St. Tammany Parish Council considering mandatory spay-neuter ordinance

NEW ORLEANS ( WGNO ) — A required spay-neuter ordinance is being considered by St. Tammany parish council due to the growing amount of stray and unadopted animals.

"Lately, as time has passed by, we have an abundance of pets that are not easy to adopt. We'd like to do something that will lower the amount of unwanted pets. So, working with our parish animal control, we're going to do a mandate to have your animal spayed or neutered," said St. Tammany Parish Councilman Joseph Impastato.

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Under the proposed ordinance, breeders would have to get a waiver to allow their animals to procreate, as getting them fixed wouldn't be expensive.

"There will be a voucher program that will parallel with the spay and neuter ordinance. So the cost to anybody and it's not limited to income or anything else will be very inexpensive, I think anywhere from 20 to $40 for a dog and even less than that for a cat," said Impastato.

There would also be consequences if anyone doesn't follow the ordinance.

"The first time, you'll get a pass. You'll have to either apply for the waiver or they will actually fix your animal at no cost. And we still may do some tweaking to the ordinance, but it'll be fine a second time. The third time I think you'll have to. It will just be mandatory that you have to get your animal fixed," said Impastato.

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The proposed ordinance is receiving mixed reactions from residents.

"I'd probably be for it. It's better if we don't have a bunch of wild and feral animals running around. If it's overcrowded they are going to euthanize more dogs when they don't need to," said St. Tammany Parish resident Nathan.

"Still think it should be the dog owner's choice and not mandate. If it's a mandate for me to spend money, it should come in the form of taxation and not another regulation that causes me to have to spend money to spay and neuter my dog," said a St. Tammany Parish resident.

Impastato believes if the ordinance passes, it will take a couple of years before the parish can get the numbers under control.

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