Yes, declawing is a crime in Los Angeles, if it is done for non-therapeutic purposes, which accounts for 99.99% of all cases. The law came into force on 17th November 2009.
Allegedly Mission Animal Care Center were in breach of the law. This has been reported on the Paw Project Facebook site yesterday, 6th June 2013. Note: I have used the word “allegedly” to protect PoC in case something has been misrepresented.
We are told that the clinic was caught performing illegal declaw surgery by a representative from an LA City Council member and a law enforcement officer who visited the facility. It seems they were caught red handed. A straight bust.
The ordinance (the law) in question states that the crime of declawing for non-therapeutic purposes is a misdemeanor. What is a misdemeanor? It is a low level crime with sentencing to match. However, the sentencing on conviction for a standard misdemeanor in California is a maximum six-month county jail sentence and a maximum $1,000 fine1. Yet the clinic owners will only get an official warning from the city.
The interesting part of the criminal legislation that makes declawing a crime (Ordinance No: 180986) is that the following people are guilty of the crime on conviction:
- the person or persons performing the surgery;
- the person or persons who assisted;
- the person or persons who “procured” the surgery – this means the cat’s owner or anyone who assisted the owner in procuring the surgery or who, for example, paid for the surgery. It covers a wide range of people, potentially.
On the basis that the allegation is true, what the hell happened to the cat’s owner? It appears that he or she has not been mentioned. Potentially, everyone at the vet’s clinic plus the cat’s owner could have been jailed for 6 months and fined $1,000. Yet nothing. As I understand it, no one was charged with the crime of declawing.
This is a big mistake as it sends very much the wrong signal to others. I sense that enforcement of this very important ground breaking legislation is not being taken seriously enough.
Apparently neither the owner nor the clinic’s staff including the vet had heard of the law banning declawing in Los Angeles! It is impossible to believe that and, in any case, it is not a defense to a crime.
Polite message to LA officials: Well done in creating the law. Please ensure that you fully enforce it because if not the law will become an ass and quite pointless.
Note: My thanks to Ruth aka Kattaddorra for showing me the news.
Ref:
- shouselaw.com
I have said all along that making declawing illegal solves nothing if the American people disagree with the law. They will neither follow it nor enforce it. Obviously, I was right. It is still all about education. If people really know and understand what declawing is they won’t do it. Those who do it anyway will be punished then because it will be so obvious to everyone that it is animal cruelty. We have not succeeded in educating the American public. And no wonder. Vets are constantly belittling our efforts and telling their clients that it’s no big deal or worse yet, saying that it’s good for the cat and that every cat should be declawed. Americans hear professionals in the field of animal welfare say that declawing is fine and decide we who oppose it are nutty and trying to restrict their freedoms. We cannot win this until the veterinary profession comes out against declawing and stops doing it. Even a law against it is useless until that happens. I have more education than most people in anatomy and kinesiology, but my friends who want to declaw disregard my explanations as to why it is wrong. What do I know? I’m not a vet. Kudos to vets who fight against declawing, but there aren’t enough of them yet to make a difference. So long as the majority of vets say it is ok, we can’t stop it, even with a law against it. The vets are where the blame lies and they will have to answer to God one day for putting money ahead of the welfare of living beings. I guess we need to bother vets about it more, even though they often will become verbally abusive when you question them on this subject. I know. It’s happened to me, and I was told I was the one being rude.
But I guess that’s what we need to do. An army of us pestering vets about it. God isn’t going to back down or give them a break on this. It’s wrong. Wrong is wrong. We have to stand up against it. If we do not, then the fault is also ours. But if we stand up again and again and say to them that it’s wrong, then the fault is all theirs. And maybe if we got enough people complaining to enough vets, they might see the tide of public opinion turning and change their stance on this issue.
I agree Ruth – education and making sure the next generation grows up knowing it’s wrong – is the main and most effective tactic in the long run. It has to be made known again and again until people just stop doing it.
Very interesting, and quite disturbing. I have to agree with Rose. To me it sounds as if the law was passed, and the clinic ignored it, and continued to perform the procedure. I highly doubt this cat is the first to be declawed within the clinic since the passing of the law. However, I hope it is indeed the last. I hope all involved suffer the consequences for this. Although the maximum fine certainly is not enough to compensate for the years of suffering this cat will now have to endure.
I totally agree that. I would bet my last pound that they have been quietly declawing since the ban, which is why they should have been punished properly. The clinic should certainly be monitored carefully from now on. Also the fact that the authorities made what appears to be a spot check indicates that this clinic had a reputation for flouting the law.
Nice to hear from you Maggie. Hope you are well and your cats.
I agree too Maggie – exactly what you say – they have probably been doing it regardless of the law and they should be punished above all for the fact. Surely lawmakers don’t take too kindly to their laws not being taken seriously so this should be taken seriously.
To be fair, it is already pretty good that they were caught.
The best way to find out is to ask clients of the vet office involved. Actually I wonder if the vet offers declawing without even mentioning the legal issue, therefore keeping the client in the dark about how cruel it is. Probably. Vet’s not exactly going to say “well it’s illegal but we can do it” – so I think this vet should be shut down and jailed for complete disregard not only for the law but also to the cruelty.
I just checked their website and they don’t advertise declawing currently, which is commonsense. But I sense that they respond with a Yes if someone asks about declawing. They could merge declawing with vaccinations or neutering to mask it.
If the authorities were taking the law seriously a prosecution and conviction could and should have happened with a proper sentence (at least financial). The owner should have been punished too.
It’s a bit like our Hunting with dogs ban, some hunts thought they could get away with still doing it, but thankfully we have our RSPCA and there have been some successful prosecutions of those hunts which ignored the law.
Maybe the American equivalent of the RSPCA need to be involved in ensuring the declawing ban isn’t broken by vets who think they are above the law.
Yes, and this case makes me doubtful whether the ban is being enforced. In which case I would expect other vets to be doing similar things. There needs to be checks and where criminal behavior is found both the vet and the cat’s owner should be punished properly. That would be a deterrent.
Yes I don’t think this was a one off declaw op at all,someone must have tipped the council member and law enforcement officer off,maybe there is ONE person working at the clinic who was unhappy about it happening?
Yes, that seems possible, certainly. I have a horrible feeling that other vet clinics are flouting the law because enforcement is poor. If I am correct it shows how criminally minded vets can be.
Well done for this article Micheal the more publicity this crime gets the less people will be able to bleat that they didn’t know declawing was banned there.
Every person at the clinic and the owner of the cat should ALL be prosecuted and so should the AVMA if they don’t do anything about this blatant crime.
Thanks Rose. There is something wrong about this. As you say the veterinarian and the cat’s owner should have been charged. I wonder if this vet was known to be one who flouted the law which attracted people who wanted to declaw their cats.
I could hardly believe it when I saw the clinic had pleaded ignorance of the ban Michael, in fact I commented on the Paw Project page that how on earth could everyone at the clinic plead ignorance of the law when even so far away here in the UK we know exactly which cities in America have banned declawing.
There is also a debate about this incident on ‘The American Veterinary Workers against Declawing’ facebook page too and one member has phoned the police to complain that no arrests were made and another has commented about veterinary records not being completed.
The AVMA won’t want to be involved as they just turn a blind eye to this abuse of cats.
This should have been more thoroughly investigated, every person at the clinic interviewed, surely they can’t all be pro declaw and ignorant of the law? How many more cats have been illegally mutilated this way before the abusers were caught out this time?
This is a very good point because the way the authorities have dealt with this case indicates poor enforcement of this ground breaking law. I don’t think people have really committed to a ban on declawing. Is this a sign of a public opinion that is undecided? People know declawing is wrong but struggle to get out of the habit. It is very engrained in American society.