An ordinance to enact a mandatory spay/neuter requirement for dogs 6 months of age and older is scheduled for a hearing this coming Tuesday, October 10, at 9:30am by the Floyd County Board of Commissioners. The meeting will be held in the Community Room (Suite 206) of the County Administration Building located at 12 East 4th Avenue in Rome.
This extreme measure could be enacted with no exemption for sporting dogs utilized for hunting, trialing, or training. Sportsmen in Floyd County need to engage with their elected local officials and stop this over-reach in its tracks.
The proposed ordinance exempts dogs owned by licensed pet dealers and dogs classified as “working dogs.” However, hunting/sporting dogs are not classified as “working dogs” and would be subject to the spay/neuter requirement. Although sporting/hunting dogs meet everyone’s common sense definition of “working dogs,” this ordinance ignores this reality, making criminals out of sporting dog breeders throughout Floyd County who fail to follow the spay/neuter requirement.
“We see this more and more, where local governments forget who they represent and get clumsy about how to handle animal welfare issues,” said Todd Adkins, vice president of government affairs at the Sportsmen’s Alliance. “The commission needs to listen to sportsmen and fix this massive over-reach because sporting dog breeders are not the problem.”
If you live in Floyd County, please use our Take Action to email the Board of Commissioners urging them to protect sporting/hunting dog owners and oppose the proposed ordinance.
Don’t forget to share this alert with family, friends, and fellow sportsmen who live in Floyd County.
