Orange County Animal Services pushes to revise 20-year-old pet policies

Credit: Orange County Animal Services/Facebook

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.

The organization is also proposing setting a minimum sale age of eight weeks for puppies and kittens, requiring valid health certificates and vaccines, and complying with “pet lemon law” disclosures for consumers. This would bring the county in line with state law and help to curb unethical breeding practices.

The county’s stray hold rules would also be updated to help animals move through the shelter faster. Stray dogs without identification (microchips or tags) could be adopted or transferred to rescue groups after three days instead of the current five. For unidentified cats, the window would shrink to just 24 hours.

Sundays would also newly be considered as hold days for strays under the proposed changes. Any pet reclaimed by an owner would be required to be microchipped for a $15 fee.

The shelter says the shorter hold times reflect current shelter capacity and aim to keep animals from staying in stressful conditions longer than necessary.

For community cats, the county would formally adopt Trap-Neuter-Return as the management standard.

The “Dangerous Dog” section of the code would also get a major rewrite, requiring $100,000 liability insurance for designated dogs, enhancing penalties for attacks and repeat offenders, making microchip tampering a felony and clarifying enclosure requirements.

A public hearing is scheduled for Jan. 13, when the board will vote on whether to approve the changes.

Orange County Animal Services, the only physical shelter for misplaced dogs and cats in the county, announced in September it’s opening a new shelter in Orlando that is set to be the largest in Florida.

The Orange County Board of County Commissioners approved a $49 million contract to build the 123,419-square-foot shelter on the same plot of land as the existing OCAS facility along Conroy Road. The two-story shelter will have the capacity to house about 265 dogs on the first floor and 200 cats on the second floor, making it Florida’s largest shelter.

It’s expected to open by summer 2027.

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Orange County Animal Services pushes to revise 20-year-old pet policies

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