Covance is shutting down its animal testing facility in Chandler, less than three years after building its lab. This is good news for animals and Chandler residents Damaging Dog Cruelty Bill Passed and Signed by Governor
Thanks to everyone for contacting legislators on HB 2780. We wish we had better news to report. The bill to exempt ranch dogs from cruelty laws passed the Arizona House and was signed into law by Governor Brewer. 
This overly broad, poorly written bill passed the legislature and was quickly signed by the governor despite significant opposition from animal protection groups, rural animal shelter directors, county officials, media, and a tremendous number of constituent calls from advocates like you.
1+1=30
A few weeks ago, a local caregiver trapped, neutered, 
and returned (TNR) eighteen cats from a colony in his yard in just one day. He still has at least twelve to fix. “It started out as just one female cat in the yard, and then before I knew it, there were over thirty!” he said. Now he is working hard to make sure every cat in his colony is spayed/neutered so they don’t multiply again. “I had no idea this would happen,” he told us. At Animal Defense League of Arizona’s Spay Neuter Hotline, we hear stories like this all too often, especially this time of year.
Spring is the time of year when most cats are in heat or pregnant. The kittens in your yard may soon have kittens of their own. That mother and one litter will grow exponentially in a very short time.
Did you know that domestic cats are very fertile? If you remove a litter of kittens, but don’t fix the mother cat, she will go into heat faster than normal.
If you have found a stray mother cat and kittens in your yard, please act now! Have all the cats spayed or neutered. If the cats are tame, ADLA can refer you to a low cost spay neuter clinic. If they are feral, ADLA can help you with Trap Neuter Return. Call 602 265-7729 or email feralcats@adlaz.org. ADLA will lend you humane traps, schedule an appointment at a convenient time and location and coach you through the trapping process.
Animal shelters and rescue groups in Maricopa County cannot handle and find homes for all the cats living on the streets. The Animal Defense League of Arizona and many other animal protection groups believe that Trap Neuter Return is the most effective and humane solution to stabilize the number of homeless cats in our communities. Don’t let one cat turn into thirty.
If you care about animals, please share this information with your friends and family.
Animal Protection Bill Signed by Gov. Brewer!
The animal protection bill has passed the Arizona Legislature and was signed by Governor Brewer. Thanks to everyone for asking legislators to support HB 2462!
This measure allows law enforcement to seize an animal if there is pro
bable cause to believe that the animal is suffering from cruelty or abandonment. The bill also requires that those arrested for animal cruelty or fighting must post a bond to provide for the cost of caring for seized animals.
For more information on HB 2462, including sponsors, bill language, and vote detail, click here.
Join Us for an Evening with Elayne Boosler on March 15!
Help Stop Bills Aimed at Wildlife and Voting Rights!
Your help is needed to stop two bills in the Arizona Legislature that are bad for wildlife and voters' rights. Please contact your two House members today!
HB 2728 firearms; sound suppressors; hunting (Gowan, Harper, Kavanagh, et 
al.) specifies that the Arizona Game and Fish Commission cannot adopt or enforce any rules prohibiting the use of silencers on hunting weapons. Allowing hunters to use silencers poses a risk to campers and hikers, including children and companion animals. Combined with other recently passed laws, hunters would be able to hunt near cities, at night, with silencers. For more information on this bill click here.
HCR 2005 initiatives; referendum measures; periodic reauthorization (Crandell, Barton, Fillmore, Ugenti) would seriously jeopardize citizens initiatives. This constitutional amendment would require all ballot measures that create a public fund for financing the measure or affect the general fund to be automatically referred to the ballot after five fiscal years. And because the bill is retroactive to 1998, it could require continual reauthorization of the hard-won laws that ban cockfighting and confinement of pregnant pigs and calves raised for veal. For more information on this bill click here.
What You Can Do
Please contact your two House members as soon as possible. Ask them to oppose HB 2728 (firearms; sound suppressors; hunting), and HCR 2005 (initiatives; referendum measures; periodic reauthorization). If you volunteered on Prop 204 or other grassroots ballot campaigns, please share your thoughts on the importance of Arizona's citizen initiative process and the fact that HCR 2005 would decimate voters' rights.
Make sure to let your representatives know that you are a resident in their legislative district.
To reach House members click here. If you're not sure who your representatives are, visit the Vote Smart website.
Please share this alert with your contacts in Arizona.
Thanks for your help!
Animal Defense League of Arizona
(Photo courtesy of Project Coyote)
Why the Animal Defense League of Arizona is Urging You to Spay Neuter Today!
Please spay and neuter cats and dogs now! For the past few weeks, the Spay Neuter Hotline has been focused on getting this message to Arizonans. We feel the urgency because we see what’s coming! In a few weeks the shelters are going to fill-up with animals, especially cats, Chihuahuas and pit bulls.
With the community’s help, we Trap Neuter Return over 10,000 cats each year in Maricopa County. We see trends that are fairly consistent year in and year out. We’d like to work with the community to do some things that will dramatically decrease the number of unwanted cats born on the streets and in neighborhoods all over the Valley of the Sun. We hope to reach that goal, by taking targeted action and by better communicating what we do and see.
We work with more than ten veterinary clinics around the Valley, and are sterilizing cats almost every day of the week, all year long! February is the month in which “we” see the number of cats in heat and pregnant start to climb, and one of the months when we trap more males than females. My hypothesis is that the tom cats are roaming looking for females in heat.
On Sunday (2/26/12), at least six caregivers lamented that they didn’t catch the cat(s) they were trying for. In most cases they caught a tom they had never seen before, instead of the female that they had targeted and suspected was in heat or pregnant. On a happy note one of those caregivers trapped two pregnant females for the Sunday clinic, along with five males. She kept trying Sunday night and trapped three more cats, including the two females she was trying for,and another wandering tom.
I wanted to share some statistics from Sunday’s clinic to give you a glimpse of what we see. 75 cats went into surgery. Three were already fixed, but had no ear tips; the veterinarian had to anesthetize them to confirm they were sterilized and to give them an ear-tip. One of the previous cats had a microchip. Unfortunately, the owner never registered his or her name with the manufacturer’s registry.
43 were males (including two previously fixed); 30 were females, including the one previously fixed. 17 of the females were pregnant. 71 feti were terminated.
To Recap: February 26, 2012 statistics
60% of cats were male
40% female
59% of females were pregnant.
Predictions and Call to Action: We will see a higher percentage of pregnant females in March. Please fix your cat! Please fix the feral and free roaming cats in your community. Now is the time!
Spay Neuter Hotline Participates in HSUS Spay Day Events
Spay Neuter Hotline participates In HSUS' February Spay Day Events
Spay Day is The Humane Society of the United States' and Humane Society International's annual event to inspire people to save animals' lives by spaying or neutering pets and feral cats. read more
ADLA Urges People to Beat the Heat in 2012!
January 24, 2012
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts: (602) 265.SPAY
Stephanie Nichols-Young and Sonia Hernandez
Animal Defense League of Arizona’s Spay Neuter Hotline Urges Maricopa County Residents to “Beat the Heat in 2012”
Every spring thousands of homeless kittens come into animal shelters in Maricopa County. Most do not get out alive. Before temperatures rise and cats go into heat, the Spay Neuter Hotline is asking people to stop procrastinating. Get companion cats fixed, and also take advantage of ADLA’s Trap Neuter Return program to sterilize stray and free-roaming cats in Valley neighborhoods. Few cats are in heat in January, but the number begins to increase in February. By April and May shelters are inundated with kittens!
Please Join the Animal Defense League of Arizona’s Spay Neuter Hotline in its campaign to “Beat the Heat in 2012.” ADLA is asking animal lovers to spread the word to family, neighbors and friends.
We can beat kitten season if everyone in the community pitches-in by sterilizing cats in their neighborhood.” Says ADLA President Stephanie Nichols-Young, “Whether you love cats or you hate them, Trap Neuter Return is the best way to reduce the number of cats in Maricopa County.” The Spay Neuter Hotline can help novices and coach them through the process. In many cases, we have neighborhoods work together to do TNR.”
The Hotline helped to sterilize more than 10,000 feral cats last year and over 28,000 since March 2009. Sterilize all outdoor cats now before it’s too late.
The Spay Neuter Hotline offers Trap Neuter Return to assist with reducing the free-roaming cat population. The Hotline also offers referrals & information to low-cost spay neuter veterinarians for companion animals. Periodically, there are free programs available for those in need of financial assistance. Simply call 602 265-SPAY (7729) or visit the website for more information.
AZ Game and Fish Commission Approves Extreme Hunting Proposals
At its December 2011 meeting, the Arizona Game and Fish Commission
continued its anti-predator policies, approving night hunting of coyotes and cougars; "English-Style" fox, rabbit and coyote hunting and putting up more road blocks to the reintroduction of Mexican gray wolves.
"It was a disappointing, but not surprising day", said Animal Defense League of Arizona president Stephane Nichols-Young.
Night Hunting Approved
It was late in the day when the Commission finally heard the night hunting proposal. Despite overwhelming public opposition, including some from the hunting community, the Commission approved by a 3-1 vote the use of artificial lights to hunt coyotes and cougars (also called mountain lions) in parts of Arizona. Commissioner Norman Freeman was the lone 'No' vote and Commissioner John Harris was absent.
Upon approval of the new rule, the Commission moved up a Saturday agenda item, and immediately implemented the rule in portions of the state. ADLA hopes to have a map up soon to depict those areas. It does have the game management unit ("gmu") numbers where night hunting is permitted, if you have specific questions.
The Commission approved night hunting despite concerns about public safety, and potentially detrimental impact on endangered species and law enforcement. In 2002, the Commission followed Department recommendations to reject a similar proposal. At that time, the Department wrote a thorough memo explaining its position, attaching memos and letters from a number of individual Department biologists who also opposed night hunting.
"English- style" Hunting with Dogs Approved
In voting to approve the rule package, the Commission also voted to allow people to use dogs to hunt and kill animals. There are two organizations in Arizona that use dogs - either packs of beagles or foxhounds - to chase, and in some cases kill, jackrabbits, coyotes and foxes. Although this type of hunting is prohibited in England; it is now legal in Arizona.
Creating Road Blocks to Mexican Gray Wolf Reintroduction
The Commission voted 4-1 to remain as part of the Mexican gray wolf program, but to oppose any new wolf releases until a new management plan, environmental impact statement and 10j Rule are approved. In a moment of confusion, the motion was also stated as 'no new wolf reintroductions until a definitive management plan is in place.' Either way the intent is to block any new wolf releases in the near future.
Dr. Benjamin Tuggle of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service attended the meeting, and was peppered with an alternating lecture and barage of questions by Commissioner Jack Husted. The Commission demonstrated its primary allegiance to protecting ranchers and cattle, rather than its statutory duty to manage willdife and its common law duty to do so minding its public trust for all citizens.
What you can do:
Please send a thank you letter or email to Commissioner Norman Freeman. He has a lonely job, and is the only Commissioner who listens to all Arizonans at this time.
Please continue to follow ADLA alerts!
ADLA maintains an extensive database of low-cost spay/neuter clinics around Arizona. 
