CFA: Legislative Alert - Washington, DC

The DC Council unanimously passed an amended Animal Protection Amendment Act B17-89. Not all of our concerns were addressed but two highly objectionable provisions were changed thanks to the fast action on Friday through Monday and strong objections from Alley Cat Allies and cat fanciers who met with council members and staff and hand delivered the CFA letter. http://www.cfa.org/exhibitors/alerts.html

Thank you to everyone who emailed and called - Alley Cat Allies first alerted us to the bill on Friday. We heard that numerous staffers mentioned that they had received input from Alley Cat Allies supporters and CFA and TICA cat fanciers.

WHAT HAPPENED -

**Cat licensing was removed !!

**The existing limit law allowing no more than 4 animals was raised to 6. (An animal hobby permit can be applied for to allow 7 or more pets)

**Mandated impounding of animals over the limit of 6 (or over the limit authorized in a hobby permit) is still in the bill. We hope in the future this can be removed or changed to "may" instead of "shall". They want the ability to remove animals in cases of "hoarding".

**Provisions on due process for notification and hearing to reclaim seized animals were added.

**The Commercial Breeders License is still in the Bill (raise and sell/adopt 25 cats/dogs per year)

** Dangerous dog language was amended (we have no information on this).

There will be more details when we can see the amended bill text. Councilmember Cheh is a primary author - one of her staffers said she intended to bring forth another bill related to animal laws next session.

Please be watchful in DC.........

To correspond with the CFA Legislative Committee, please send email to legislation@cfa.org

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