West Hollywood Considers Banning Cosmetic Surgery For Pets

[matcom]

<snip>

Cosmetic surgery may be all the rage in Southern California, but one Westside community is considering banning it — for animals.

The city is pet-friendly West Hollywood. And at today's meeting of the City Council, Mayor John Duran will introduce a motion to ban the cropping of animals' ears, docking of their tails, surgical procedures to silence them, defanging and other operations performed for "noncurative" reasons.

Such procedures, which Duran and others believe are painful, purely cosmetic or serve only the desires of pet owners, are banned in a number of European nations. If passed, West Hollywood's ordinance would be the first of its kind in the United States, Duran said.

"West Hollywood has had a historic record of enacting progressive policies regarding the care and welfare of animals," said City Councilman Jeffrey Prang, co-sponsor of the motion.

Indeed, dogs and other pets in West Hollywood may think they've died and gone to heaven. Four years ago, the city ruled that its pets don't have owners; they have human "guardians." Next, the 2-square-mile city became what was believed to be the first in North America to ban the declawing of cats and other animals. Last year, it began regulating the pet-grooming industry, making sure animals had fresh water and requiring local practitioners to report grooming-related injuries within 24 hours.

A two-time former mayor, Prang proudly led the "pet-guardian" drive. "West Hollywood was the second city after Boulder, Colo., but now there are a bunch of cities," he said.

He also led the fight to regulate the pet-grooming industry.

http://www.latimes.com/news/custom/showcase/la-me-animal7feb07.story

[petronius]

1. I hope there's an exception for bonsai-kitties....

[DBoon]

2. Dang it!

My dog could really use liposuction and a face-lift

[sniffa]

3. fascists!!!

that's not america... that's not even mexico!

[Bridget Burke]

4. My vet offers kitty (& doggy) insurance...

But cosmetic surgery is specifically excluded.

[kodi]

5. What? No more Nuticles? How will neutered dogs cope?

Nuticles are polypropylene balls surgically placed into the scrotum of neutered dogs to give them the appearance of an "un-altered state."

They come in many sizes.

Or so I've heard.

[achtung_circus]

6. None of my Dobermans were cropped or docked,

The theory is that these procedures, ear-cropping and tail docking, help present Dobermans in a more "serious" light, i.e. people can't tell that their tails are in fact wagging.

Bullshit. Most Dobermans are a sack of suck, mine included. On the rare occasions (and there have been a couple) when I wanted the dogs to show their serious side they did, the presence of a tail did not seem to confuse the people trying to break into my house.