Eddie the Cat vs. Animal Control

Ok, this one is new. I knew that after I started pushing against the Sheriffs and the local homeless laws I was going to start getting more than the average amount of flack, but I didn't see this one coming at all.

First of all, the report to Animal Services was that I was "beating" Eddie. Yes, you read that right... I was out there at high noon beating on my Eddie cat. how silly is that?

Once the Animal Services was here on the scene and talking to me, they asked how long Eddie was on his tether? The answer to that is pretty much "all day and all night". Her response was to give me a Correction Notice which, she said, states that animals could only be on a tether for 3 hours per day.

Health and Safety Code 122335(b): No person shall tether, fasten, chain, tie, or restrain a dog, or cause a dog to be tethered, fastened, chained, tied, or restrained, to a dog house, tree, fence, or any other stationary object.

I'm sure you can see what I see here... the word "dog". Eddie is not a dog. I can prove it. You can go right out there and say "Here boy!" and he won't come. He also will not fetch or chase a ball, nor chase a car. He won't bark or attack any post man (as long as they don't try to pet him) and he will never eat at the tone of any bell, Pavlov be damned.

The Animal Services lady was very nice and as expected from people in such occupations, much more concerned about Eddie than she was about me, or my wants and desires. I have no complaints there. However, the law doesn't apply to cats in anyway. I called the number on the form to make sure.

I still am interested in how the this law would apply to Service Animals though. If Eddie was a dog... awk!... how would a person in my current position deal with this situation?

I agree wholeheartedly with the thought behind the law as well, which is one of the main reasons I was going out to the park bull-pen to work during the day. I could shut the bullpen door and let Eddie run around at will, chase his fur-mice and laser point, and generally be full-fledge cat for a few hours. But, as we know from my last post, I can't go to the public park and into the bull-pen because Eddie and I are homeless.