Thursday, June 25, 2009

Governor's Plan to Save Money By Killing Puppies and Kitties Shouldn't Lead to Spike In Euthanizations Here (For Now)

(The times, they are changing!)

You know you've sailed into truly surreal political waters when the governor of a modern state suggests -- seriously suggests -- we save money by slaughtering more puppies and kittens. Either that or Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, like an adolescent hypnotically toying with a painfully loose tooth, is trying to see how low his popularity numbers can go.

If you hadn't yet heard, the governor's big plan to save the state money is to repeal the 11-year-old "Hayden Bill," which would knock the minimum amount of time an animal shelter must hold onto a dog or cat before euthanizing it from six days down to three. While the Legislative Analyst's Office points out that $23 million is yearly spent for those extra three days feeding and housing animals that go on to be put down anyway -- let us, once again note that a serious politician (albeit one who thrice portrayed a robotic killing machine) is pushing for fiscal solvency via snuffing dogs and cats.

San Francisco Animal Care and Control director Rebecca Katz told SF Weekly that, even if the Haden Bill is terminated, it won't be open season on pets locally: "The quick and dirty answer is, locally, we don't intend to change our practices on how long we hold a stray animal," she says. "I don't know that will always be the case, but that is our intention."

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