What Boise’s proposed animal code could mean for you (and your furry friends)
The Boise City Council is one step closer to amending the city’s animal welfare code.
The new language, dubbed the “compassionate animal ordinance,” aims to protect animals in Boise by making more severe the penalties for specific acts of animal cruelty and by codifying what an animal’s rights are.
Some of the biggest changes could affect how you interact with animals within city limits.
Most of the changes cover two issues: animal cruelty and enforcement.
One of the most significant additions to Boise’s laws would create a “good Samaritan” immunity for people who rescue pets from hot vehicles. As long as people first contact law enforcement and then follow a few other steps, they would be allowed to break into cars and trucks to rescue animals.
Idaho does not have a statewide law that offers immunity in that situation, but the proposed city measure would follow the model that more than 30 other states have.
Those who leave pets in hot cars would face a civil infraction; if the animal “suffers great bodily harm or death,” the person could face a misdemeanor.
Other changes include expanding the definition of animal cruelty. Under the new language, the city better defines different types of cruelty, including hoarding. It also would prohibit exotic animals (such as elephants) from being used in animal acts and circuses.
Retail pet stores would be prohibited from selling “nonshelter dogs and cats,” a move Council Member TJ Thomson said would encourage the adoption of shelter pets. Selling dogs on public property, including on sidewalks and in parks, would be illegal under the new code.
The ordinance also would change the role of animal enforcement in the city, including changing nuisance regulations around barking by specifically defining what is considered “excessive noise,” and replacing the “vicious dog” section of the code with language on “dangerous and potentially dangerous” dogs that better addresses the process of working with those animals, Thomson said.
Other big proposed changes:
- Cleaning up licensing requirements for dogs, including adding a rabies vaccination requirement or proof that a pet is immune to rabies.
- Altering the way a noncommercial kennel license could be obtained by removing a requirement that an applicant get signatures from neighbors and replacing it with an option whereby the city mails postcards to nearby residents to let them know what is going on.
- Modifying the way the city handles feral cats by allowing a shelter to spay or neuter them and then mark the animal’s ear.
Thomson, the sponsor of the ordinance, has called the new language one of the most important things he has worked on in his 11 years on the council. When he announced last year that he would not be running for another term, he specifically named the proposed animal code — more than two years in the works — as one of the things he hoped to finish.
Testimony was almost exclusively in favor of the ordinance, including from Janie Schaefer, a code enforcement officer in Lewiston who said she was working on getting a similar law passed in her city.
“We are waiting on bated breath, basically, for what you guys choose to do because I will be presenting in front of our city council as soon as you guys have a decision,” Schaefer said. “Hopefully we can make Idaho better than what it is together.”
Members of the council applauded Thomson’s efforts.
“This has been a long time coming, so I want to commend him for sticking with it and commend staff for sticking with it, too,” Holli Woodings said. “I’m looking forward to all of the proposed changes and making this an ordinance that protects our pets and protects our pet owners for years to come.”
Other members offered slight changes to the proposed ordinance, including language that would protect responsible breeders who transfer animals to new owners via the Boise Airport.
The City Council voted unanimously to move the code forward to a first reading after the language is updated in the next few days. That reading is expected to come in the next two weeks.
Once it has been read for three consecutive weeks, it will be considered law.
“Boise is setting the gold standard on another issue for the rest of the state to hopefully follow,” Thomson said just before the council voted. “Nice work.”
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