{"id":106758,"date":"2016-02-11T04:51:18","date_gmt":"2016-02-11T11:51:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/rabies-vaccine-requirement-for-pets-gains-momentum-in-state-legislature\/"},"modified":"2016-02-11T04:51:18","modified_gmt":"2016-02-11T11:51:18","slug":"rabies-vaccine-requirement-for-pets-gains-momentum-in-state-legislature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/rabies-vaccine-requirement-for-pets-gains-momentum-in-state-legislature\/","title":{"rendered":"Rabies vaccine requirement for pets gains momentum in state Legislature"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"A
A bill that would require rabies vaccinations for cats and dogs statewide advanced out of a legislative committee on Tuesday.<\/span>Courtesy of Flickr<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

DENVER \u2013 Lawmakers are working to take the bite out of rabies by requiring cats and dogs statewide to receive vaccinations.<\/p>\n

The measure sailed through a legislative committee on Tuesday by a vote of 10-3. The bill now moves to the full House for debate.<\/p>\n

Current law allows local governments to determine whether pet owners must vaccinate their pets against rabies. The legislation would impose a statewide mandate for all dogs and cats that are 4 months old or older.<\/p>\n

Owners would have 90 days after assuming ownership to vaccinate their pets.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur local ordinances can vary from county to county and city to city, which fails to establish the appropriate public health baseline,\u201d said Rep. Joann Ginal, D-Fort Collins, who is sponsoring the legislation.<\/p>\n

Colorado is one of only 12 states without a state requirement.<\/p>\n

The World Health Organization said in a report last year that more than 95 percent of human cases of rabies are transmitted by domestic dogs through bites.<\/p>\n

Southwest Colorado already has rabies laws on the books. The state legislation would not impact those laws, because the municipalities and counties would already meet guidelines.<\/p>\n

Durango, Bayfield, Ignacio and La Plata County all require rabies vaccinations.<\/p>\n

The first rabies vaccination is good for one year, with subsequent vaccinations lasting three years, in most cases.<\/p>\n

\u201cRabies in our canine population has pretty much been eliminated in the Western Slope. I never hear of humans contacting it from a dog or cat,\u201d said Chris Nelson, director of animal services for the La Plata County Humane Society. \u201cIt\u2019s because states and municipalities have made it mandatory for rabies vaccines, that\u2019s why it\u2019s pretty much been eliminated in our pet populations.\u201d<\/p>\n

There have been yearly instances in the area of bats testing positive for rabies, according to regional health officials. They point out that rabies treatments can be expensive and difficult.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we have pets that are in contact with bats that test positive, or we can\u2019t recover the bat, we have to recommend that the pet be destroyed, so this gives us the opportunity to not have to travel down that road in order to protect the health and safety of our communities,\u201d said Liane Jollon, executive director of the San Juan Basin Health Department.<\/p>\n

No one testified against the bill on Tuesday. But Rep. Justin Everett, R-Littleton, said he didn\u2019t see the value in the legislation because he believes pet owners are already proactive and responsible. He doesn\u2019t believe a mandate from the government is necessary.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re in the rural areas, your animals \u2013 your dogs or your cats \u2013 serve a purpose,\u201d Everett said. \u201cObviously it\u2019s in your best interest to maintain those animals, to make sure that their animals are healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n

pmarcus@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Currently, local governments determine policy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":106759,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[382,14,15,13],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-106758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-animal","tag-colorado-state-house-of-representatives","tag-colorado-state-senate","tag-frontpage-lead"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106758"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106758\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106758"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=106758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}