CA State Senator Henry Stern, Malibu’s representative in Sacramento, introduced legislation on Tuesday, March 12, that aims to ban the practice of cat declawing.
Malibu local Dr. Jennifer Conrad has been at the helm of the anti-declawing movement for years. The Paw Project, an advocacy group she runs, explained its opposition to declawing in a press release: “Declawing is a misnomer. The surgery would be better described as de-knuckling because it is the amputation of a cat’s toe bones at the last knuckle.”
In 2009, Malibu City Council formally adopted a resolution opposing the declawing of cats within the city, but despite pressure from some residents did not enact a ban on the practice within the city.
The practice is banned in many other countries, major U.S. cities and the state of New York. It is also opposed by The Humane Society of the United States, the Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association, Alley Cat Allies, and veterinarians all over the world, according to The Paw Project’s press release.