{"id":5531,"date":"2010-06-13T10:47:00","date_gmt":"2010-06-13T10:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lbpost.com\/articles\/life\/pets\/new-spay-neuter-plates-to-be-driving-force\/"},"modified":"2010-06-13T10:47:00","modified_gmt":"2010-06-13T10:47:00","slug":"new-spay-neuter-plates-to-be-driving-force","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/pets\/new-spay-neuter-plates-to-be-driving-force","title":{"rendered":"New Spay\/Neuter Plates To Be Driving Force"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

7:30am |<\/strong> In addition to film actor, Pierce Brosnan is a dedicated environmentalist. The star of three James Bond movies is involved with wetlands protection, marine mammal safety and protesting a proposed site for the Cabrillo Port Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) facility off the Malibu and Oxnard coasts. The cause that he\u2019s most recently been involved in is prevention of littering: Brosnan has created and donated artwork that will be featured on a special California license plate created to raise consciousness about pet overpopulation and to fund free- and low-cost spay\/neuter programs across the state.<\/p>\n

Brosnan is actually a longtime advocate of resolving pet overpopulation, and the license plate is one of the latest projects he\u2019s supporting. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis bill will do good things for dogs and cats in the U.S. and will save lives that otherwise would go by the wayside,\u201d Brosnan said. <\/p>\n

On Tuesday, June 8, Brosnan and his broadcast journalist wife, Keely, joined L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa; city officials, including L.A.\u2019s Seventh District Councilmember Richard Alarc\u00f3n; the California Medical Board; and many other animal welfare advocates, Judy [Crumpton] included, at the West L.A. Animal shelter in celebration of this special program, with a delicious vegan taco-and-salad lunch donated by Native Foods<\/a>. With dogs yipping their approval and cats nodding and smiling in the background, the mayor, Pierce Brosnan and Social Compassion<\/a> in Legislation\u2019s dynamic president, Judie Mancuso, put forth the facts about the overwhelming number of homeless and unwanted dogs and cats in California and the importance of spaying and neutering companion animals to limit that number.<\/p>\n

\"\"L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, animal welfare advocate Judie Mancuso and actor Pierce Brosnan proudly display the new California plate.<\/p>\n

It was Keely Brosnan, Mancuso said, who first introduced her to the term pet overpopulation, and she took it and ran with it. Villaraigosa aptly referred to Mancuso as \u201cthe driving force behind the spay-and-neuter plate\u2014a force of nature who doesn\u2019t accept no as an answer.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cPet overpopulation simply means that there are more pets than there are available homes,\u201d Mancuso said. \u201cIn our society, the way we have dealt with this overload is to eliminate the homeless animals by euthanizing them. This heartbreaking norm has gotten so out of control in our state that we now euthanize over 500,000 dogs and cats per year, at a staggering moral cost and financial cost of over a quarter billion dollars.\u201d <\/p>\n

Long Beach Animal Care Services reports that 4,479 cats and 1,203 dogs were euthanized or otherwise died at the shelter in 2009. When the State\u2019s private shelters are included, it is estimated that one million pets enter California\u2019s shelters each year, and over half of them are euthanized. Mancuso stressed the need to be proactive in dealing with the problem and prevent unwanted litters and strays by spaying and neutering pets. Villaraigosa also said that, despite L.A.\u2019s tough spay\/neuter laws and stakeholders in the program, too many pets are still euthanized. He hopes to bring spay\/neuter laws statewide and to make it affordable and available to everyone, much as we\u2019ve been doing in Long Beach. <\/p>\n

The special plates will fund spay and neuter surgeries through local animal care and control voucher programs such as the ones in operation through Long Beach Animal Care Services; none of the proceeds will go toward shelter overhead costs. Volunteer members of the California Spay and Neuter License Plate fund, a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization, will manage and administer the program. <\/p>\n

Alarc\u00f3n, in pointing out the thousands of animals added to shelter overpopulation because of mortgage defaults and other economic concerns, praised Mancuso for bringing forth an ingenious idea to raise money to help solve the problem and also thanked Pierce Brosnan for his creativity and generosity and for coming up with a design that includes \u201cthe perfect California cat.\u201d <\/p>\n

In our [actually, Judy\u2019s, but Kate echoes the sentiment] own words, this plate has given spay\/neuter advocates a shot of hope in the arm, especially after a few of our previous bills failed. The plates will do so much good for the cause and for California shelters, as they have the potential of saving many animals\u2019 lives and reducing their suffering. <\/p>\n

Patty Shenker, a well-known animal advocate active in Social Compassion in Legislation and Animal Acres<\/a>, knows that California\u2019s status as a car will, so to speak, drive home a message engraved on a permanent license plate to a number of commuters. <\/p>\n

\u201cI expect everyone who cares about pet overpopulation to preorder their spay\/neuter license plates so we can save so many more lives\u2014and let shelters become shelters again,\u201d Shenker said. <\/p>\n

The new specialty plates will be produced and sent out when at least 7,500 prepaid applications have been collected. If you want to be part of that \u201cfirst 7,500,\u201d as the mayor put it, you can order them here<\/a>. Expect us to honk in support if we\u2019re behind you.<\/p>\n

For a video of the speeches and event, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Virtually Pets<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"Roca is a female brown-and-black dachshund, about a year old. You can find her sniffing around Long Beach Animal Care Services. If you love dachshunds and want one, adopt, don\u2019t buy. Ask for ID#A403878. <\/p>\n

This handsome fellow is a white male domestic shorthair, about 5 years old. His markings look just like Maneki Neko, the Japanese beckoning cat, who brought good luck to many he met. This cat could use some luck now, in the form of a loving home. Ask for ID#A402475. <\/p>\n

Both of these pets are waiting at the shelter side of Long Beach Animal Care Services at the P.D. Pitchford Companion Animal Village, 7700 East Spring St. Long Beach, CA 90808, (562) 570-7387.<\/p>\n

Pet Projects<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"June 26, Mobile clinic visits North Long Beach <\/em><\/strong>
Half-price microchips\u2014only $10 per pet\u2014will be given to visitors to the mobile clinic in to give animal owners the opportunity to provide permanent identification to their cats and dogs. This special offer is made possible by a generous donation byf the Friends of Long Beach Animals, a local nonprofit that is paying half the cost of the chips for one day only. Residents may also get their pets licensed. Prices are as follows: <\/p>\n

$10 AVID Microchip (includes registration)
$20 dog licenses (for altered animals)
$90 dog licenses (for unaltered animals)
 
\u201cA microchip is the best gift you can give your animal,\u201d said Animal Care Services manager John Keisler. \u201cEvery day, we are able to reunite pets with their owners because the pets have microchips, which last a lifetime.\u201d <\/p>\n

More monthly microchip and licensing clinics are planned for this year. June\u2019s clinic will come to Houghton Park\u2019s Center for Families and Youth, 6301 Myrtle Ave., Long Beach 90805, 10 a.m.\u20132 p.m.<\/p>\n

July 14, Giant Demo Against Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus<\/em><\/strong>
<\/em>In what the organizers are calling \u201cThe Greatest Protest on Earth,\u201d the opening night of Ringling Bros. Circus at the Staples Center will be greeted by animal advocates protesting the cruel use of animals in circuses. According to the protest\u2019s organizers, circus animals are \u201cbrutally trained to perform unnatural tricks, chained and confined to small cages and pens, and trucked around the country for months on end. Ringling Bros. Circus has been repeatedly failed to meet minimal federal animal welfare standards for the care of animals used in exhibition.\u201d<\/p>\n

The protest will take place at 5 p.m. in front of Staples Center, 1111 S. Figueroa St., Los Angeles. Signs and fliers will be provided, but original signs are welcome. Other protests are scheduled in Ontario and Anaheim. Contact bill@idausa.org<\/a> for information.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Actor Pierce Brosnan has created and donated artwork that will be featured on a special California license plate created to raise consciousness about pet overpopulation and to fund free- and low-cost spay\/neuter programs across the state.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-5531","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pets","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5531"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5531\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5531"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=5531"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=5531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}