Representatives of animal-rescue groups from throughout Santa Barbara County joined with local residents Tuesday night to urge the Guadalupe City Council to adopt a law aimed at putting a leash on the overpopulation of cats and dogs.
After hearing from more than a dozen speakers in favor of the Responsible Pet Owner Ordinance, the City Council approved the first reading of the proposed law, prompting applause from the audience.
A second reading is scheduled for Oct. 14, and the rules would take effect 30 days later.
“It’s important to state it does not require mandatory spaying and neutering of pets,” City Administrator Andrew Carter said. “What it does require is if someone wants to not have their pet neutered, to leave open the possibility of allowing their pets to breed, that they need to get a veterinary certificate.
“Basically, the intent there is the breeding pet is getting the proper veterinary care.”
That pet owner would take the veterinary certificate from Santa Barbara County Animal Services — Guadalupe contracts with the county for animal-control services — to obtain a dog license and pay a higher fee for keeping an unaltered canine.
Additionally, unaltered cats would need a veterinary certificate and to obtain a license. The higher fee is meant to cover some of the costs for unwanted pets filling local shelters, Carter said.
In 2010, the county adopted its responsible pet owner law crafted by a task force. Other local cities also adopted the rules but Guadalupe and Santa Maria chose to take no action, Carter said.
Lompoc didn’t adopt the county law since it has a stricter rules.
Areas that didn’t adopt the ordinance are seeing a higher percentage of pets at the shelters. While Santa Maria and Guadalupe make up 26 percent of the human population, the area has 36 percent of the population of pets at the animal shelter, according to Carter.
Lisa Kenyon, who lives between Santa Barbara and Goleta, said she has waited for more than two years to come to Guadalupe to speak in favor of the law, saying the city is a key part of reducing the number of unwanted pets.
“This is an uncomplicated, elegant, innovative, easy-to-understand, easy-to-comply with and easy-to-administer ordinance,” Kenyon said.
Kenyon and Linda Greco, president of the Santa Barbara County Animal Care Foundation, were part of the 11-member task force to create the county ordinance for unincorporated areas. In addition to Santa Maria, Carpinteria also didn’t adopt a similar ordinance.
In coming up with the county ordinance, task force members listened to many perspectives, Greco said, with one common thread being that something needed to be done to reduce the number of unwanted cats and dogs without punishing responsible pet owners.
In 2009-10, the three county shelters — Santa Maria, Lompoc and Santa Barbara — accepted 9,236 animals, with more than half of those seen at the Santa Maria shelter, Greco said. Santa Barbara received 2,776 animals and Lompoc saw 1,728.
Five years after the law was passed, the three shelters had an intake of 6,868 animals, Greco added. Santa Maria’s shelter still accounted for more than half the animals taken in by the county while Santa Barbara received 2,367 and Lompoc 1,299.
“As you can see, these numbers have decreased significantly overall in the past five years,” Greco said. “However, the imbalance in the Santa Maria shelter continues. This is concerning only because of the high intake numbers, but the Santa Maria county shelter also has the lowest number of redemption rates, lowest adoption rates, highest euthanasia rates and highest incidents of cruelty.”
Mark Poudrier, a Pacheco Street resident in Guadalupe, volunteers for Catalyst for Cats, a nonprofit organization that traps feral cats, sterilizes them and then returns the felines to their colony.
“We maintain what is now a stable, feral, unwanted cat colony,” he said.
When he and his wife moved to the neighborhood, they discovered several cats there and set traps. The first year in 2010, they handled 13 cats, then 17 in 2011 and 16 in 2012.
Early on, many of the cats trapped and treated were kittens, but they’re now seeing only a few young cats
In 2013, they trapped three cats while they’ve treated five so far this year.
“Please pass this ordinance,” he said. “It’s a mindset.”
Randy Fairbrother, who started Santa Barbara-based Catalyst for Cats in 1990, said feral cat colonies typically come from abandoned cats that have kittens and remain wild.
Driving around Guadalupe, Fairbrother said, she sees dogs “all over,” including nursing canine moms.
“This is an enormous problem for everybody,” she said. “This is not mandatory. It will simply encourage people to spay and neuter their cats. We will have a better community. We will have happier animals, and we will have happier people.”
Jill Anderson from Shadow’s Fund, a Lompoc-based rescue group for pit bulls, senior dogs and other animals, with volunteers working seven days a week, implored the council to adopt the ordinance.
“It is a simple matter of supply and demand. With a northern Santa Barbara County shelter that has nearly a 30-percent euthanasia rate, there is clearly no demand,” Anderson said.
Jill Tucker from the Santa Maria Valley Humane Society noted her organization offers low-cost spay and neutering services. Now in a new facility on West Stowell Road, the organization is providing 270 surgeries a month, she added.
“I want to let the citizens of Guadalupe know that we are here as a resource to provide spay-neuter services,” Tucker said. “It is our intention to make sure spay-neuter services are accessible and affordable for everyone who needs them.”
— Noozhawk North County editor Janene Scully can be reached at jscully@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.