Council Member Tackles Animal Welfare Reform

Proposals Include Harsher Penalties for Cruelty

The "pet" project of council member Mary M. Cheh (D-Ward 3) began at George Washington University Law School, where the professor's students were working on pro bono reform projects, which led to looking at the animal populations in the District, which led to this question:

"Are there some improvements that could be made here?"

Their work became the "omnibus piece of legislation" Cheh recently introduced, designed -- she hopes -- to overhaul the District's animal welfare laws.

The Animal Protection Amendment Act of 2007 has already received a hearing, with about 50 veterinarians, animal rights activists, pet lovers and other residents testifying this month. The bill covers euthanasia, spaying and neutering, penalties for animal cruelty, and other issues related to animals.

Cheh's bill proposes changes to existing animal welfare laws including increased penalties for those accused of animal cruelty, particularly those who participate in or are among the audience for animal fighting, and establishing standards for animal boarding facilities. Other changes are generating controversy:

· Because there's a "high correlation," Cheh said, between animal abuse and child abuse, the bill would require authorities investigating a case of animal abuse who notice children in the home to notify other authorities.

· Making it mandatory to spay or neuter companion animals. Those who don't must apply for a breeder's permit. But people with "show animals don't want to spay or neuter [their animals] at 6 months because that affects how they show, but they don't want to come under a breeder permit," either, Cheh said. "So we have to figure out what to do for folks like that."

· Calling a pet owner "a guardian/owner." Cheh explains the change this way: Pets are "not just chattel. It's not your tables and chairs in the dining room that you can throw out or kill. . . . Right now, under the law, you own an animal. You want to kill it, you can kill it. You can't be cruel. But you can kill."

Some critics worry that calling pet owners "guardians" would lead to unintended consequences.

"This type of legislation comes in, and people don't pay attention to it because it's mom and apple pie," said Freddie Ann Hoffman, a pediatric hematologist and oncologist who testified against some of the bill's provisions at the hearing.

"We don't want to see animal or children abused," Hoffman said. "But there's a distinct difference between animal welfare -- the responsible treatment and interaction of humans with animals -- versus animal rights, where the goal is to have animals achieve the same status as people, as persons, in a legal sense."

But Cheh defends the legislation her law students worked on. "This is special to me," she said. "Societies can be judged by a lot of measures, but I think one measure of our goodness is how we treat the animals that live among us."

The bill will have to be voted on by the Health Committee before going to the full council.