What is Assembly Bill 867?

Introduced by Assemblymember Alex Lee, AB 867 bans cats from being declawed across California. The bill was signed by Governor Gavin Newsom on Oct. 9 this year and marked a historic milestone for animal welfare organizations and advocates. 

Lee’s office said that veterinarians overwhelmingly oppose cat declawing when it is not medically necessary. Cat declawing involves amputating the cat’s toe bones or severing the tendons controlling their paws. It is a surgical procedure that could lead to debilitating health effects and increase the chances of cats developing behaviors such as biting, aggression and litter box avoidance.

Sponsored by The Paw Project, Animal Legal Defense Fund, Humane World for Animals, and Humane Veterinary Medical Alliance, California now joins a growing number of states, including New York, Maryland, Washington, D.C. and Massachusetts, to ban this practice.

Why is Assembly Bill 867 needed?

Unless medically needed, AB 867 prevents unnecessary procedures. According to Dr. Jennifer Conrad, Founder and Director of The Paw Project, an organization that has been working to end declawing for over 25 years through education and legislation, this procedure has been proven to harm cats and provides no benefits to people. 

“Declawing isn’t a manicure – it’s an amputation that needlessly harms cats to spare sofas,” said Jennifer Hauge, Senior Legislative Affairs Manager at Animal Legal Defense Fund, in a press release.

According to a study published in the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery, cited by Lee’s office, declawing is associated with numerous long-term effects, including overgrooming, chronic back pain, residual bone fragments and mobility issues. As scratching is considered a natural cat behavior, people can turn to non-surgical alternatives such as nail trimming, soft claw caps, and behavioral training to address unwanted behaviors, rather than leaning towards this surgical procedure. 

More information on Assembly Bill 867 can be found here: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB867

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“It’s time to tell contract cities, ‘You need to go on your own and build your own shelters,”‘ Supervisor Kevin Jeffries said. “We’re going to have to do something different. We cannot continue to be your punching bag. Because your city has hundreds, if not thousands, of animals being turned into our (four) county shelters, nationally and internationally, we receive the criticism.”

Jeffries vented his frustrations during an otherwise routine series of contract rate adjustments for the cities of Desert Hot Springs, Hemet and Palm Desert.

The adjustments were required under the 2024-25 fiscal year budget to contend with unforeseen higher operational costs impacting the Department of Animal Services, resulting in 5% across-the-board hikes in rates, totaling roughly $1.58 million in total obligations for all three municipalities until June 30, 2025.

Most of Jeffries’ displeasure seemed to stem from last week’s announcement of a lawsuit against the county filed by four animal welfare activists in the Coachella Valley.

The suit, spearheaded by the Rancho Mirage-based Walter Clark Law Group and filed in Riverside County Superior Court, seeks a permanent injunction against the Department of Animal Services’ humane euthanasia programs.

Clark called it a “groundbreaking case” that’s predicated on the Hayden Act of 1998. That legislation, authored by then-state Sen. Tom Hayden, D-Santa Monica, states, in part, “no adoptable animal should be euthanized if it can be adopted into a suitable home.”

The measure further bars euthanization even if a pet lacks qualities that make the animal suited to immediate adoption, “but could become adoptable with reasonable efforts.”

The plaintiffs, based on data gleaned and produced by the nonprofit Best Friends Animal Society, contend that in 2022, county Department of Animal Services shelters “killed more animals than any other reporting shelter in the United States.”

Altogether, in 2022 and 2023, an estimated 24,000 canines and felines were euthanized in county shelters, according to the organization.

“We’ve been asking all these different groups that keep quoting ‘we’re the worst in the nation (for kill rates)’ where are you getting that? And it’s one group on the internet — Best Friends,” Supervisor Karen Spiegel said. “Many municipalities have the same challenges. We have had a severe amount of animals, hundreds at a time, coming into the shelters. Municipalities cannot take these animals. It’s very challenging.”

To date in 2024, she said, there have been five major seizures by animal control officers countywide, during which hundreds of dogs and cats have been impounded due to neglect, malnutrition and related factors, largely attributable to hoarding by residents ill-equipped to provide care.

Spiegel said in spite of the county now refusing to dedicate resources for contract animal control services in cities within neighboring San Bernardino County, the Department of Animal Services remains under pressure handling unincorporated communities and servicing municipalities in Riverside County.

“People need to know, not everything that’s spewed out is accurate,” the supervisor said. “And it’s not fair to continue to bad-mouth our staff.”

Jeffries said he recognized the issue of cities constructing their own shelter space “won’t be fixed overnight.”

“But how much longer can we ask our staff to take the abuse they’ve been taking on a daily basis before they finally say, ‘take my (employee) badge, I’m done’? What we’re doing now is not working.”

A few municipalities in the county maintain independent animal control services, either through city-paid personnel or contracts with nongovernmental organizations. Examples include the cities of Canyon Lake, Lake Elsinore, Menifee, Murrieta, Temecula and Wildomar that contract with Wildomar-based nonprofit Animals Friends of the Valleys. The city of Palm Springs has its own animal services department.

Last month, the board approved formation of an Ad Hoc Committee for Continuous Improvement of Animal Services, headed by Supervisors Manuel Perez and Yxstian Gutierrez.

The pair pledged to delve into the “high kill rate” allegations, as well as analyze the department’s adoption policies, data banking and distribution.

“There are a lot of issues we’ve prioritized, but this hasn’t been one of them,” Perez said. “You’re right about the cities. Eventually I think they’ll get there. Every city needs to pay their fair share. We are way behind. There is misinformation out there, partly because we have not updated our data. We need to clear up the misinformation for the public. We can all win. But we have to be willing to come together to collaborate.”

The committee is slated to hold its first meeting in the next two months.

If you are interested in adopting a pet from the Riverside County Department of Animal Services, click here.

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A group of elementary school children from Los Amigos Elementary School in Rancho Cucamonga comes to the Friends of Upland Animal Shelter on Monday afternoons, part of the “Reading Buddies” program, to read to the dogs and cats at the shelter.

While some local shelter employees say they haven’t reached pre-pandemic numbers, adoption rates are lower and don’t match the high number of animals coming into shelters now, post-COVID. The dogs coming in are younger — between 1 and 3 years old — and the breeds, shelter employees said, are mainly German shepherds, huskies, and pit bulls — like Hazel.

In 2023, Friends of Upland Animal Shelter took in 1,835 animals, 934 of those were dogs, and one-third were under 5 months old. A report published in 2024 found the majority of those animals were brought in as strays.

That year 1,252 animals were adopted out, 47% of which were dogs.

In pre-pandemic 2019, the shelter reported 2,368 animals came into the shelter and 1,542 were adopted, more than half of those adoptions were dogs. In comparison, 2020  saw 1,540 animals come in, with 1,506 adoptions. Dogs were 33% of the adoptions.

In 2023, the number of stray dogs taken in by shelters nationwide increased 6% in the period from January to November, as compared to 2022, and that number is up about 22% from 2021, according to Shelter Animals Count, which surveys nearly 7,000 shelters nationally. 

“Most of our shelters are overrun with huskies, shepherds, and pit mixes or purebred pit bulls,” said Nikole Bresciani, CEO and president of Inland Valley Humane Society in Pomona. “The reality is, is that the large dogs are harder to place, especially those large dogs that have behavior issues.”

It’s a similar situation at the Rancho Cucamonga Animal Center, according to spokesperson Jennifer Camacho-Curtis. They too have seen an increase in larger dog breeds between the ages of 1 and 3, most brought in as strays, she said in an email.

The Rancho Cucamonga shelter has seen a similar trend in the numbers of animals coming into the shelter compared to what is being adopted out.

Friends of Upland Animal Shelter works with the Inland Valley Humane Society to try to move animals out of the shelters faster and to prevent overcrowding.

Inland Valley Humane Society is faced with a different challenge.

Animals will be adopted or moved to another shelter on Saturday and by the time the doors reopen Monday more animals will have been brought in, Bresciani said.

“No matter how many we push out we’re getting more than we can handle and they’re coming in at an alarmingly fast rate,” she said.

The low adoption rates and high intake rates have created a difficult situation where other shelters they work with have had less of an ability to take animals because their own facilities are at capacity, Bresciani said.

“It makes it frustrating … there were things that we used to be able to do to save more lives,” said Shelly Foglesong, vice president of Friends of Upland. At one time, she could pull animals from the Inland Valley shelter to ease overcrowding, but with Upland at or near capacity that ability has dropped.

It is really a perfect storm, Bresciani said, from unprepared and perhaps uneducated owners, to a drop in animals that have been spayed or neutered following a period of COVID restrictions on those procedures, and owners who are unable to keep their pets after their situations were affected by COVID.

The most common reason Foglesong said she’s heard for owners turning in their pets is lack of living situations where pets are welcome or affordable. The cost of procedures for pets has also been referenced as a hardship.

A poodle was surrendered with a broken leg, Foglesong said. They were offered options for CareCredit or payment plans and the owners chose to surrender the dog.

Despite steps shelters are taking to help with spaying and neutering to reduce overpopulation, Bresciani said, past restrictions during the pandemic caused a backlog.

People also got pets when they were feeling isolated during the pandemic.

The thinking was “I want this pet and I want it to be perfect and I want it now,” Bresciani said, when in reality “pets are like children” with a lot of energy and they also “don’t always do what you want them to do.”

Many shelters, including Inland Valley Humane Society and Friends of Upland Animal Shelter, provide options for training. Inland Valley also has an online rehoming service for owners unable to care for their pets.

Hazel was one of those brought to the Upland shelter as a stray in July 2023. The lack of space in the shelter has her living in one of the meet-and-greet spaces. The door has a paper sunflower with details about the brown and white pit bull terrier, who’s about 6 years old, along with a cheerful greeting.

“We usually put her in the rotations, the kids like seeing familiar faces,” said Sherrie Darrow, volunteer coordinator for Friends of Upland Animal Shelter.

For the children to see that not every animal gets adopted super fast, that’s a good lesson, Darrow said. Some animals, like Hazel, will be around through the school year. Other times they will see a puppy they’ll never see again because it’s gonna get adopted quickly.

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gov.ca.gov | Contributed

Governor Gavin Newsom announced that he has signed several measures to advance animal welfare in California, including SB 879 by Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), which ends unnecessary toxicological testing on dogs and cats.

“For many families, including my own, pets are beloved companions that enrich our lives every day,” said Governor Newsom. “I’m proud to sign this legislation to advance our state’s leadership on animal welfare by ending cruel and unnecessary testing on dogs and cats, among other measures to protect the health and safety of pets in California.”

SB 879, the PET (Prohibiting Extraneous Testing) Act prohibits toxicity testing on dogs and cats for pesticides, chemical substances and other products, which often does not advance scientific research on toxicity in humans. The bill includes exemptions for tests related to products intended for use in dogs or cats, including medical treatments. SB 879 does not impact federally required testing.

“As we celebrate California becoming the first state in the nation to prohibit certain testing on dogs and cats, we extend our gratitude to Governor Newsom for signing The PET Act, SB 879, into law,” said Kitty Block, President and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States. “Passing this bill shows California’s dedication to protecting animals from a life of suffering and isolation for the sake of unreliable tests. We appreciate Senator Wiener’s leadership on SB 879 and remain committed to ending all harmful toxicology testing on animals.”

Governor Newsom also signed AB 1648 by Assemblymember Brian Maienschein (D-San Diego), which requires kennel owners to create a natural disaster evacuation plan as one of the conditions for obtaining a kennel license or permit. AB 1290 by Assemblymember Alex Lee (D-San Jose) clarifies that stealing or taking someone else’s companion animal is theft.

In addition, the Governor signed SB 774 by Senator Robert Hertzberg (D-Van Nuys) to facilitate the emotional support dog certification process for homeless individuals and AB 2723 by Assemblymember Chris Holden (D-Pasadena) which expands microchip registration requirements for dogs and cats to support the return of lost pets to their owners and deter theft.

The 2021-22 and 2020-21 state budgets included a total $50 million investment for a statewide Animal Shelter Assistance Program administered by UC Davis to give the state’s animal shelters the training and resources they need to work toward the state’s no-kill goal. Since taking office, Governor Newsom has signed several measures to end the retail sale of dogs, cats and rabbits in California, ban the sale of new fur products, prohibit the use of animals like elephants and bears in circus acts, ban hunting, trapping or killing bobcats, and require shelters to microchip all reclaimed or adopted cats and dogs.

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