WA city becomes first to ban cat declawing. It also has new penalties for noisy animals
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include the final vote.
The City of Tacoma voted to ban declawing cats Tuesday night, also changing the penalties for noise complaints against neighbors with loud animals.
At a meeting Nov. 28, City Council members seemed in favor of the changes, and no one spoke in opposition. The move makes Tacoma the first city in Washington state to pass a ban on cat declawing.
Cat declawing will now only be allowed for therapeutic purposes approved by a licensed veterinarian, according to the ordinance. It will go into effect March 31, 2024.
Council member John Hines sponsored the ordinances, along with council members Olgy Diaz and Sarah Rumbaugh. At the Nov. 28 meeting, he advocated for the city to join others nationwide that have banned cat declawing, citing its long-term damage to cats.
To declaw a cat, a veterinarian amputates the last bone of each toe on a cat’s paw. According to the Humane Society of the United States, declawing can result in paw and back pain, infections, tissue death or lameness in cats. Improperly removed claws can regrow, causing nerve damage and bone spurs as well. Cats that have been declawed can change their behavior, avoid using the litter box and become biters.
“I think we have many cat owners in our city that think they’re doing a simple, basic procedure to protect their couches, but [are] really putting their cats in a dangerous place,” Hines said Nov. 28.
In working with the local humane society, Hines said he learned that cats that are declawed are more likely to be surrendered due to behavioral issues. The humane society said those cats also are less likely to be adopted, he said.
Declawing was a practice that was invented in the 1950s. Since then, there have been alternatives pet owners can try, like trimming a cat’s nails, putting covers on a cat’s nails and investing in scratching posts or pads, Hines said.
In Tacoma certain procedures like docking a dog’s tail or posting their ears are also not allowed, he said.
“I think it’s beyond time for us to make this choice and prevent something that we now see as inhumane,” Hines said. “Choose cats, not couches.”
Animal noise ordinance amended due to punitive neighbors
Another topic approved Tuesday was removing a misdemeanor charge for public disturbance and nuisance noise made by an animal within the city limits.
In the Tacoma Municipal Code it is unlawful for any animal to make noise that “unreasonably disturbs” the peace of anyone for more than 15 minutes in any one-hour period of the day, as documented by three or more separate episodes of noise in a seven-day period. Public noise disturbances can result in both a civil and criminal penalty, jail time or the loss of those animals.
Hines’ ordinance removed the criminal misdemeanor penalty and maintained only a civil penalty because most animal-noise complaints received by Tacoma Animal Control are driven by punitive and escalatory behavior among individual neighbors, rather than genuine unlawful animal concerns, he said.
Tacoma Animal Control receives an average of 635 individual animal-noise complaints each year, and 70% of them are ultimately deemed invalid because of neighborly retaliations, according to city documents.
The new ordinance requires at least three different individuals in three different residences to complain about noise within seven days in order to result in enforcement action, as opposed to at least one person in the law prior.
“The goal of this ordinance is to move away from just one neighbor being able to use Animal Control in such a way as to punish their neighbor for animal noise, or in retaliation for other things that may be happening between the neighbors,” Hines said Nov. 28. “The goal is to kind of de-escalate the situation between neighbor and neighbor, moving away from a private nuisance into the area of if it’s a public nuisance and it’s impacting more than just one person.”
Animal Control will still investigate all complaints, including cases where animals might be making noise because of abuse, Hines said.
The changes will help Animal Control and Compliance resources to be used for effectively, according to the city council action memorandum. Animal Control and Compliance will continue to respond by letter and in-person to complaints before enforcement action.
“If you look at codes of other cities around the city of Tacoma, like the city of Lakewood and City of University Place, the City of Fircrest — they also have a similar structure at which point animal-noise complaints escalate to a civil infraction, meaning you’re going to need more than one neighbor complaining about your animal and its noise before Animal Control takes action,” Hines said Nov. 28. “So we’re just bringing ourselves in line with what other cities around us are doing to address the animal noise.”
Council member Catherine Ushka also added an amendment that would exempt lawfully owned poultry from noise-complaint enforcement to encourage urban farming and sustainability practices. Ushka said the city already regulates domestic fowl raised for meat or eggs.
This story was originally published November 30, 2023 at 5:00 AM.
