Palm Beach County approves mandatory pet sterilization

News Analysis And Commentary
By John Johnston
Managing Editor

Q: What totals 84,000 since the year 2000?

A: The number of animals euthanized by Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control (ACC) during those years, Assistant County Administrator Vince Bonvento told Palm Beach County Commissioners Tuesday.

Rose Gruda, one of public who spoke Tuesday, addressed the issue head on, saying, “that’s a nice word, euthanasia – but what we’re doing is killing them.”

And while Elliot Krakow, another of Tuesday’s speakers, said a solution to the “barbaric and unconscionable” activity of euthanizing that many animals would be to have a moratorium on hobbyist breeding, what was approved by commissioners stopped short of a moratorium, but drew a different kind of line in the Palm Beach County sand:

• Neuter or spay your pet – or pay.

• And if you’re a breeder – pay some more.

“It may be distasteful to have Big Brother government step in, but it’s about time,” said Gruda.

The Plan

Commissioners approved a plan that requires all pet owners to spay and neuter those animals – and absent doing that, pay for a much more expensive license, and also sign an agreement not to breed those pets.

Breeders would be required to obtain a breeding permit – and then give to the county the names, addresses and phone numbers of the people who buy those animals. Breeders would also be prevented from breeding more than two litters of kittens and/or puppies a year.

The plan would initially be funded by $500,000 from the General Fund Contingency to establish a countywide sterilization voucher program. A second full-time veterinarian would also be hired and paid by non-ad valorem rabies tag fees, commissioners said.

Subsets of the overall plan include:

• Establishment of a low-income west county no-cost spay/neuter clinic.
• Expand existing spay shuttle operational hours/days.
• Develop a humane education program with the Palm Beach County school system and Channel 20.
• Establish three, “24-hour op around the clock” events for owned and/or feral cats. (A similar proposal resulted in more than 400 cats sterilized earlier this year).
• Implement a “Citizens Animal Patrol” volunteer program for public education.

And while the so-called “hobbyist” might be inconvenienced by the new plan, critics say the serious breeder takes it on the whiskers, i.e:

Breeders would have 90 days to register. After that 90-day grace period, a permit would cost $150, and $75 per animal for an unaltered license tag. Fines and a loss of permits follow violations, said commissioners.

A final vote on the plan is slated for Feb. 5.

Kanjian Disagrees

And while none of the commissioners expressed lock, stock and litter box approval of the new plan, all agreed with Commissioner Jesse Santamaria who said, "Doing nothing is not an option. We have to act. We have to do something."

All agreed, that is, except Commissioner Robert Kanjian. The newly appointed commissioner has essentially been the odd man out on many issues before the commission since his appointment last fall to replaced disgraced former Commissioners Warren Newell who resigned over corruption charges, and was recently sentenced to five years in prison.

What rankled Kanjian the most was that commissioners were “throwing in now what should have been done 5, 10 or 15 yeas ago.”

“I don’t understand why we have a detailed list in front of us?” he said.

But it was a rhetorical question that he quickly answered.

Kanjian argued that the list of things to now do was proposed “to window dress the other item in front of us” – the controversial ordinance noted above, imposing the fees and other rules upon owners and breeders.

Kanjian was also critical of the ACC “marketing” job. “We have to do a better job of marketing our adoptable dogs,” he said.

That would include an “Adopt A Pet PBC website, and the use of ACC trucks as “traveling billboards.”

“All we have on (the trucks) now is a little insignia,” he said.

Kanjian also pointed out that the county has only 30 percent of its dogs, and only seven percent of its cats registered – something that needs to be addressed “before we enact more legislation.”

Commissioners also heard from Attorney Thomas Connick. Several different, and essentially breeding associations, had hired Connick. Connick concluded his argument, saying:

“Because my clients are such good and decent people, they have a belief that their County Commissioners will act in a good faith way and not ram through this unfair ordinance that does not address the problem of dog euthanasia and only hurts good citizens while not enforcing current laws on violators of the current dog ordinances.”

Neither Connickk nor Kanjian prevailed as commissioners voted 6 to 1 in favor of the tough new rules.

Perspective

But as the day wore on in arguing both the concept and the details, a remark made by Commissioner Jeff Kuhn very early in the day was lost in the subsequent rhetoric.

Announced prior to the pet ordinance discussion was a proclamation recognizing the work done by “Stand Down House” in Lake Worth to help Palm Beach County homeless veterans.

There are 1,700 or so homeless veterans in the county, commissioners learned – and anticipating the following pet ordinance discussion, Kuhn observed, “If we spend one tenth of the time dealing with our homeless veterans as we do talking about dogs and cats, I’ll be surprised.”

He wasn’t surprised.

Contact John Johnston at 561-549-0833, or at jjohnston@bocanews.com