
New York is officially the first state in the union to ban cat declawing.
The landmark bill passed the state legislature in June, but didn't become law until Monday, when Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed it, The New York Times reported. It goes into effect immediately.
"Declawing is a cruel and painful procedure that can create physical and behavioral problems for helpless animals, and today it stops," Cuomo said in a statement. "By banning this archaic practice, we will ensure that animals are no longer subjected to these inhumane and unnecessary procedures."
The news was widely welcomed by animal rights groups.
"It's official. New York is the most humane, cat-friendly, claw-friendly, state in the union," the Paw Project, which advocates against the practice, tweeted.
It’s official. New York is the most humane, cat-friendly, claw-friendly, state in the union. @NYGovCuomo signed th… https://t.co/ugU8CHLN9g— The Paw Project (@The Paw Project)1563816713.0
New York Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal, who first introduced the legislation in 2015, also celebrated its passage into law and hoped it would inspire similar legislation in other states. Massachusetts, New Jersey and California are among the states currently considering a cat declawing ban, The Associated Press reported.
"Other states tend to emulate what New York does," Rosenthal said, as The New York Times reported.
Cats around NYS and the people who love them can rejoice as my bill to ban #CatDeclaw is now law! New York is now t… https://t.co/XbP2YdrQno— Linda B. Rosenthal (@Linda B. Rosenthal)1563816170.0
Rosenthal also hoped the law would help change the mentality that animals are property.
"Having this bill become law indicates that New York is changing the way we view animals and our relationship with them," she told The New York Times.
#declaw #NYlovescats https://t.co/MFS9P3FDbN— Linda B. Rosenthal (@Linda B. Rosenthal)1563825073.0
Cat declawing is not like trimming human nails. The Governor's office explained why the procedure is harmful to felines:
Declawing, also known as onychectomy, involves the removal of all or most of the last bone of each of the toes of the front feet, and tendons, nerves and ligaments that allow for normal function of the paw are severed, resulting in intense and chronic pain and other serious medical or behavioral issues. After the claws are removed, cats often shift their gait and where it places most of its weight, causing strain on its leg joints and spine, which can lead to early onset arthritis and prolonged back and joint pain. Cats' claws play an important role in various aspects of their lives, including to assist in climbing and maintaining balance and to escape danger.
Veterinarian groups are divided on the procedure, CNN reported.
The American Association of Feline Practitioners told CNN it opposed declawing as an elective procedure because scratching is "normal feline behavior." They recommend that, as alternatives, owners buy their cats scratching posts, trim their nails regularly or apply synthetic nail caps, which should be reapplied every four to six weeks.
The New York State Veterinary Medical Society, however, argues that declawing is preferable to euthanizing cats whose owners have diabetes or compromised immune systems.
"NYSVMS believes a veterinarian ... should be permitted to make medical decisions after direct consultation with a client and a thorough examination of the patient and its home circumstances," the organization said in a statement reported by CNN.
The group had opposed the bill's passage, The New York Times reported.
The bill does allow exceptions for the health of the cat, according to CNN. Otherwise, anyone performing the procedure could be fined up to $1,000, The New York Times reported.
The practice is also banned in U.S. cities including Los Angeles, San Francisco and Denver, as well as in Canada and the majority of Europe, according to The Associated Press.
- Redwoods are the world's tallest trees.
- Now scientists have discovered they are even bigger than we thought.
- Using laser technology they map the 80-meter giants.
- Trees are a key plank in the fight against climate change.
They are among the largest trees in the world, descendants of forests where dinosaurs roamed.
Pixabay / Simi Luft
<p><span>Until recently, measuring these trees meant scaling their 80 meter high trunks with a tape measure. Now, a team of scientists from University College London and the University of Maryland uses advanced laser scanning, to create 3D maps and calculate the total mass.</span></p><p>The results are striking: suggesting the trees <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-73733-6" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">may be as much as 30% larger than earlier measurements suggested.</a> Part of that could be due to the additional trunks the Redwoods can grow as they age, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-73733-6" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a process known as reiteration</a>.</p>New 3D measurements of large redwood trees for biomass and structure. Nature / UCL
<p>Measuring the trees more accurately is important because carbon capture will probably play a key role in the battle against climate change. Forest <a href="https://www.wri.org/blog/2020/09/carbon-sequestration-natural-forest-regrowth" target="_blank">growth could absorb billions of tons</a> of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year.</p><p>"The importance of big trees is widely-recognised in terms of carbon storage, demographics and impact on their surrounding ecosystems," the authors wrote<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-73733-6" target="_blank"> in the journal Nature</a>. "Unfortunately the importance of big trees is in direct proportion to the difficulty of measuring them."</p><p>Redwoods are so long lived because of their ability to <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-73733-6" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">cope with climate change, resist disease and even survive fire damage</a>, the scientists say. Almost a fifth of their volume may be bark, which helps protect them.</p>Carbon Capture Champions
<p><span>Earlier research by scientists at Humboldt University and the University of Washington found that </span><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378112716302584" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Redwood forests store almost 2,600 tonnes of carbon per hectare</a><span>, their bark alone containing more carbon than any other neighboring species.</span></p><p>While the importance of trees in fighting climate change is widely accepted, not all species enjoy the same protection as California's coastal Redwoods. In 2019 the world lost the equivalent of <a href="https://www.worldwildlife.org/threats/deforestation-and-forest-degradation" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">30 soccer fields of forest cover every minute</a>, due to agricultural expansion, logging and fires, according to The Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF).</p>Pixabay
<p>Although <a href="https://c402277.ssl.cf1.rackcdn.com/publications/1420/files/original/Deforestation_fronts_-_drivers_and_responses_in_a_changing_world_-_full_report_%281%29.pdf?1610810475" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the rate of loss is reported to have slowed in recent years</a>, reforesting the world to help stem climate change is a massive task.</p><p><span>That's why the World Economic Forum launched the Trillion Trees Challenge (</span><a href="https://www.1t.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">1t.org</a><span>) and is engaging organizations and individuals across the globe through its </span><a href="https://uplink.weforum.org/uplink/s/uplink-issue/a002o00000vOf09AAC/trillion-trees" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Uplink innovation crowdsourcing platform</a><span> to support the project.</span></p><p>That's backed up by research led by ETH Zurich/Crowther Lab showing there's potential to restore tree coverage across 2.2 billion acres of degraded land.</p><p>"Forests are critical to the health of the planet," according to <a href="https://www.1t.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">1t.org</a>. "They sequester carbon, regulate global temperatures and freshwater flows, recharge groundwater, anchor fertile soil and act as flood barriers."</p><p><em data-redactor-tag="em" data-verified="redactor">Reposted with permission from the </em><span><em data-redactor-tag="em" data-verified="redactor"><a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/03/redwoods-store-more-co2-and-are-more-enormous-than-we-thought/" target="_blank">World Economic Forum</a>.</em></span></p>EcoWatch Daily Newsletter
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