Arizona's First "breeding fee"?

Arizona House Bill 2458 Section F establishes a dog "breeding fee" for the first time. This bill states if your unlicensed dog is picked up by any animal shelter you have the choice of having him/her spayed/neutered or paying a $250 breeding fee to have your dog released. This is in addition to any other fees and/or fines that might be imposed.

Now you say that this won't apply to you since your dog is licensed. But, does your dog wear his license at all times as specified in Arizona law? Even in your backyard? Even at the shows? If not and your dog gets loose, welcome to HB2458!

Second, if the goal is to encourage licensing and containment of dogs, how does instituting a breeders fee encourage this? It doesn't. Far better to require licensing and microchipping for the first offense and increased fines for a 2nd or 3rd offense. And, if your dog is found loose more than 3 times, you don't deserve to keep the dog.

This bill was dreamed up by Dr. Silva of Maricopa County Care and Control with the backing of HSUS. Why? You would think that this would be because there was a significant number of owned but unlicensed dogs running loose. But, data doesn't show this. Maddie's Fund data for MCCAC shows that of the 44000 dogs taken in during 2007-2008, less than 6000 were returned to owners. And, how many of these weren't licensed? We don't know because MCCAC doesn't keep those statistics!

Anyway, this bill was introduced by Arizona Representative Steve Court. Mr. Court's email address is scourt@azleg.gov and his office phone is (602) 926-4467. He needs to hear that we all
SAY NO TO BREEDERS FEES!