Ordinance updates animal control practices to reflect modern best practices, its author says
The New Orleans City Council unanimously approved changes Thursday to the city's laws on the care and control of domestic and feral animals.
The changes were contained in a proposed ordinance authored by Councilwoman Susan Guidry.
"The idea was to update animal control practices to reflect modern best practices," Guidry said.
The changes include reducing rabies vaccination requirements from annual to every 3 years and providing more specific and humane guidelines for the tethering of dogs.
Another change is the creation of a new, lowest-level designation of "potentially dangerous" dog and amending the criteria for designating a dog as "dangerous" or "vicious".
The ordinance also establishes criteria/conditions that allow for the rehoming of dogs that have been seized in dogfighting situations.
And it creates new rules concerning feral and/or free roaming "community cats" that have been sterilized, vaccinated and ear tipped.
