Seaside City Council looks to a new spay and neuter ordinance for pet control
SEASIDE, Calif. (KION-TV) -- Seaside will meet Thursday to discuss mandating a potential ordinance to require pet owners to spay or neuter their pets after an influx of domestic stray cats and dogs are turned into the SPCA. The Seaside City Council is in talks about an ordinance that would make spay and neutering of dogs and cats mandatory in the city.
Seaside is having a pet population issue and aims to tackle it head-on with a new ordinance.
"If you go through our in our community, even at my own home on my street, I see an issue with feral cats. We have also with backyard breeding," Seaside City Councilmember Alex Miller said. "And there's a lot of backyard breeding happening in Seaside."
Councilmember Alex Miller says the dogs and cats are bred for the sake of monetary gain. However, some are getting turned in to the SPCA Monterey County which is a heavy cost for the city.
"A couple of years ago, it was $170. Now we're getting into the $250 range for every animal, and it's costing our city between $10,000 to $15000 a month in animals just being released to the SPCA,” Miller said.
SPCA Monterey County is a local non-profit that is committed to supporting the ordinance if passed, but hope that it can be helpful to residents.
“So that's what we're hoping that Seaside does with this ordinance is also provide access to low cost spay and neuter because we'd hate to see somebody lose their pet simply because they can't find standard or services or they can't afford it," Beth Brookhouser of SPCA Monterey County said.
An initial staff report of the ordinance also had an error in its data stating “70% of cats that enter Monterey County shelters are euthanized each year” leading SPCA to ask the city for a correction on their data.
As for the cost of getting these services, the city of Seaside aims to continue providing low-cost services for the city.
"We have low cost spay and neuter option here in the city of Seaside. You can get your animal spay and neuter in the city of seaside once a month. Every month we have the snip bus comes to the city and residents can have their pet spay and neuter for only $25. And that's really important for our city.”
Councilmember Miller says the city isn't actively trying to punish people for having pets — but to address some of the backyard breeding leading to a growing stray animal population.
