Animal Protection Nonprofit SpearheadingEfforts to Enact Similar Legislation to End This Inhumane Practice throughout North America
The Paw Project– the leading animal protection nonprofit dedicated to educating the public about the inhumane and crippling effects of cat declawing and advocating for anti-declaw legislation–announces that the inhumane practice of declawing animals is one step closer to being banned in a third U.S. state.
On Apr. 26, California Assembly Member Wendy Carrillo helped legislation pass Assembly Bill (AB) 2606, which will ban non-therapeutic declawing in California. The bill will now be heard in other legislative committees and pass both chambers of the legislature before it is sent to the Governor’s desk to be signed into law.
Carrillo was elected to serve in the California State Assembly in December 2017. She represents the 51st Assembly District, which encompasses East Los Angeles, Northeast Los Angeles, and the neighborhoods of El Sereno, Echo Park, Lincoln Heights, Chinatown, and parts of Silver Lake.
“I am so grateful for California Assembly Member Wendy Carrilloher leadership in shepherding this bill on behalf of these precious animals,” said Jennifer Conrad, DVM, a veterinarian and the founder/director of the Paw Project. “Our goal is to make California one of the most humane states in the Union and we hope to pass this bill in as many states as we can.”
Declawing is a surgical procedure in which the animal’s toes are amputated at the last joint. Part of the bone, not just the nail, is removed. It is analogous to cutting off the first knuckle on the human hand.
It is estimated that 23 million domestic cats (over 20 percent of all owned cats) are declawed in the United States. This highly invasive and painful surgery is performed primarily to protect furniture. It is widely recognized that declawing cats does not reduce health risks for humans with health issues. Recently published studies have shown that declawed cats are more likely to bite.
Declawing is already prohibited in the New York state, 13 U.S.cities (including West Hollywood, Berkeley, Beverly Hills, Burbank, Culver City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Santa Monica), and in eight of the 10 Canadian provinces. Anti-declaw legislation is currently being considered in California, New Jersey, Massachusetts,Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut. Last week, Maryland passed a bill to ban cat declawing.
The practice of declawing any cat already is illegal or considered unethical in most of the world, including the UK, Ireland, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Sweden, Australia, New Zealand, and Norway. Great Britain’s Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons has declared declawing to be “unnecessary mutilation.”
In addition to The Paw Project and Alley Cat Allies, the Humane Society of The United States, the Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association, In Defense of Animals, Latino Alliance for Animal Care Foundation, Best Friends Animal Society, Democrats for the Protection of Animals, San Diego Humane Society and SPCA, San Francisco SPCA and Social Compassion in Legislation, along with veterinarians all over the world oppose the procedure.
California previously passed legislation to prohibit declawing of captive and wild exotic cats due to the Paw Project’sefforts. Veterinarians working with the nonprofit animal protection organization have developed and performed reparative surgery on lions, tigers, cougars, leopards, jaguars, and domestic cats that had been maimed by declawing–yielding dramatic results. Enjoying relief for the first time after years of suffering, cats that could only hobble a few agonizing steps before reconstructive surgery, now are able to leap, run and play as nature intended.
About The Paw Project
The Paw Projectis a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization founded in 1999 by veterinarian Dr. Jennifer Conrad to educate the public about the painful and crippling effects of feline declawing, promote animal welfare through the abolition of the practice of declaw surgery, and rehabilitate cats that have been declawed through reparative surgery. As a result of its efforts, declawing has been banned in seven Canadian Provinces and nine cities in the United States to date. For more information, visit www.PawProject.org.
