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Letter to the editor

Pet-limit rule is a solution gone astray

Quick - how many cats and/or dogs should one person or family be allowed to own?

By HOWARD TROXLER
Published June 7, 2005

Six? Twelve?

Fifty?

Citrus County recently gave six a try. The county proposed an ordinance setting six as the normal limit on cats and dogs for anyone living on less than 10 acres.

What if you had more than six already? You could keep 'em, if you had proof of all the vaccinations and licenses.

What if your pet had puppies or kittens and put you over the limit? You'd have four months to get back below the cap.

You could ask for permission to keep more than six pets. But you'd have to apply for a permit. There would be a hearing. Your neighbors could come to complain or oppose you. Sheesh.

The proposal came up recently for a public hearing in front of the county's Planning and Development Review Board.

It is fair to say that the idea of a six-pet limit was not, shall we say, universally well-received.

No, let's go further. It is fair to say that it is a good thing there were no pitchforks and torches in the room. Even the members of the board hated the idea, and would have killed it on the spot if they could have. The meeting drew about 50 angry citizens, many times more than those who showed up to protest a hike in the county's gas tax.

"The ordinance is a joke, as it's written," Bill Grant complains. He is a lawyer representing the Inverness Kennel Club. "These are arbitrary numbers."

Critics say at least there should be reasonable exceptions. Do we really want to shut down people who rescue dogs and provide them new homes? What about those breeds that require more than four months of puppyhood before being shipped out into the world?

I checked around. Other area counties - Hernando, Pasco, Hillsborough, Pinellas - do not set a numerical limit.

Of the largest cities, only Tampa has such a regulation. Tampa forbids the keeping of more than four "large domestic animals" on a single acre.

(Notice that Tampa takes pains not to play favorites, but one wonders whether this is pro-cat bias. Cats rarely are what you would call "large domestic animals." Except for a couple that I know.)

I talked with Gary Maidhof, Citrus County's director of development services, a nice guy who seemed to understand why people would be mad. He agreed there was nothing magic or scientific about a six-pet limit. It was intended to be a starting point for discussion. The number was borrowed from existing guidelines for livestock.

"I went on record numerous times," Maidhof said, "saying that any of these things were adjustable." He said that an exception for dog rescuers makes sense.

In fairness, nobody here woke up one morning and said, "Hey, let's come up with a new rule that everybody will hate!" This was an effort by the County Commission to deal with a growing problem.

There had been a rash of "animal hoarding" cases in the county. You've heard about them. Some sweet but addled old lady (no stereotype, it's usually true) gets caught with 50, 75, 100 or more cats and/or dogs. In February, the county seized 170 cats, dogs and other animals from a mobile home in Homosassa.

But given the initial reaction, Maidhof is taking the issue back to the County Commission on June 14. Does the commission want to keep pushing the ordinance through the process, to revise it - or just to put it out of its misery?

Grant, the kennel club's lawyer, argues that someone prone to hoarding isn't going to obey an ordinance anyway. But Maidhof replies that there are indeed some who might be deterred. Besides, it would give the county an additional enforcement tool.

In no way do I criticize Citrus County's noble goal of reducing animal suffering. Animal-control departments do the work of angels, as well as some of the saddest work around. They deal with our negligence.

And yet, this was a one-size-fits-all idea. Surely it does not need to be illegal to keep, say, seven cats on a 9-acre spread. So Grant gets the last word: "The barrier of common sense," he says sharply, "is something that people are just going to have to bounce up against now and then."

[Last modified June 7, 2005, 02:15:48]