Agenda - 09-19-2006-7b - Laserfiche WebLink

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Orange County Animal Services Sheltering Practices and Philosophies i4 American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) See htto://www.aspca.oro/site/PageServer?pagename=pp content for further details 2.24 No-Kill Community Coalitions The ASPCA strongly supports "no kill" community coalitions that are committed to reducing the number of cats and dogs in that community who are at risk of becoming lost, abandoned, or relinquished to shelters, Toward that end the ASPCA supports efforts to maximize spay/neuter services, practice TNR in relation to feral cats, promote the adoption of homeless animals, educate potential guardians on pet selection, and provide ongoing expert training and behavior assistance to guardians so that they may live successfully with their companion animals. 2.25 Asilomar Accords The ASPCA is a founding signatory to the "Asilomar Accords," developed in August 2004 to express the shared mission of a variety of animal welfare groups in the United States to collaborate with one another toward the common goal of significantly reducing the euthanasia of healthy and treatable dogs and cats in this country. As a signatory to the "Asilomar Accords," the ASPCA supports full and open cooperation among agencies and the public in collecting and sharing animal sheltering data and statistics as a first step in the process of decreasing the numbers of at-risk animals in a community. Data will be collected and reported according to a uniform formula set forth in the accords and utilizing common definitions of healthy, treatable, rehabilitatable and manageable, [see Asilomar Accords definitions? 2.15 Companion Animal Birth Control Because indiscriminate and accidental dog and cat breeding leads to millions of unwanted and abandoned animals each year in the United States, safe, effective and permanent dog and cat birth control is necessary. At this time, spaying female animals and neutering males are the preferred methods of preventing reproduction, [see position statement on alternative methods of birth control] The ASPCA strongly recommends that all companion dogs and cats, except those who are part of a responsible breeder's breeding program, be spayed or neutered. To prevent the accidental breeding of young cats and dogs, the ASPCA supports pediatric or "early- age" spay/neuter of animals, i.e,, as soon as they reach a minimum of two months of age and two pounds in weight.