Success Stories: Ending pet overpopulation

Denver, Colorado
When Passed: April 1993

What ordinance states: Requires dogs and cats over the age of six months to be sterilized unless the guardian purchases a special unaltered animal permit. The cost for the permit is $43 in addition to the $7 license fee for all animals.  Therefore, residents with intact dogs and cats must pay a fee of $50 per year for each animal and those with sterilized animals pay $7.

How it works: The animal control department issues or renews unaltered animal permits after they determine that the following conditions are met: a vet examines the animal regularly; the animal is vaccinated against rabies and other common diseases; the animal is housed properly; and the guardian has not had more than one animal control violation.

Enforcement: Animal Control Director Curtis Bradley admits that he does not have enough staff to proactively enforce the unaltered animal permit.  Nevertheless, his department issues about 90 citations a month for violation of the ordinance.  Each person an animal control officer comes in contact with is asked if their animal is sterilized and if not, do they have an unaltered permit.  Those with intact animals who do not possess a permit are issued a citation and given 30 days to comply.  They have two options: pay a fine and purchase a permit or get their animal sterilized.

Effectiveness: The ordinance has been in effect for five years and, according to Bradley, has been quite successful.  The pre and post ordinance statistics reveal that euthanasia decreased by 28% and impounds decreased by 18% over a four-year period.  During the same time adoptions increased by 20%. Redemptions, however, decreased by 15%.  According to Bradley this is because fewer tagged animals are being impounded as the license compliance increases.

Animal Statistics

             Impounded   Adopted   Reedemed   Euthanized
1993      10,553             970           2,709          6,297
1997        8,677          1,206           2,310          4,521
% change   -18%         +20%           -15%         -28%

How the ordinance can be improved: According to Bradley, give the climate of the community, they passed the strongest ordinance they could.  He had a diverse group of people participating in the process of drafting a workable ordinance.  Bradley believes that the Denver community needs more publicity on the surplus animal issue.  His goal in the next few years is to be more proactive in educating people about overpopulation and the importance of sterilizing their animals.

For more information: Curtis Bradley, Denver Municipal Animal Shelter, Department of Health, 666 South Jason, Denver CO 80223, Phone 303-698-0097, Fax 303-698-4959