Pet sterilization becomes law in LA

[Alex]

The way I grew up skunks, racoons, possums, dogs, careless drivers, were just the acceptable risks of having a cat that wasn't locked indoors for its entire life.

Yes it was sad if/when a cat fell to one of those things and they were mourned. And then we got a new cat. And all of our cats went to vets for the following:

1. When old enough, to get spayed/neutered.
2. When they were dying.

Somehow they almost all lived happy healthy lives. If it were up to me that's probably how I would still approach it (though since it isn't a major expense within our budget I'd still do annual vet visits like I do now); but then I'm ok with kids riding bicycles without helmets.


As for the law, I just don't see it actually doing anything to achieve the goal of reducing unwanted and feral pets. In fact, just as a thought experiment it seems to me that it would tend to result in more unwanted pets just being abandoned rather than taken to a shelter for fear that fines would result. I certainly endorse the idea of everybody getting their animals sterilized, this just doesn't seem a law that has any value considering how few people put any stock at all into the other pet regulations around tagging and registration.