Updates to the City of San Luis Obispo's animal ordinances were approved last week and encompass a variety of different animal policies with some impacting pet owners.
"They really are working to address responsible pet ownership and try to help us reach some solutions to animal problems that we have around our community. People that are responsible pet owners won't be noticing most of these issues at all," said Eric Anderson, San Luis Obispo County Animal Services Manager.
Anderson says the changes are meant to help align local cities' animal ordinances with the county’s ordinances, which were updated last December.
San Luis Obispo is the second city to make revisions. Grover Beach was the first.
"Hopefully, this fall by the end of the year, we should have everybody on board," Anderson said.
One new requirement will be the microchipping of adult cats and dogs.
Local veterinarian Dr. Bonnie Markoff says microchips are beneficial but registration is just as important.
"Microchips are beneficial and there's a lot of different kinds of microchips, but if an animal is microchipped and registered, that's the key. Having a microchip alone doesn't help anything, so you have to keep your registration up-to-date," Dr. Markoff said.
Another change is the requirement to get your outdoor cat spayed or neutered.
"Spaying outdoor cats is beneficial for both the cat and for the community. We certainly don't want a cat overpopulation problem. If you've been around San Luis Obispo long enough, you remember the creek cats down at the mission. There were so many cats and it is a health hazard," Dr. Markoff said.
"That really is just a key for helping to control some of that population," Anderson said.
While these new rules are now in the city's municipal code, Anderson says they’re currently focused on awareness.
"In theory, people could be given a citation for some of the issues. Usually, our approach to that is really more of an educational eye. We try to provide them with the education and direction on how and where to get those things done," Anderson said.
Other changes can be found on this document, highlighted in yellow:
https://pub-slocity.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=15216
