CVMA sues city over declaw ban

WEST HOLLYWOOD, CALIF. — A lawsuit filed by the California Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA) against West Hollywood seeks to stop the city from banning veterinary surgical procedures already legal in the state.

CVMA President Dr. Jon Klingborg wants a court to determine whether or not city ordinances can supercede state law.

Filed last month in Los Angeles County Superior Court, the lawsuit shows CVMA wants declaratory relief and a permanent injunction against West Hollywood's 2003 ordinance deeming cat declawing a criminal act. The lawsuit also calls attention to the city's recent efforts to ban tail docking, ear cropping, debarking and defanging, among other surgical procedures.

During a March 7 press conference to announce the lawsuit, CVMA President Dr. Jon Klingborg and attorney Dan Baxter outlined the association's arguments before news media and activists. Klingborg, speaking inside a West Hollywood veterinary hospital, argued veterinarians' rights to perform "non-therapeutic procedures."

"Here in West Hollywood, the legal freedom of veterinarians to determine what best serves the needs of our animal patients is being taken away," Klingborg told reporters. "The West Hollywood City Council is overstepping its bounds."

Riled opposition: Activists protest the California Veterinary Medical Association lawsuit alleging a West Hollywood declaw ban conflicts with the state veterinary practice act. They found unique ways to use our acronym, CVMA President Dr. Jon Klingborg says.

Government opinion

Klingborg's statement echoes a Department of Consumer Affairs opinion issued in January, deeming the cat declaw ban unconstitutional based on the city's inability to supersede state law (see

DVM Newsmagazine

, February 2005). Because the opinion has no legal teeth, CVMA opts for the lawsuit.

"This is not a case about mutilation at all; it's about a city telling practitioners what it can and cannot do," Klingborg says. "That's something the city and these activists don't seem to understand. I got asked asked, 'How do cats feel about the lawsuit.'"

City reacts

While Klingborg didn't respond, West Hollywood Mayor John Duran apparently has. Duran's office did not return phone calls to

DVM Newsmagazine

seeking comment, but the mayor, a human rights defense attorney, did hold a press conference directly following the CVMA gathering. He reportedly says the city will move forward on its efforts to ban "mutilation of animals." The city's legal counsel is exploring the legality of an ordinance outlawing ear cropping, tail docking and other elective procedures.

Legitimate option

CVMA Executive Director Valerie Fenstermaker hopes the Superior Court judge squashes the anti-declaw ordinance, which, in turn, might silence West Hollywood's more recent attempts to ban additional medical procedures.

The only legitimate way West Hollywood can enforce such bans on medical procedures legal in the state is to push the initiative through the state Legislature, she says. Until such law is passed, veterinarians should not have to worry about violating local laws and generating complaints that could land them in front of the state licensing board, she adds.