Bill > A3692

Introduced Session

This bill appropriates an additional $150,000 to the Department of Community Affairs to be provided to the Atlantic County Animal Shelter for a one-year, free spay-and-neuter clinic to contain the county's cat population and protect public health. Feral cats proliferate in New Jersey due to a lack of effective spaying and neutering management. Cats are often abandoned, stray from their owners, or roam unsupervised, reproducing and contributing to undomesticated colonies. The Office of Veterinary Public Health in the Department of Health reported that cats accounted for more than half of the animals impounded and nearly 80 percent of the animals that were euthanized in the State's animal shelters in 2017. Spaying and neutering pets are proven ways to reduce pet overpopulation and euthanasia rates. For every dollar spent on spaying and neutering, $13 are saved in future control, shelter, vet, adoption, and euthanasia costs - a more than tenfold cost savings. Spaying and neutering is a preventative, cost-effective, and humane approach to animal care and control, reducing costs to county governments and nonprofit organizations for impounding and euthanizing animals. This supplemental appropriation for the Atlantic County Animal Shelter for a one-year clinic would facilitate the county's health and animal population control measures.

AI Summary

Committee Categories

Don Guardian (R)*, 

Introduced, Referred to Assembly Public Safety and Preparedness Committee (on 01/13/2026)

Official Document