Humane Society opposes bill

Jace Radke

Friday, March 2, 2001 | 10:54 a.m.

The Las Vegas Valley Humane Society says a bill proposed by Assemblyman Tom Collins, D-North Las Vegas, takes too much control away from local governments when it comes to animals.

Assembly Bill 208 would make it illegal for local governments to pass restrictions on the treatment, handling or transportation of animals that are more stringent than state laws.

"This lets the local governments concentrate on all the other zoning and growth issues they're already facing," Collins said. "This law doesn't change any of the existing local regulations. Those will still be in place."

Humane Society member Doug Trenner says that the bill will stop local governments from enforcing strict laws when it comes to the care of wild or exotic animals.

"If this passes, your neighbor could have five lions in his back yard, and there wouldn't be anything we could do about it," Trenner said. "It usurps the rights of the cities and counties to enact laws that are stronger than the state's."

Collins disagrees, saying that existing local laws won't be changed by the new bill, so there won't be any chance of exotic animals running wild on Las Vegas streets.

"I don't want a lion living next door to me, and that's not what this bill allows," Collins said. "On the other hand, in Carson City there's a leash law for cats. This would prevent silly laws like that."

Collins says that a local law in Illinois that set out to ban bear wrestling was one of the reasons that sparked him to draft AB 208. The Illinois law eventually ended up banning wrestling with animals of any kind, effectively eliminating steer roping and other rodeo events and forcing the cancellation of rodeos and circuses.

The bill also will prohibit local governments from passing laws requiring that animals are spayed or neutered.

"It won't stop any of the animal shelters or vets from neutering animals," Collins said. "They can continue to do that, but it doesn't allow a local law requiring all dogs and cats to be spayed or neutered to pass. It stops the resident who wants to breed an animal from becoming an outlaw."