If three proposed animal welfare ordinances are adopted in Longview, the number of stray animals roaming city streets — and the number of healthy animals that are euthanized at the city animal shelter — could drop dramatically, according to a local animal welfare activist.
Kelly Heitkamp, an animal welfare attorney in Longview, is the author of proposed ordinances that would promote the spaying and neutering of cats and dogs, require them to be implanted with a microchip and reduce the frequency of rabies vaccinations pets have to have.
Community members will have a chance to discuss those proposed ordinances during a meeting at 6 p.m. Sept. 24 at the Broughton Recreation Center hosted by District 3 City Councilman Wray Wade.
The Longview Animal Shelter Advisory Committee voted during its meeting Sept. 17 to recommend that the City Council adopt the ordinances as ways to mitigate the city’s growing problem with stray, vicious animals.
Discussions about improving the city’s animal welfare ordinances have been a top priority for city officials since February, when 48-year-old Kenneth Pierson was killed by a pack of dogs on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
Data shows ordinance worksThe first of the three ordinances would make having a pet that isn’t spayed or neutered a municipal offense, but the ordinance offers several exemptions.
The ordinance would create an “intact pet permit” for which Longview residents could apply, an exemption allowing an animal not to be spayed or neutered. Applicants would have to provide animal control officials with basic information about the animal and photos showing where the animal will live. Other guidelines would be in place as well, according to the text of the ordinance.
The permit would cost $50, and funding from pet permit fees would be used to pay for spay/neuter vouchers offered by the city of Longview’s Spay it Forward program, which gives vouchers to qualifying Gregg County residents to cover or reduce the cost of operations.
Heitkamp drafted Longview’s ordinance based on those implemented in other Texas cities, including Fort Worth, Waco, San Angelo, Waco, Killeen, Odessa and elsewhere. The ordinance has proven to be successful, she said.
In the past 14 years, Waco and San Angelo officials have reported 46% deceases in the number of strays taken in by municipal animal shelters and 96% decreases in the number of animals euthanized, according to data Heitkamp obtained via open records requests.
Waco city leaders implemented the ordinance in 2013. From 2010 to 2012, the city shelter took in an average of 10,529 animals; that number dropped 46% to an average of 5,655 from 2021 to 2023, according to data Heitkamp obtained.
The greatest drop was the decline in the number of animals that were euthanized in Waco: That number fell from an average of 6,377 from 2010 to 2012 to an average of 277 from 2021 to 2023.
“It’s overwhelming,” Heitkamp said. “I had no idea that this ordinance had been so successful. It’s not common knowledge.”
Animals that are medically unable to be spayed or neutered could be exempted from the requirement at no cost if a veterinarian verifies that the animal is ineligible for an operation.
Pet owners who don’t obtain a permit or an exemption for an animal would be fined. However, fines could be waived if the pet owner spays or neuters the animal within 30 days of the citation being issued.
Heitkamp emphasized that the ordinance would not be a mandatory spay/neuter law. Rather, she said, it would give pet owners multiple options for caring for their pets in a city where vouchers are available to help people cover those costs.
Several of the cities that have implemented such an ordinance haven’t offered veterinary exemptions or offered people vouchers for spaying and neutering, she said.
“We’re giving some credit to some of these people to let them be responsible and be accountable for themselves,” Heitkamp said Monday. “You have choices, and that’s the best thing. It’s what people wanted. They weren’t against the ordinance. They just wanted to make sure that they had choices.”
Impact of the ordinanceIf the ordinance is passed, Longview residents can expect a reduction in the number of animals at large, animal abuse and neglect cases, animal bites, nuisance animal issues and expenses for the city animal shelter, Heitkamp wrote in a summary of the proposed ordinance.
The ordinance would cut down on illegal and irresponsible pet breeding, which contributes to pet overpopulation and oftentimes results in the creation of animals that are predisposed to serious illness, Heitkamp said. The ordinance would create exemptions for licensed animal breeders who could apply for a permit that would allow them to have animals that aren’t spayed or neutered, referred to as “unaltered” animals. Breeders would have to meet a number of requirements.
Hiring additional animal control officers to try to control the stray population wouldn’t be an effective way to curtail the problem and would cost taxpayers more, Heitkamp said.
“Hiring more ACOs but doing nothing to reduce the animal population is the equivalent of sending ACOs to clean up the oil from a spill but not shutting off the pipeline,” she wrote in a summary of the ordinances. “Hiring more ACOs and doing nothing to reduce the growing/breeding population simply means the animals will continue to populate. This means more ACOs, trucks, gas, personnel will be needed every few years until we have nothing but ACOs and dogs populating Gregg County.”
Likewise, increasing fines for pet owners who allow their animals to run at large don’t prevent animals from breeding — the core of the problem that the spay/neuter ordinance would address.
“This isn’t opposing anybody’s right to have a pet,” Heitkamp said. “Anybody can own a pet, and it’s encouraged when you have an environment like this. You’re encouraged to have pets. You’re just encouraged to be responsible. This ordinance does not curtail any pet ownership at all. It encourages responsibility.”
Microchip, rabies proposalsThe second proposed ordinance would require pet owners to have microchips implanted in their animals older than six months. Microchips are tiny devices planted in an animal’s skin and are no more invasive than a vaccination, according to the American Kennel Club, a leading animal advocacy organization. The microchips can be scanned by animal control officers and veterinarians, giving them access to the information that can help locate an animal’s owner.
The city of Longview offers micro-chipping for $15 but sometimes offers the service for free. On Saturday, Longview Animal Care and Adoption Center staff hosted a free micro-chip event at Ingram Park. Animals that have a microchip are three times more likely to be returned to their owners, according to city officials.
The third proposed ordinance would reduce the frequency of rabies vaccinations for dogs. Under the ordinance, animals would be required to get a rabies vaccination in accordance with state law rather than the city’s annual vaccination requirement.
Scientific research — including a study published in April 2020 by the Canadian Journal of Veterinary Research — shows that rabies vaccines may give animals immunity for three or more years. A blog post on the Animal Medical Center of the Antelope Valley’s website states that rabies booster shots shouldn’t be given more frequently than once every three years, as more frequent vaccination can harm animals. Animals should receive a booster shot one year after the initial vaccination and every three years thereafter.
Jordan Green is a Report for America corps member covering underserved communities for the News-Journal. Reach him at jgreen@news-journal.com.
