Bill 53 explained in plain English
Teddy's Law (Anti-Declawing), 2021
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 42nd Parliament, 2nd Session. Representative vote breakdowns appear when the Assembly publishes an Ayes and Nays page for the bill.
Our plain-language take, written for civic education.
Source: By PoliticalData.ca
Teddy's Law (Anti-Declawing), 2021 prohibits the declawing of cats unless a veterinarian deems it medically necessary, amending the Provincial Animal Welfare Services Act, 2019.
This bill, known as Teddy's Law (Anti-Declawing), 2021, amends the Provincial Animal Welfare Services Act, 2019, to prohibit the declawing of cats unless a veterinarian determines it is medically necessary. It defines "partial digital amputation" as the surgical removal of the last bone in a cat's toes and clarifies that a "medically unnecessary veterinary surgery" is one not required or not in the animal's best interest. The law came into effect on the day it received Royal Assent.
- Prohibits the partial digital amputation (declawing) of cats, except when a veterinarian determines it is not a medically unnecessary veterinary surgery.
- Defines "partial digital amputation" as the surgical removal of the third phalanx of each digit on a cat's paws.
- Defines "medically unnecessary veterinary surgery" as a procedure not required or not in the animal's overall best interest.
- Amends the Provincial Animal Welfare Services Act, 2019, by adding a new section (17.1) that outlines these prohibitions and definitions.
- Amends Subsection 49 (2) of the Provincial Animal Welfare Services Act, 2019, to include section 17.1 concerning partial digital amputation of cats.
- Sets the commencement date of the Act to the day it receives Royal Assent.
- Owners of cats
- Veterinarians
- Individuals or entities involved in performing or arranging cat declawing procedures
- No person shall perform or facilitate a cat declawing procedure unless a veterinarian has determined it is medically necessary.
- Veterinarians must determine if a partial digital amputation is medically necessary according to established standards of practice.
- The Act came into force on the day it received Royal Assent.
- The bill does not specify penalties for contravening the prohibition on non-essential cat declawing.
- The bill does not detail the process or criteria a veterinarian must follow beyond determining if the surgery is "medically unnecessary" and "in the animal's overall best interest."
Adds a new section (17.1) to prohibit non-essential cat declawing and defines relevant terms.
Source: Section 1
Amends subsection 49 (2) to include the new section on partial digital amputation of cats.
Source: Section 2
Is referenced in the context of determining whether a partial digital amputation is medically unnecessary, based on standards of practice established under this Act.
Source: Section 17.1 (1)
Generated using AI from official bill text. Not legal advice. It is written by PoliticalData.ca for civic education, automatically checked and spot-reviewed before publishing.
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Vote Summary
This bill is still active. We only show vote counts after the legislature publishes a recorded division.
No published representative vote breakdown
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Official sources
Status, sponsor, votes, and timeline on this page are drawn from these official legislative sources and public records. Each summary above is attributed to its own source.
How this data is sourced