By Daily Press staff
The Paw Project, a Santa Monica-based nonprofit animal welfare organization, is the sponsor of Assembly Bill 1857, legislation introduced by Assemblyman Paul Koretz (D-West Hollywood) that would protect native, wild and exotic cat species such as lions, tigers, cougars and bobcats from the painful and unnecessary surgical procedure known as “declawing.”
The bill already has been approved by the State Assembly with a bi-partisan vote of 48-28 and will be presented for a vote by the entire Senate before the legislative recess at the end of August. AB 1857 does not apply to domestic house cats. In 2003, The Paw Project spearheaded movements to outlaw declawing in West Hollywood and to pass resolutions against the practice in Malibu, San Francisco, and Berkeley.
AB 1857 will ban declawing of big cats in the state’s animal cruelty statutes. The bill makes it a misdemeanor for anyone to perform the surgery and comes with a possible penalty of up to a year in jail and/or a $10,000 fine. The penalty is consistent with other violations of the animal cruelty statutes, such as cock-fighting exhibitions or maliciously maiming an animal.
Jennifer Conrad, DVM, a Santa Monica veterinarian and founder of The Paw Project, has repaired more than 100 crippled feet of animals who had been declawed, mostly by animal trainers for use in film and television. Declawing is an amputation of the toe bones that contains the claws. Tendons, nerves and muscles are severed when the bone is removed. The effects of declawing are particularly debilitating for big cats and can result in a variety of painful complications and lameness, veterinarians. AB 1857 allows for declawing for therapeutic purposes only, such as treatment of chronic infection.
“Fortunately, there are a growing number of animal trainers who know that declawed cats are not safer to be around and that declawed cats can become dangerous biters,” Conrad said. “There are many cases of people being attacked and killed, or gravely injured by the teeth and jaws of a declawed cat.
“In fact, declawing these big cats can lead to a false sense of security, which can encourage handlers to take risks with these animals that they might not otherwise, endangering both the handler and the public,” she added.
The veterinarian for Siegfried and Roy has recently admitted that he had declawed Montecore, the tiger that delivered the near-fatal bite to Roy Horn.
The American Veterinary Medical Association, the American Association of Zoo Veterinarians and the American Association of Wildlife Veterinarians felt the common practice of declawing captive wild cats was an important enough issue to officially declare their opposition to the procedure earlier this year. The Humane Society of the United States, The Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights, The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and many other animal welfare organizations also support the bill. Declawing is illegal in many industrialized countries around the world.
“California should take the lead in this country and outlaw this cruel, inhumane, and totally unnecessary procedure,” Koretz said.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 21, 2004. Read the original PDF.