Enforcement, financial assistance key to successfull spay-neuter law
| Friday, Mar 14 2008 08:52 PM
Last Updated Friday, Mar 27 2009 12:57 PM
A successful mandatory spay-and-neuter law here would take more than signatures on a piece of paper.
It would need plans for enforcement and to help people obey it, said Kern County Supervisor Don Maben.
“You’ve got to know the highway patrol is on the freeway (or you don’t) keep your speed down,” he said.
Current enforcement of animal control laws in and outside Bakersfield city limits, is a catch-as-catch-can thing.
Both Kern County Animal Control Chief Denise Haynes and Bakersfield Animal Control Supervisor Tammy Davis say their officers usually respond to calls from the public.
But there could be dedicated door-to-door enforcement if city and county leaders pass mandatory spay-neuter.
“I don't see that sort of strong-arm enforcement,” Haynes said. “But I’m not sure what the intention of the board will be. We would definitely need increased staffing if we’re going to do that kind of enforcement.”
She estimates metropolitan Bakersfield, the area targeted in county Supervisor Mike Maggard’s mandatory spay-neuter proposal, would need four to six new officers.
Davis agrees that is about right.
“To create an enforcement team, we’d need to increase by at least four officers,” Davis said.
A joint city-county enforcement team has been mentioned as discussion of mandatory spay-neuter picks up steam.
Though pay for city and county animal control officers is slightly different, Haynes estimated the annual county cost of an animal control truck and two experienced officers would be $130,192.
And then there is the cost of spay and neuter surgeries.
If those surgeries are mandatory, Davis said, the city and county would need a way for people to get a discount on the cost. Sterilizing a large female dog can cost $200 or more at a private veterinarian.
Some opportunities already exist, including vouchers from local animal welfare groups and a twice-a-month van trip by the non-profit HOPE Animal Foundation to its Fresno clinic.
HOPE will alter a large female dog for $65.
But the county and city would likely need to offer more chances for people to get their animal altered — and offer them here in Kern County.
Creating those opportunities could range from current county plans to spend $100,000 on spay-and-neuter vouchers to setting up a full-time, low-cost spay-and-neuter clinic in Bakersfield.
“It may get down to, ‘Do we want to invest a little more money and hire our own vet and do ‘em for free?’” Maben theorized.
