According to printed reports, around Nashville - in Davidson County, pet owners will have to do a head count.
Other communities have set "pet limit laws" with totally random numbers, 3 dogs and 4 cats, or whatever it is. Police don't go door to door counting pets, this is complaint driven...complaints about barking or inhumane conditions. My point is that there are already laws and ordinances about disturbing the peace or treating animals (or people) living in poor conditions.
Community members in Davidson County have apparently suggested Metro Animal
Control to set a limit on the number of dogs and/or cats a person can
have depending how big their yard is. This is NOT in any pets' best interest and makes no sense. The animals shouldn't be in the yard all day in the first place, and therefore yard space is irrelevant. What about people with no yards (condo owners or renters in apartments), are they to have no pets?
Dog left to their own devices for hours at a time in a yard, get bored, and that's where problem barking begins, or digging or barrier aggression or dogs stolen from yards happens.
Small dogs may actually require more room to run around a yard than larger dogs. And cats, in my opinion, should be indoors (for their safety as well as for the public, and for songbird safety). And if the cats are indoor/outdoor, how often do they just stay in the yard?
Animal control
officers have investigated around eight cases of serious animal abuse in
Nashville alone in 2010, and therefore apparently feel such an ordinance is necessary.
Why not enforce the laws already there, or if need be, strengthen the animal abuse laws?
Of course, most pet owners aren't abusive. So, what if the limit is three cats (just a tad over the national average of cats per home), and one friendly stray cat arrives at your door, or a relative passes away and has left you the cat in the upon her death? Now, in both instances, that person taking in the fourth or fifth cat is unlawful. This is not going to deter hoarding. After all, ALL experts agree hoarding is a mental illness.This is not going to prevent animal abuse either. This (proposed) law will deter legitimate rescue groups (who may have X-number of animals in their homes saving lives!!!). And if these animals are not in rescue homes, they are in shelters, more animals then die, and the community pays for this in real dollars and cents.
And how many is too many anyhow? I argue for some people one pet is too many. This is ridiculous! I implore residents in and around Nashville stand up to this notion. Please.
You are so right Steve. Limit laws do absolutely nothing to deter those who hoard or abuse their dogs. One animal may be too many for an abuser to take care of. But there are also folks who can foster, or rescue, and take excellent care of a number of animals (usually well over what the local limit laws say). People have to ask themselves if a new law will work in curbing behavior they are intended for, or if there are unintended consequences that will create a situation where there are fewer rescue organizations and more dogs turned in because folks are "over the limit". Perhaps you remember the case where AC told one lady that she had to get rid of two of her dogs to comply with a new limit law. How do you choose which ones have to go in a situation like that?
Thanks for your comment Pat. . . I very much agree with you.
I think you are very right - how do you choose which pet to 'lose.' And what happens to that animal? A lot of problems with this proposed laws. A LOT!
Then really when these happen, it's our (collective) faults. How many comments here, one! I wonder if people in Nashville are screaming. What tends to happen is people don't do a (expletive) thing until the law passes, then they (another expletive). That's how they pass - when communities activate, they generally don't pass. NO ONE from Nashville has commented here.
That is a bizarre proposition. Some of the best pet owners are city-dwellers with small or no yards. Because they have no yard, they take their dogs out often, dog park, forest preserve, walks, which all equals socialization and mental stimulation. Suburbanites with yards tend to fall the "lazy" route, not walking their dog. I, too, am against limiting the number of pets. If they are all taken care of, then they are fine. Nashville residents need to take action now, and locate the phone numbers/email addresses of their representatives to voice their opinions, the .gov websites for your county/city should have contact info.
thanks for the comments Caveat - I agree.....