In declaring that animals shall no longer be considered “chattel property”, the Albuquerque Humane and Ethical Animal Rules and Treatment (HEART) ordinance removes your rights as pet owners and assigns to the Mayor of Albuquerque and the Albuquerque Animal Care Center (AACC) most of those rights. Yet you will pay the bills and be held responsible for your pets.

For this reason and the many others listed as follows, Albuquerque voters should sign the referendum petition to put HEART on the ballot and let the electorate vote to repeal it.

Problems for Pet Owners:

+ You may have no more than six pets. No more than four can be dogs, and no more than four can be intact (not spayed or altered) animals, unless you are granted a multiple companion permit. Even with a permit, you would still be limited to 15 animals and no more than four intact ones. Furthermore, it would take just one neighbor on either side of you who objects to your pets to revoke any permission to have those pets.

+ Your pets must be securely confined to your property or, if taken off your property, must be restrained in secure enclosures or by leashes no longer than eight feet. Verbal commands do not qualify under HEART as having control of the pet. This means no more exercising your dog off-leash in dog parks. In fact, if you continue to do so, your dog can be seized and impounded.

+ You are required to bathe and groom your pets or whatever else it takes to keep them clean and healthy. Not doing so would subject you to charges of cruelty. Yet, if your dog or cat objects to bathing, nail-cutting, or even combing and brushing and becomes visibly upset, you would also be charged with cruelty. If, while training your dog, you scold him for some undesirable action and he is upset, you could be charged with cruelty. If you take something away from the dog or cat that they shouldn’t have and they become upset, you can be charged with cruelty. If you tease your dog or cat, and they act as if upset, you could be charged with cruelty. If your dog or cat is recuperating from illness or surgery and must be kept relatively immobile, therefore confined to a crate too small to permit exercise, you can be charged with cruelty. If your cat tips over his water bowl, and you are not on the spot to refill it immediately, you can be charged with cruelty. If you withhold water from your pet the night before surgery, as recommended by your veterinarian, you could be charged with cruelty.

+ You may not tether your dog for more than one hour out of any 24 hours, unless you obtain a trolley permit allowing you to tether the dog for no more than 9 out of every 24 hours. But the trolley permit is only good for one year. After that, you must find some better way of confining the dog to your property.

+ If you find your friend’s or neighbor’s lost pet, you may keep the animal until you catch up with the owner only if you register with the AACC as a finder within 24 hours. But if you do not qualify as a proper finder under the HEART “qualified adopter” standard, then you must relinquish the pet to AACC. Since every violation of the HEART ordinance could mean no one can qualify as a finder, it is likely no one will be able to help rescue even pets belonging to their best friends of relatives.

+ As a responsible owner you would want to abide by state law to have your pets vaccinated for rabies, but under HEART, veterinarians will be required to report all rabies vaccinations to the Mayor with all identifying personal details about the owner and the pet.

+ All pets over three months old must be microchipped along with proof of rabies vaccination to be licensed. It’s not only another expense, but one you must incur even for puppies or kittens you plan to sell if they are over three months old.

Mandatory Spaying and Neutering:

+ Under the HEART ordinance, with few exceptions, you will be required to spay or neuter all your pets over six months old for these trumped-up reasons:

1) spaying or neutering prevents excessive barking

2) spaying or neutering prevents dogs at large

3) spaying or neutering will reduce the present 15,000 pets euthanized in city shelters every year.

The truth is that spaying or neutering does nothing to prevent either excessive barking or dogs at large, and the euthanasia figures are greatly exaggerated.

In contrast, many studies have shown there are serious long-term negative effects from pediatric spaying or neutering of dogs, especially the slow-maturing large and giant dogs.

+ The HEART ordinance claims spaying and neutering will prevent cruelty by ending pet overpopulation. The truth is, if people are inclined to abuse or neglect their pets, they will do so whether or not the pet is spayed or neutered or intact. Mandatory spaying and neutering just ensures there will be no more pets left in a few years.

+ You might be able to get a medical waiver of spaying or neutering your pet based on age or illness, if your veterinarian certifies such surgery would risk the life or health of your pet. But if the Mayor requests a second opinion and the second veterinarian doesn’t agree, you will not get the medical waiver. Furthermore, if the Mayor notices any veterinarian is issuing a lot of medical waivers, the Mayor can order every animal named in those waivers to be re-examined by another veterinarian. The city doesn’t trust veterinarians, either. In any case, the medical waiver is only good for one year. Your pet will be older, possibly sicker, but unless you can obtain an intact animal permit for him or her, he or she will have to be spayed or neutered.

+ The limit of four intact animals at one time includes those with medical waivers or puppies or kittens too young for breeding or showing. Except for the medical waiver, each intact animal permit costs $150 per year per animal, but, if the permit is revoked for any reason, you forfeit the $150.

+ If your intact pet fetches up at the AACC twice, you will lose that intact animal permit and be forced to spay or neuter the pet and pay the AACC to do so. You don’t even get to choose your own veterinarian.

+ If you have even one intact pet, your home will have to be secured like a fortress to prevent your pet from escaping and any other pets of the same species from entering. No more taking turns with friends taking care of each other’s pets while one of you is away, even if your bitch or queen is not in heat.

Penalties:

+ Any suspected violation of the HEART ordinance, even as trivial as the length of your dog’s leash, could subject you to inspection of your home and possibly seizure of your pets without a warrant for probable cause.

+ Any suspected violation of the HEART ordinance will put you at risk for cruelty to animals charges that, in turn, will trigger investigations of your family to determine possible abuse of family members.

+ Every violation of the HEART ordinance, no matter how trivial or important, will be treated as a separate petty misdemeanor for each animal and for each day the violation exists. This means if your dog’s leash is six inches too long or his enclosure is a foot too narrow, each offense will be a separate offense, multiplied by every day those offenses are not corrected. You could wind up in court with as many as ten misdemeanor charges for one or two actual violations.

Permits:

+ All permits for exceptions to the mandatory spaying and neutering and pet limit requirements are good for one year only and, worse, can be revoked or suspended at any time for any violation of HEART. Permits can also be not renewable, if the Mayor declares a moratorium on any or all permits or modifies them. You could have permits for your four intact dogs or cats this year, but by next year, only be allowed intact animal permits for two of your pets. You could breed a litter, apply for a litter permit, and find the Mayor has issued a moratorium on litter permits. Meanwhile, your bitch or queen is pregnant, now illegally pregnant.

+ Permits come with inspections. You have to pay for those inspections that you probably don’t want in the first place.

+ Only model citizens will qualify for any permits allowed by HEART, as specified by the “qualified adopter” standard. The “qualified adopter” must be 18 or older, has never been convicted of cruelty under any law and nor more than once for any violation of HEART or preceding animal ordinances, has never had a permit revoked or suspended (even if the suspension was successfully appealed), has never failed to reclaim an animal from the AACC, and has never been convicted of child or domestic abuse.

+ Not only must you meet the “qualified adopter” standard, but to obtain any permit, you cannot associate with anyone else who is does not meet that standard. If your boss’ dog ran away a couple of times and was impounded by AACC or if your sister failed to renew her dog’s license on time a few years ago, too bad, you will not get one of those permits.

+ When you are inspected in connection with any permit, the findings will be posted on the AACC website for anyone to see online, even if you plan to appeal the findings.

+ You do not have to consent to inspection for your home, but the city retains the right to inspect your home without a warrant for probable cause if the city suspects conditions dangerous to the heath or safety of animals. Furthermore, the Mayor has the right to inspect all your animal-related records, including those of animals you transferred to others for three years after such transfers, whether or not the new owner is a resident of Albuquerque .

+ If you are granted an intact animal or litter permit, you must post on the front of your property a sign at least 8 and a half by eleven inches with at least one-inch lettering that states the HEART ordinance’s spaying and neutering, licensing, and other identification requirements. Paradoxically, all that information won’t fit on a sign the size of typing paper, but one of the prices of obtaining a permit is your obligation to publicize the city’s animal law agenda.

+ If you move, change your phone number, or decide on a different person for your emergency contacts, or change anything else related to your permits, even just the sale of one puppy or kitten, the person to be first notified is the Mayor, or else your permit can be revoked. Forget telling your mother or your boss your new address . The Mayor comes first, or else you will wind up spaying or neutering your pets or even aborting your forthcoming litter.

Selling Puppies and Kittens:

+ If you breed your intact pet, you must obtain a litter permit for $150 per litter. If it turns out the bitch or queen is not pregnant or none of the litter survive, too bad, you’re out $150. Moreover, you cannot apply for more than four litter permits in one year or for more than one litter permit per animal in one year. That means the cat breeders will only be able to breed a queen once before spaying her.

+ In all cases, litter permits are good for only six months. If you do not place puppies or kittens you are not keeping (to comply with total pet limits) within six months, you will be in violation of HEART and risk losing all your permits. No more holding promising puppies or kittens longer than usual to see how well they grow out.

+ When you sell puppies or kittens, you will be responsible for any illnesses for at least a week after date of sale. If the new owner disputes veterinary bill compensation and you lose on appeal, you must pay the new owner’s legal fees.

+ Even if you have a long waiting list for your puppies or kittens, you must advertise them in local media with the litter permit number included in the ad. No more giving a friend’s phone number as an alternate contact, if that friend does not live in Albuquerque, because to sell animals in Albuquerque, but give out-of-city contact information is a violation of HEART, moreover a separate violation for every puppy or kitten and every day you own that puppy or kitten.

+ You may not sell puppies or kittens from anywhere but your home, and you may not sell them to pet shops or other brokers, even if you are nearing the six-month limit for keeping puppies or kittens. Pet shops will no longer be permitted to sell pets, except for small exotic animals. In fact, pets will not be able to be sold in any public venue, except for public adoption events held by shelters or rescue groups approved by the Mayor.

HEART Will Affect Surrounding Areas:

Even though it’s difficult to see how Albuquerque can enforce legislation in other counties, the HEART ordinance has these provisions in it:

+ In Bernalillo, Valencia, Sandoval, Cibola, Santa Fe, and Torrance counties, all owned animals must be spayed or neutered before release from shelters, except permitted intact animals if they have not been impounded before or animals with medical waivers. Do not lose your dog in one of these counties.

+ If you live outside Albuquerque but commute to work in Albuquerque and take your pet to work, you will have to license that pet in Albuquerque, because any pet kept in Albuquerque for 15 days or an aggregate total of 30 days in one year and who is owned by residents of those six counties must be licensed in the city.

+ If you live in one of these six counties and your pet runs away while visiting in Albuquerque and is picked up by the AACC, you will be required to license the pet in Albuquerque and allow the AACC to spay or neuter the pet as conditions of reclaiming the animal.

In case you think, just because some provisions of HEART are invalid on Constitutional or other grounds, that HEART will be declared invalid, that will not happen.

The Albuquerque City Council stated it would have passed HEART in every particular even if it could anticipate a legal challenge to any of its provisions.

The only chance HEART has of being totally rescinded is to obtain enough valid signatures (registered Albuquerque voters) to put the ordinance on the ballot and let the citizens of Albuquerque decide whether they want to have it repealed.

You can read the full text of the HEART ordinance here.

For a copy of the petition, click here.

To volunteer or donate, click here.