NY poised to ban ‘cruel’ declawing practice
Measure to protect cats heads to governor’s desk
ALBANY – The state Legislature voted Tuesday to make New York the first state in the nation to ban cat declawing.
The bill has been scratching its way through the state Capitol for several years but has received increased support this year, and it passed both houses of the Legislature and will now head to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s desk.
The bill’s sponsor, Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal, D-Manhattan, called declawing of cats “a cruel and unnecessary surgical procedure that has no place in modern veterinary medicine.”
She added, “I’m confident that 2019 is the year New York will become the first state in the nation to ban cat declawing.”
Cat declawing results in the permanent, surgical removal of most of the last bone and tendons, nerves and ligaments on the front feet of a cat.
While no state has banned declawing, some counties across the country have done so, including Los Angeles, and it has been outlawed in 39 countries, including Israel, Switzerland and England.
New Jersey, Rhode Island and West Virginia are all considering legislation to ban cat declawing, Rosenthal said.
The group Paw Project, a Californiabased nonprofit, has pressed for cat declawing bans across the country, calling it inhumane and unnecessary.
“The declawing of cats is an inhumane convenience surgery that can lead to painful complications with serious health effects,” said Brian Shapiro, state director for The Humane Society.
If signed into law, declawing would be banned unless there is a legitimate medical condition that would require it.