BRAZORIA COUNTY, Texas – The City Council in Richwood, Brazoria County, recently adopted an ordinance limiting the number of cats per home to three.
This matches the city's existing ordinance that limits the number of dogs to three.
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The ordinance states that residents caught with more than three cats face a fine of up to $500.
Richwood officials said the ordinance would allow people with more than three cats to be grandfathered in.
The Brazoria County SPCA released the following statement in response to the ordinance:
"The SPCA of Brazoria County opposes limits placed by municipalities on the number of pets a family can own. Most municipalities cite reasons such as nuisances, hoarding, and community safety for such ordinances, but each of these issues can be corrected through other, more appropriate ordinances which are already in effect. Limiting the number of pets in a household penalizes responsible pet owners, and does nothing to alleviate the actual problem. One prowling cat or barking dog can be a horrible nuisance to neighbors. However, a responsible pet owner can humanely house many animals without ever causing a disturbance. Where one person may be able to responsibly care for many animals, another may be unable to care for even one.
"Pet limit laws increase the killing of pets in shelters by increasing intake and reducing the number of available adoptive homes.
"Enforcement of pet limits is often arbitrary and enforced on a complaint basis so that pets which are maintained indoors or do not raise the ire of neighbors will not generate enforcement. Arbitrary enforcement allows pet limit laws to be used as a means of retribution in neighbor disputes over concerns totally unrelated to pets.
"Pet limit laws are unnecessary to protect the community, are arbitrary and intrusive, penalize responsible pet owners, and put the lives of even well-cared-for pets at risk."