March 7, 2013
Councilmember Guidry collaborated with the Louisiana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (LA-SPCA), pet owners, the City's Health Department, veterinarians, breeders, dog show enthusiasts, and animal rights advocacy groups over an 18-month period to craft this comprehensive ordinance that addresses numerous issues related to the care, protection, and control of pets and feral animals, including:
- Reducing rabies vaccination requirements from annual to every 3 years;
- Creating a new, lowest-level designation of "potentially dangerous" dog, and amending the criteria for designating a dog as "dangerous" or "vicious," which will:
- Allow municipal court judges greater discretion in issuing designations, based on the circumstances of individual cases;
- Prohibit dogs from being designated as potentially dangerous, dangerous, or vicious simply because of the dog's breed;
- Treat attacks against humans as more serious offenses than attacks against other domestic animals;
- Clarifying the SPCA's authority to protect animals that are the victims of cruelty;
- Establishing criteria/conditions that allow for the rehoming of dogs that have been seized in dogfighting situations;
- Providing more specific and humane guidelines for the tethering of dogs;
- Creating new rules concerning feral and/or free roaming "community cats" that have been sterilized, vaccinated, and ear tipped;
- Establishing minimum standards of care for animal shelters in Orleans Parish.
Contact:
Matthew Fraser, Chief of Staff
Office of District "A" Councilmember Susan Guidry
E-mail: mdfraser@nola.gov
Phone: 504-658-1010
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