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WHAT YOU CAN DO

Oppose California Bill SB 762 and Support the West Hollywood Declaw Ban

Write a polite, personalized letter. (If you have any personal experience with declawing, especially negative ones, please include your story in the letter, using the first person, "I", to be more compelling.) Communicating a message that is concise, positive and proactive is far more persuasive than a long, critical message with a negative tone.

Click here for a Sample Letter

The bill is now on the Governor's desk. Letters should be sent to him immediately.

For updates, please join The Paw Project mailing list.

Please urge Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to veto SB 762. You can write, phone, and fax the governor at:

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: 916-445-2841
Fax: 916-558-3160

To send an e-mail, go to:
http://gov.ca.gov/interact

Submitting an e-mail to the Governor is a two-step process. First, select the purpose of your email by clicking the "Have Comment" button.

Then fill in your contact information, first and last names and e-mail address.

Next, go to "PLEASE CHOOSE YOUR SUBJECT" and click on the drop-down menu and select "Animal issues/concerns."

Click the "SUBMIT" button and you be taken to a new window.

In step two, click the "Con" button, then type in you e-mail message.

E-mail from California residents obviously carries more weight, so if you are a California resident, please indicate that fact, or list the California city in which you live.

Please personalize your message. Keep it short and polite. Your e-mail message might read:
Please veto SB 762. This bill would eliminate the right of cities to prohibit certain non-therapeutic procedures on animals, even when performed by veterinarians, when their inhabitants find them to unnecessary and inhumane. The courts have stated that such procedures are incidental to the practice of veterinary medicine and that banning them is not regulation of veterinary practice. I believe decisions regarding the humane treatment of animals should remain the prerogative of local governments and their citizens. Thank you.

Click here to see KCET's video on the declawing controversy

What is SB 762 all about?

In 2009, the California Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA) sponsored SB 762, a bill that would make far-reaching changes in current State law, including prohibiting local governments from enacting declaw bans, such as the one in West Hollywood.

SB 762 is identical to a 2008 bill, AB 2427, which despite efforts by members of The Paw Project and other animal welfare organizations, passed in both the California Senate and Assembly. The bill was vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger.

In 2003, the city of West Hollywood passed the nation's first ban on declawing, which is an amputation of the toe bone containing the claw. It is currently illegal for any person in the City of West Hollywood to declaw any animal without a medical reason, such as injury, infection, or disease that requires the removal claw.

The California Veterinary Medical Association contends that this law is a restriction of veterinary practice and that a local government may not pass such a law. West Hollywood's position is that has the right to prohibit anyone from performing a procedure it considers cruel. Declawing is already illegal or considered unethical in most of the rest of the world.

Why does the CVMA want to to overturn the will of the people of West Hollywood?

Veterinarians want to protect their ability to declaw cats despite the fact that their colleagues in most other nations consider declawing a violation of professional ethics. California vets' British brethren officially list declawing as "mutilation" and as an "unacceptable practice." The AVMA admonishes veterinarians to treat the behavioral causes of unwanted scratching before resorting to surgery, but one need only perform a quick internet search to see that declawing is actively marketed to veterinary clients. It is even offered in discounted package deals with routine spaying and neutering. This practice is known in the veterinary world as "supersizing" a spay (or neuter).

Why the fuss over declawing?

The bill is not actually about the moral or medical merits of declawing. It is about the right of a community to set its own standards about which activities are acceptable within its jurisdiction. The precedents set by this bill could have far-reaching effects for communities dealing with thhis and other animal welfare issues indefinitely.

Write a letter to the CVMA

Tell the CVMA to back off and to use their time and resources helping animals, perhaps volunteering to spay and neuter to fight the pet overpopulation crisis.

CVMA Officers:

William Grant II, DVM, CVMA President
13200 Euclid Street
Garden Grove, CA 92843
Business: (714) 537-5390
Fax: (714) 537-1971
E-mail: Vets4Pets@aol.com

Mark Nunez, DVM, CVMA President-Elect
14931 Oxnard Street
Van Nuys, CA 91411
Business: (818) 786-1651
Fax: (818) 786-0121
E-mail: mark.nunez@vcamail.com

 

CVMA Staff:

Executive Director, Valerie Fenstermaker
1400 River Park Drive, Suite 100
Sacramento, CA 95815

Phone: 916-649-0599 - Voice Mail #32
Fax: 916-646-9156
E-mail address: vfenstermaker@cvma.net

Assistant Executive Director, Dan Segna, DVM
1400 River Park Drive, Suite 100
Sacramento, CA 95815

Phone: 916-649-0599 - Voice Mail #36
Fax: 916-646-9156
E-mail address: dsegna@cvma.net

 

 

Together We Have Made A Difference!

Feline declawing affords no benefits to the health or well-being of the animal, but instead produces health or behavioral problems in many cases.

View cases studies in which declawing has proven to be harmful »

In recognition of this important animal welfare issue, former California Assembly member Paul Koretz (D-42nd District) introduced California State Assembly Bill AB 1857, which bans the practice of declawing of captive wild and exotic cats, such as tigers, lions, and cougar in the State of California.

AB 1857 was the first bill of its kind in the United States. It was passed by the California State Assembly on May 17, 2004, by the California Senate on August 24, 2004, and was signed into law by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The passage of AB 1857 in California demonstrated that grassroots compaigns can be effective. You can make a difference in your community and your state! Start at the local level.

The Paw Project is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that exists to increase public awareness about animal welfare and animal cruelty issues related to the crippling effects of cat declawing, to rehabilitate declawed exotic and wild cats, and to end the practice of declaw surgery or onychectomy on domestic cats and feral felines.