Feature Stories
Feline Fees Formalized
by Kirt Ramirez
All cats in Long Beach must now have a license after a new law went into effect July 16.
The law requires cats over four-months old to be vaccinated for rabies and wear a license on a collar. If a cat will not tolerate a collar, a microchip can be placed under the skin for identification, should he or she get lost. The law applies to indoor cats as well. Fees will apply next year, according to the Long Beach Animal Care Services (ACS) website.
To encourage cat licensing, ACS will give out free licenses until January 1, 2011. The license is free for the first year. But once residents come forward with their cats, they will be logged into the system and be billed annually thereafter.
The City Council has yet to determine the cost of the cat license, the ACS website says.
Long Beach resident and cat owner Donna Rohrich said she does not mind licensing her cat but wants to know the fee ahead of time.
“I’m on the fence about it since the City Council hasn’t determined the cost of the license yet,” she said. “Before they go and impose this law to the City of Long Beach, they need to figure it out.”
Cat owner Denis Bolton said: “I think it is fine to have my cats licensed by the City. I assume it is for good reasons like ID if the animal is lost and in the pound, or for census information such as with a natural disaster. I don’t mind paying a fee.”
To get a license, residents must show proof of rabies vaccination, proof of sterility and optional microchip number. A spay and neuter law for cats has been in effect for some time. In 2011, the entire licensing process will be done online with a credit card option to pay the fee, according to www.longbeach.gov/acs.
Fines may apply for non-compliance.
“Animal licenses help increase return-to-owner rates and encourage pet owners to get their animals vaccinated,” said Animal Care Services Bureau Manager John Keisler. “These are the best tools we have to make Long Beach safer for both people and animals.”
There are an estimated 120,000 household cats in Long Beach, according to ACS.
“In the first three years, license fees are projected to generate $80,000 in annual revenue to the City if only 8,000 of a total estimated 123,000 (6 percent) household cats are registered,” according to May 4, 2010 council papers.
The money would help cash-strapped ACS with the costs of caring for the animals.
Meanwhile, statistics with the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) show that rabies rarely occurs in cats or dogs. From 2001 to 2008, CDPH received reports of only 11 cats in the state that had rabies. Only four dogs in the state had rabies during those several years.
Most of the rabies cases occurred in bats – 1,276 cases, or 73 percent – according to CDPH. Skunks were number two on the list with 410 reported cases, or 23.5 percent. Then 32 foxes, or 2.3 percent. Finally cats at 0.6 percent and dogs at 0.2 percent.
Since rabies is deadly in all mammals including humans, and since cats roam around outside where wildlife abounds, it is better to be safe than sorry, experts have said. A cat might play with a rabid bat and get rabies.
Six human cases of rabies were reported to CDPH from 2001 to 2008. However: “Four of the 6 human rabies cases resulted from exposures that occurred outside of the US and 2 resulted from bat exposures in California,” a report from the Center for Infectious Diseases Branch states.
Long Beach Councilmember Suja Lowenthal and local advocate Judy Crumpton have spearheaded the movement to get cats licensed.
“When looking at the data, it is clear that we have much different expectations for dog and cat owners,” Lowenthal said in an e-mail. “As a result we are impounding and euthanizing cats at a much higher rate than dogs (approximately three out of four dogs are adopted or redeemed, while only one out of six cats are adopted or redeemed).
“We believe that what works for dogs can also work for cats. Another important aspect is the equity issue. Right now, dog owners are asked to pay almost $700,000 a year in license fees, while cat owners pay nothing,” Lowenthal said.
Lowenthal said the care for cats costs the City far more than the costs associated with dogs.
“Successful programs in other cities and counties don’t differentiate between cats and dogs. What is fair for one should be fair for both; particularly when you consider that we are having such success with managing dog populations.”
Meanwhile, the Beachcomber has interviewed several veterinarians and will provide details relating to how often cats should be vaccinated and the fact that some vaccines contain the ingredient thimerosal – a mercury compound. Some doctors no longer want to “inject cats with mercury” while others don’t think it’s a problem.
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