No Pet Limit in Roscoe, IL

To:  Roscoe Village Board

We, the undersigned, are opposed to the current proposal which would restrict the number of pets a household may maintain. Said proposal limits pet ownership to three animals per household (only two of one species). This proposal unfairly punishes responsible pet owners.

Pet limit laws drive a wedge between responsible pet owners and animal control agencies and can have many unintended consequences. Other cities that have tried to enforce such ordinances have found that they drive owners underground, thus lowering license compliance rates. Limit laws are not successful in addressing neighborhood nuisances or in identifying inhumane activities such as hoarding, irresponsible breeding or negligent rescue operations. We recommend instead thoughtfully written nuisance and cruelty/neglect laws. The reasonable way to achieve the goal sought by pet limit laws is through enactment of these nuisance laws that address the specific conduct that is desired or opposed.

People who maintain any number of pets responsibly and humanely and do not present a nuisance to their neighbors should not be prevented from keeping them because other pet owners might not be as responsible.

Irresponsible pets owners, whether they own one or 10 pets should be the focus of animal control nuisance laws, not people who do things right but have a certain number of animals. Animal control laws should encourage people to become more responsible pet owners, i.e., to license, identify, confine, vaccinate, train and humanely keep and enjoy their pets. Pet limit laws discourage volunteers from rescuing and providing foster homes to pets, when doing so puts them over their legal limit. Through these efforts, volunteers contribute invaluable services to animal control agencies, humane shelters and their communities. Pet limit laws that discourage these activities discourage kindness and cost taxpayers money.

By limiting the number of pets a household can have, while the number of pets produced each year continues to grow, potential pets being euthanized at shelters will increase dramatically.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

The No Pet Limit in Roscoe, IL Petition to Roscoe Village Board was created by and written by Jacqueline Nowinski (jnowinski@ameritech.net).  This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.