Urge Property Management Groups to End Cruel Declawing Policies

BACKGROUND | SOURCE PETA

Reportedly, GOLDMARK Property Management, Inc., and Sand Companies, Inc.—property management groups that own multiple apartment complexes in Minnesota, North Dakota, Iowa, and Nebraska—require tenants to declaw their cats. PETA has reached out to both companies several times, but to no avail. We need your help!

Outlawed in 22 countries, declawing is a cruel and permanently crippling surgery involving the amputation of the last joint of every toe, including bones and cartilage! Persistent pain, loss of balance, nerve damage, bone chips requiring additional surgery, gangrene, and skin disorders are associated physical complications; and nails can later grow back painfully and unseen, within the paw! Declawed cats often become reclusive, depressed, and insecure and begin eliminating outside the litterbox. Psychologically changed, these animals are then bounced around from home to home or wind up at animal shelters.

Please politely urge GOLDMARK Property Management and Sand Companies to join the numerous property management groups that do not require declawing. And please, forward this alert widely!


WHOM TO CONTACT

Polite comments can be sent to:

Kenneth Regan
Chief Executive Officer, Chair, and Owner
GOLDMARK Property Management, Inc.
ken.regan@goldmark.com

Jamie Thelen, President
Sand Companies, Inc.
jjthelen@sandcompanies.com


SAMPLE LETTER

Dear Chief Executive Officer Regan and President Thelen,

I am writing to ask that you please discontinue your requirement to declaw cats homed in any of your properties.  This is a cruel, archaic procedure that causes suffering and pain, undesirable patterns and behaviour and has been recognized as such internationally.  Declawing is illegal or restricted in over 20 countries, including the United Kingdom and Canada. Cities such as San Francisco, West Hollywood, and Norfolk, VA ban declawing — while Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Berkeley, Malibu and Santa Monica are evaluating similar legislation. The Humane Society of the U.S. and ASPCA oppose declawing. The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons rejects the operation, describing it as “mutilation.”

Overwhelming evidence demonstrates declawing causes severe behavioral problems that often lead guardians to abandon their animals in overcrowded shelters; 33% of declawed cats begin post-procedure, according to a 2001 study in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medicine Association (JAVMA). National shelter surveys reveal that 70-80% of cats surrendered for offensive behavior are declawed.  Declawed felines enter shelters with behavioral issues like biting or not using the litter box, claims shelter director William Lombardi of Gloucester County, New Jersey. For the estimated 70% of declawed cats who are euthanized, the surgery is a death sentence.

Moreover, declawing generates suffering and permanent disability. The invasive procedure amputates not only the claw, but also the entire last “knuckle” of a cat’s toes. Veterinary experts recognize laser or scalpel declawing as among the most painful surgeries routinely performed.

Please reconsider this cruel policy and ban the declawing requirement for tenants’ cats in your properties.

Thank you,