ a mandatory pet program as stated above, but to ‘draft an ordinance’ for a mandatory pet program. For more information you may wish to read Ashley Power’s (LA Times Staff Writer) article. Additionally, AB 1634 has been shelved for additional amendments and will be reintroduced in January, 2008.
UPDATE: On September 6th I spoke with Doug Fraijo regarding the issues of mandatory spaying, neutering and micro-chipping. Mr. Fraijo indicated that he deals directly with the County and Animal Care Services and he is unaware of any problems with pet overpopulation in RSM at this time. “It doesn’t appear to be an issue (for Rancho Santa Margarita) at this time,” Mr. Fraijo stated. “The only problems I’m aware of are related to barking dogs.”
ADDITION: Additional post that may merit reading: