Despite larger implications of a plan to turn city pet owners into pet guardians, the City Council took a low-key approach during its first discussion of the proposed change Tuesday.

"She, No. 1, wants to know if she can demand that she can get fed more," said Councilman Tom Eldridge, referring to his dog.

Tuesday's discussion was the first opportunity for council members to question the city attorney about a proposed ordinance to replace all municipal code references to "animal owners" with "animal guardians." The issue will be the focus of a public hearing, likely in July, before a final vote is made.

If Boulder adopts the new language after the public hearing, it would become the first city in the country to make the switch.

Instead of the guardian issue, councilmembers Tuesday focused most of their discussion on several other proposed changes to the animal codes, including rules surrounding circus operations and poisoning of prairie dogs.

Supporters of the "guardian" effort say it will help prevent cruelty to animals by encouraging people to treat pets more like family than property.

City leaders in San Francisco discussed the change earlier this year but dropped the discussion, said Carl Friedman, director of the city's Department of Animal Care and Control.

Friedman said the effort is a first step toward giving animals "intrinsic rights," but he doubts how effective the language would be on changing people's attitudes toward their pets. Attorneys in San Francisco, he said, have determined that "guardians" have fewer legal responsibilities toward their pets than "owners."

"Whatever they do here in San Francisco, they (the pets) are property," he said.

Boulder's city attorneys have advised the City Council that "guardian" and "owner" will mean the same thing under the eyes of the law.

Dori Villalon, associate director of the Humane Society of Boulder Valley, said her agency has received considerable national interest in Boulder's proposed ordinance. Because of other policies such as zero euthanasia of adoptable pets, she said, other parts of the country look to Boulder to lead the cause for animal protection.

"I feel like we have a responsibility to continue that," she said.

Contact Jason Gewirtz at (303) 473-1392 or gewirtzj@thedailycamera.com.

June 7, 2000