As we have spent a lot of time thinking about and writing about spaying and neutering, we thought we would comment on this new law proposed in St. Louis to require mandatory spaying and neutering. While this is a step in the right direction and well intended, we think the law misses some important points.
Primarily, if you have penalties for not spaying and neutering and a family cannot afford it, then many people will just let their dogs and cats go on the street or wherever as they will have no option. You can only enact legislation like this if it provides for free spaying and neutering for people under a certain income or wealth level. In general, the town should set up low-cost spay and neutering clinics that get the cost down to $50ish so that it is not a burden on people. The combination of friendly legislation and low-cost options/free options should work well. Cities need to think this through very well, as one successful implementation could lead to a model for other cities to follow. Although probably not a good idea, it may even make sense to give people below a certain poverty level a $25 gift card or whatever to bring in their pets. Taking care of neglected puppies and kittens after the fact is just so much more expensive than stopping the unintentional breeding.