Cedar Park will not limit pet ownership

By Benjamin Wermund

TEXAS - At least for now, Cedar Park will not limit the number of pets residents can own, Cedar Park police Capt. Jeff Hayes said at a community meeting tonight.

The potential of a seven-pet limit has been considered for some time by the city, Hayes said, and after the limit was brought up at a recent City Council meeting, residents spoke up.

At a meeting tonight to present proposed changes to the city’s animal ordinances, which have not been updated in a decade, Hayes said existing state laws and the rest of the proposed changes to the ordinance eliminate a need to limit pet ownership.

“Right now we’re not going to bring that part of this provision back to council. We will not be proposing a limit to animal ownership,” Hayes said.

The pet cap was originally proposed as a way to curb potential pet hoarding and puppy mill situations.

“Everybody says, ‘We want to prevent puppy mills.’ … There are state laws that prevent puppy mills,” Hayes said. “Animal hoarding — it’s becoming something that you can watch on TV. … A law is not going to prevent someone for hoarding animals.”

Though the meeting was intended to gather community input on the new ordinances, after Hayes’ announcement, few residents came forth to speak.

“Is there anything to comment on?” one audience member asked.

The rest of the updates to the ordinance bring definitions of terms like “dangerous” and “public nuisance” animals in line with existing state law. The two comments that citizens did present pertained to specific language, dealing with definitions of livestock in the ordinance and concerns over whether a dog eating crickets would be considered a nuisance animal, because it is hurting other animals.

Hayes assured them there is work left to be done on the ordinance, which would not be presented to the City Council for at least a month..."  Link

Cedar Park considers limiting number of household pets


TEXAS - City officials are considering a change to Cedar Park's animal ordinance.

At a meeting Tuesday, officials will address puppy mills and animal hoarding. Several people want to limit the number of cats and dogs to seven per household.

If approved, pets that are already legally registered to owners would be allowed to stay in their homes..."  Link