Within the last few months, the La Crosse Tribune has written about our city of La Crosse neighborhoods extensively. I might have missed seeing it, but I don't recall any reporting about how pet limits impact neighborhoods. Is Ryan Cornett barking up the wrong tree when he says we need to reduce our pet limits to 3? Are his received complaints about an animal welfare (shelter, food, water) issue, not a pet limit issue? Or is it a noise issue? Or a home upkeep/cleanliness issue? Or a roaming pet issue? All of these issues have laws and/or ordinances. Why meddle with pet limits?
My husband and I are good owners, Mr. Cornett, as are the majority of pet owners I meet. Your effort to "clean up" will impact us. Our family includes two large dogs and two cats. You are proposing to limit our freedom to adopt a cat when our senior cat passes. I can't imagine why a quiet, clean home with 4 happy, healthy pets should now be made illegal in La Crosse. Does Onalaska have problems with a limit of 6 pets (4 dogs)? I like that limit better than the current 4. Why reduce to 3, Mr. Cornett? That gives prospective home-buyers with pets reason to avoid La Crosse and head north. About 2/3 of American homes have pets according to pet industry statistics. Wave good-bye when they pass La Crosse.
Let's enlarge our limit instead. Humane societies face life-and-death issues every day and you now propose to make it more difficult for our local HS to find homes, because more homes will be at capacity, like ours is under the current ordinance. We should look at ways to help in that effort by allowing more than 3 or 4 pets. Let's look at all options, now that you have started the discussion, Mr. Cornett. Let's look at following Madison's lead and remove limits altogether.
I do hope that any changes to existing ordinances take into consideration temporary pet foster homes. This topic should be addressed specifically to make sure changes do not discourage or restrict this life-saving volunteer effort.
Anna Nirva
La Crosse, WI 54601
Links to the story's coverage from the LaCrosse Tribune:
http://lacrossetribune.com/news/local/plan-would-reduce-number-of-pets-allowed-at-residence/article_a17dceba-5199-11e3-839f-001a4bcf887a.html
http://lacrossetribune.com/news/local/city-mulls-merits-of-lowering-pet-limits/article_8d4b5714-5ef0-11e3-ba0b-001a4bcf887a.html
http://lacrossetribune.com/news/opinion/carol-wateski-city-wrong-to-limit-number-of-pets/article_0f3dc70a-53c2-11e3-8dd9-0019bb2963f4.html
Articles explaining why pet limit laws are a bad idea:
Five Reasons Pet Limit Laws are a Bad Idea from Best Friends Animal Society
The Consequences of Pet Limit Laws from Cindi Ashbeck, Examiner.com
Against Pet Limit Laws from the No Kill Advocacy Center