Malibu : Cat Licensing Rejected

A bemused City Council declined to follow the lead of Los Angeles County supervisors who recently passed a cat licensing and tagging law that goes into effect in unincorporated areas Friday.

In casting his vote against putting the item on the council agenda for future discussion, Councilman Jeff Kramer said, “I’m going for the cat vote on this.”

Councilman John Harlow said he was bringing up the subject of mandatory or voluntary cat licensing because of a recent letter from the county Department of Animal Care and Control to the city.

The city’s animal services are provided under a contract with the county. The letter to Malibu’s city manager said that the county and the cities of Carson, La Verne, Lomita and Lynwood, have mandated cat licensing. Director Frank Andrews encouraged Malibu to also consider such a licensing and tagging ordinance to help reduce the city’s animal control costs, reduce the number of unidentified cats being impounded and euthanized in shelters, and to distribute the cost of animal care and control more evenly among dog and cat owners.