Currently in Overland Park and a few surrounding Johnson County communities, homeowners are limited to "harboring no more than two dogs and/or two cats" in their homes. Not only is this number arbitrary and punitive, but it's impossible to enforce equitably. If you want to help change this ordinance by either increasing the number or eliminating it altogether, please read on, sign the petition, and share with anyone else interested in helping.
Pet limit ordinances, like the one in Overland Park, punish otherwise law abiding, compassionate animal caretakers. Proponents of pet limit laws argue that these ordinances are necessary to stop animal neglect and abuse caused by people who take in more animals than they can adequately care for. Others claim that pet limits are necessary to ensure sanitary conditions, or to maintain safe and pleasant neighborhoods. There is no data, however, to confirm these claims. In fact, data collected across the country demonstrates that the number of pets a person owns (with the exception of animal hoarding and/or inhumane breeding operations) is in no way correlated to their ability to adequately and/or responsibly care for their animals while maintaining the standards of their neighborhood expectations.
Pet limits are unnecessary, overreaching, arbitrary, and intrusive. Whereas one individual may be able to responsibly care for and nurture several animals, another may be unable to care for even one. And if problems arise, enforcement agencies already have ample ammunition at their disposal in terms of animal welfare, health and property rights laws. In fact, unsanitary conditions, excessive noise, and interference with property are all unlawful in virtually every community-regardless of whether pets inhabit the premises or not.
Please sign this petition in favor of overhauling the Overland Park pet limit ordinance today. By doing so, you're telling the local government that pet limits do more harm than good by punishing animals currently awaiting homes and the people who have the means, desires, and resources to responsibly care for more pets than the current ordinance allows. Your signature will save lives of animals in your community.
For more information about this cause, please visit www.familiesforpets.org
