SALT LAKE COUNTY, Utah (ABC 4 News) - Pet owners listen up. Several new ordinances have been passed by the Salt Lake County Council. This will impact your cats, how many pets you can own, and what it'll all cost you.
Fluffy, Cupcake, Baby, whatever your cat's name if you own one and live in unincorporated Salt Lake County you'll soon have to get your cat licensed. With 16,000 cats brought to the Salt Lake County Shelter each year and only 4 percent of them returned to their owners, supporters of this ordinance say there's desperate need for it.
April Harris with Salt Lake County Animal Services says, “If we license cats and treat them like we treat dogs because our redemption rates on dogs is about 60 percent, maybe we can get 60 percent of the cats back to their homes.”
The late penalty for pet licensing will also increase. Owners can face up to $250 instead of the current $25 late fee.
There are some who oppose the ordinance, believing it's another strike against cared for feral cats in some neighborhoods. George Chapman says, “They don't want to take the time and effort to go down and license a cat that really isn't theirs so I think it'll increase the number of cats that are actually euthanized.
In Tuesday’s meeting, the County Council also passed to remove the limitation on how many pets one can own. Harris says, “We're not concerned that everyone is going to run out and get 20 cats. People know how many animals they can take care of and if they don't we have other laws in place that will help us make the decision on whether or not they should own pets.”
Harris says they investigate just one or two hording cases a year but she understands some residents concerns with the potential of more neighboring animals. She adds, “We have laws in place to deal with barking, we have laws in place to deal with neglect abuse and is this animal getting proper veterinary care.”
It'll cost owners five dollars to license their cat and that comes with a micro chip. These ordinances will go through another public comment period at next week’s meeting. If the County Council sticks with their decision, these ordinances will go into effect 15 days after that.
As incentives, Salt Lake County Animal Services is waiving the penalty fee for first time pet licenses and offering free three month licenses.
