Posted: March 26, 2009, 3 a.m. EDT
A mandatory spay/neuter bill under consideration in Florida has been revised so that it’s no longer required for pet owners to get their dogs or cats sterilized.
As of Tuesday morning, House Bill 451 was amended to remove all mandatory spay/neuter language. Instead, the new version of the bill gives the local government the option to use a $5 surcharge added to animal-control citations to help pay for low-cost spay/neuter programs.
The “strike-all” amendment to the bill was adopted by the Florida House Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Committee. As originally introduced, the bill called for most dogs and cats to be sterilized at 4 months of age.