Ypsilanti Township officials have passed a new dog ordinance. Of critical importance to us at HSHV is the section that deals with the encouragement of spaying and neutering through differential dog licensing fees–in this case a $12 fee for a sterilized dog and a $120 fee for an unsterilized one.
With its passing, Ypsilanti Township now has one of the most progressive animal ordinances on the books, not just in Washtenaw County, but in the State of Michigan. Differential licensing has been used increasingly by forward-thinking communities as a way to address pet overpopulation at its root.
Spaying/neutering is the most effective way of combating pet overpopulation and the suffering that results. We see a lot of stray, abandoned, starved, and unwanted cats and dogs coming from all ends of the county, but the east side is disproportionately represented.
Spaying/neutering makes sense in so many ways. It keeps our animals healthier. It reduces their urge to run stray. It improves behavior. It reduces aggression (the number one commonality in serious or fatal dog attacks is that the dog is an un-neutered male). It helps curb professional dog fighting. It reduces unnecessary euthanasia.
Spaying/neutering also saves vital community dollars. While reputable breeders exist, unsterilized animals mostly create costs for the community: costs in animal sheltering, animal control, law enforcement, and court fees. It only makes sense that if you choose to have an unsterilized animal, then you pay a premium for that choice.
The ordinance also calls for stray dogs to be given microchip identification before they are returned to their owners. Identification is the best way to quickly reunite a lost pet with his or her owner. Like sterilization, the speedy return of a lost animal is good for everyone. The animal goes home sooner, costs to the owner for boarding are reduced, and the cost of sheltering a stray, paid by taxpayers, is saved.
Ypsilanti Township community should be very proud of this ordinance and the people who have done the work to put it in place! This is a great step forward for animals and people in our community.
**HSHV has a low cost spay/neuter clinic that will be expanding in our new facilities. While spaying/neutering should be a part responsible pet ownership, we don’t want expense, especially in this economy, to be a deterrent.
**Read the full text of the ordinance.
Tonya, I would love to promote Ypsilanti City to endorse and pass this ordinance. If I can be of any help or assitance to ensure this same ordinace to be put before the Ypsilanti City Council, please let me know. Mailers, canvassing neighborhoods, polls, petions, anything, I would be willing to volunteer for. It is this type of progressive thought and way of thinking that will save so many unwanted pregnancies in dogs and cats from being so-called “humanly euthanized”. I have walked the walk that all my friends at HSHV witness day after day. It is bitter-sweet.
I would love to see us have to licence our cats as well. Your blog is well written and I pray that it touches the massess of our community.