San Antonio, Texas

This Ordinance Passed

San Antonio is considering a revision to their animal ordinance that is on the fast track for passage in September and will make it difficult for cat breeders to continue their hobby.

Contact city officials NOW to voice your opposition. See contact information below.

The actual draft of the ordinance has not been made available yet but currently includes:

1. Mandatory Spay/Neuter. MSN required absent an unaltered license fee of $75 for dogs and cats. Animals not in compliance are subject to seizure and impoundment.

2. All outdoor cats must be spayed or neutered.

3. Breeder/Litter Permit. Must be purchased prior to or within 10 days of the litter’s birth, one litter per female dog/cat per year. If a person fails to obtain the permit, female dog/cat and litter are subject to seizure and impoundment.

4. Pet Limits - 8 cats or 5 dogs or 8 cats and dogs in combinations. Must apply for Excess Animal Permit to keep more animals, which requires all excess animals be sterilized and microchipped, photograph attached to animal profile sheet for each animal; animals can’t be kept “exclusively outside”, must have adequate facilities and more or the animals are subject to seizure and impoundment.

5. Free Roaming and Outdoor Cat Colony Permits. Requires registration of the colony, managers will have to assure that proper care of the animals will be made at all times, all the animals will be s/n with ear cropping, vaccinations as required by law for all the cats, record keeping to show compliance, and remove kittens prior to 8 weeks old for domestication and placement.

1. MSN, breeder/litter licensing and different licensing has failed in other areas that have tried it. Not only is the licensing rate dramatically reduced but it greatly increases the animal control costs and are an administrative hassle in areas that enact such laws even where there is no primary enforcement of the laws..

2. MSN will do little to address the primary source of unwanted cats and kittens which is the feral cat population.  87% -95% of owned cats are sterilized and over 70% of owned dogs are spayed or neutered. Unowned cats won't surrender themselves for sterilization. MSN also does not address the problem of pet retention. Pets are frequently surrendered because of behavioral problems or the lack of preparedness of the owner for pet ownership.

3. Surgery is not without risk. There are studies that show certain breeds of dogs are at greater risk of certain health problems if the dog undergoes early s/n. There is no study performed on purebred cats to determine if some cat breeds may also suffer ill effects from sterilization at some arbitrary age. The determination of when and if to perform surgery on any pet should be between the pet owner and their veterinarian, not government.

3. Breeder/litter permits are a failed concept. Few permits are sold where such ordinances have been enacted. Most of the problems of indiscriminate breeding of owned pets come from low income areas. People who can't afford to sterilize their pets, can't afford breeder/litter permits or licensing fees.

4. The litter permit restrictions may adversely affect the health of the cat which surely is not the intent of the legislation. Cats are subject to health problems if not bred in accordance with their own individual needs. Some cats most be bred more often than once a year or they may suffer serious, and sometimes fatal, health problems. No ordinance should place a cat at risk of illness or death.

5. Pet limits are detrimental to the goal of reducing euthanasia. By making it harder for responsible pet owners to own more than some arbitrary number of animals, the number of homes available for pets is reduced. Do not make San Antonio's existing limit laws more restrictive.

6. Supporting feral/stray cat management is a must if the city wants to help bring feline euthanasia rates down. However, the requirements are a disincentive to anyone wanting to help manage a colony or even 1 or 2 "loosely owned" neighborhood street cats.

7. There is no allowancefor enclosed outdoor runs for cats or taking the cat outside (even in your own backyard) with suitable restraint. Mandatory sterilization should be limited to unrestrained cats that live exclusively outdoors.

8. San Antonio has a comprehensive animal control ordinance and should focus on better enforcement of the existing nuisance, neglect and abuse provisions rather than pass unworkable  and unenforceable laws.

Contact the city officials listed below NOW to let them know of your opposition to this ordinance revision.

E-mail:  mayorphilhardberger@sanantonio.gov

E-mail:  citymanager@sanantonio.gov

E-mail:  maryalice.cisneros@sanantonio.gov

E-mail:  district2@sanantonio.gov

E-mail:  district3@sanantonio.gov

E-mail:  vsalazar@sanantonio.gov

E-mail:  district 6@sanantonio.gov

E-mail:  district7@sanantonio.gov

E-mail:  diane.cibrian@sanantonio.gov

E-mail:  kwolff@sanantonio.gov

E-mail:  john.clamp@sanantonio.gov

Chair, Legislative Committee