New York on Monday became the first state in the country to ban cat declawing, a practice that animal advocates consider cruel and unnecessary. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo signed the bill into law after state legislators passed the ban last month.
“By banning this archaic practice, we will ensure that animals are no longer subjected to these inhumane and unnecessary procedures,” Governor Cuomo, a Democrat, said in a statement.
The law goes into effect immediately and makes exceptions for medical purposes. Performing the procedure on a cat for any other reason could lead to a fine of up to $1,000.
Assemblywoman Linda B. Rosenthal, a Democrat, first introduced the bill in January 2015. “As a cat lover and someone who has cats, I said this is cruel, barbaric and inhumane,” Ms. Rosenthal said on Monday.
She said she hoped a similar bill would also pass in Massachusetts, where legislators are considering a ban on declawing cats. “Other states tend to emulate what New York does,” Ms. Rosenthal said.
Los Angeles, San Francisco and Denver were the first cities to ban cat declawing.
洛杉矶、旧金山和丹佛是最早禁止给猫去爪的城市。
“Governor Cuomo’s signing of this historic bill in New York is a watershed moment for the declawing issue, and we hope other states will follow suit by prohibiting this unnecessary surgery,” Kitty Block, the president and chief executive of the Humane Society of the United States, said in a statement.