US state of New Hampshire considering a ban on cat declawing
More good news on the American domestic cat front. More common sense within the world’s biggest domestic cat marketplace. More ethical thinking. More resistance from the veterinarians to ban declawing which surprises me. In fact, it shocks me that veterinarians in America resist so vehemently what they promised to do in the first place; not to cause harm to their patients. In fact, they continue to trash their reputation by refusing to give up declawing cats voluntarily or to fight bans both at city and state level. If they gave it up they’s get more business because the monkey would be off their backs.
New Hampshire considering banning declawing. Image: MikeB
Nathan Winograd tells me that New Hampshire is considering a bill to ban declawing. I looked it up and have found that New Hampshire’s Bill to ban declawing is HB 231. It has passed the House and is being considered in the Senate.
A quick visit to a website which lists the legislation being debated tells me that it ought to pass. It was introduced on 16 March 2023. The sponsors are Mike Bordes and Ellen Read. It is a bipartisan bill which means that both sides of the house support it.
States where declawing is banned
If and when it passes into law, New Hampshire will be the third American state to ban declawing after Maryland (2022) and New York (2019). Virginia has debated a ban. There were poised to ban in last year. Watch this space.
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Cities where declawing is banned
Over quite a long period of time, 15 American cities have banned declawing. They are as follows:
- Allentown, Pennsylvania
- Austin, Texas
- Berkeley, California
- Beverly Hills, California
- Burbank, California
- Culver City, California
- Denver, Colorado
- Los Angeles, California
- Madison, Wisconsin
- Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- St. Louis County, Missouri
- St. Louis, Missouri
- San Francisco, California
- Santa Monica, California
- West Hollywood, California
Progress is being made, bit by bit to eradicate this aberrant veterinary procedure conveniently mislabelled as ‘declawing’ (actually ten amputations) from the American landscape. It is a slow process. Far too slow for animal advocates. But progress is progress and it would seem that one day America will join the following countries where declawing is specifically banned.
Countries where declawing is banned
- Australia
- Austria
- Belgium
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Brazil
- Bulgaria
- Cyprus
- The Czech Republic
- Denmark (does not apply to Greenland or the Faroe Islands)
- England (part of UK)
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Ireland
- Israel
- Italy
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Macedonia
- Malta
- Montenegro
- The Netherlands
- New Zealand
- Northern Ireland
- Norway
- Portugal
- Romania
- Scotland (part of UK)
- Serbia
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Turkey
- Ukraine
- Wales (part of UK)
Canada leads America in banning cat declawing. They’ve made some great progress and 8 of its 10 provinces have banned the procedure. I am thankful to PETA to remind me of this information. Things are changing and this page essentially updates the current state of play on declawed bans across North America as at March 2023.
Canada is banning declawing
The following provinces in Canada have banned declawing:
- Alberta
- British Columbia
- Manitoba
- New Brunswick
- Newfoundland and Labrador
- Nova Scotia
- Prince Edward Island
- Saskatchewan
- Québec (effective February 2024)
Below are a couple of articles on declawing. There are hundreds more on POC. Please search for them if it interests you.
