As introduced, Assembly Bill 1634 required all dogs in California older than six months to be spayed or neutered unless the dog owner obtained a “may issue” annual intact permit from the owner’s local government after paying an unspecified fee. AB1634 is legislation being pushed by animal “rights” extremist groups like the Humane Society of the United States.
It was amended to eliminate the mandatory spay or neuter provision and intact permit. These provisions were replaced with a system that required spaying or neutering after animal control authorities received unsubstantiated citizen complaints, something that would allow neighborhood disputes to detrimentally and unfairly affect dog owners. This week, the bill was comprehensively amended to eliminate all of these provisions.
It now mandates fines for dogs found not to be licensed pursuant to existing licensure requirements or found roaming at large. A second offense requires the owner to pay to have the dog fitted with a microchip and a third offense would require spaying or neutering, both at the owner’s expense. The meaning of “at large” is left to the discretion of animal control officials. This could severely affect hunters in light of the fact that most traditional hunting practices using dogs do not involve the use of leashes. The legislation, even as amended, poses too many risks to California’s hunters, does not serve its supposed purpose and gives the state too much authority in the lives of citizens.
AB1634 is currently awaiting Senate floor action. Please contact your State Senator and respectfully urge him or her to oppose AB1634. Contact information for your State Senator can be found here.
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