On Tuesday, October 27, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie introduced the PAWS Act (Protecting Animal Welfare and Safety for Dogs). The goal is real: the city's animal shelter is overflowing. Puppy intake has nearly doubled in five years, from 227 to 422, and the Bryant Street shelter has 67 kennels but can usually care for about 60 dogs.
Some of the bill makes sense. A $200 breeding permit, home inspections, one litter a year per female, and a cap on backyard breeding go after the supply of puppies that end up in the shelter.
But other parts of the bill would hurt the people who love their dogs the most. The bill would cut the time an owner has to reclaim a dog from the shelter from 14 days to 7 days, with the clock starting when the dog arrives, not when the owner is notified. It would shorten the stray hold from 96 hours to 72. And it would allow the shelter to sterilize dogs in more situations, with no new funding.
As one deputy public defender told the San Francisco Standard, pets are a lifeline for many clients. A person in the hospital, in jail, or without housing can't always get to the shelter in seven days. A rule meant to clear kennels could separate a family from the dog that keeps them going.
I am asking the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, when the bill reaches committee (a hearing could begin in late November), to amend the PAWS Act before voting on it: keep the reclaim window at 14 days or start it only after the owner is notified, exempt people who are hospitalized, jailed, or unhoused, and fund the shelter and low-cost spay and neuter so the rules can actually be carried out. I'm also asking Mayor Lurie to support those changes.
We can go after puppy overproduction without punishing the people who keep their dogs out of the shelter. Please sign.
I'm Eric, and I run I Love Every Dog. The best shelter system is the one where fewer dogs ever have to walk in.
