Orange County Animal Services is pushing for its biggest rewrite of local animal-welfare rules in two decades, introducing six major changes to Chapter 5 of the county code designed to protect animal welfare.
The push for changes, said OCAS manager Diane Summers in a county commissioner board meeting, comes as part of an effort to increase enforcement related to unethical sales of animals, reduce unwanted or unplanned litters, and overall promote responsible pet ownership and safety.
Under the proposal, animals entering the shelter would be spayed or neutered the very first time they are impounded (rather than the current requirement on second impound), as part of the effort to decrease unwanted litters and maintain populations. Summers said 86 percent of animals that enter the shelter are still intact, and that includes owned pets…