New York Agriculture and Markets section 377-a requires sterilization of dogs and cats adopted from Nassau County shelters and contracted rescues; private owners are not required to spay or neuter pets.
Under New York Agriculture and Markets Law section 377-a, every dog or cat released from a Nassau County animal shelter, NCSPCA facility, or contracted rescue must be sterilized before transfer or with a signed sterilization agreement and deposit refunded after a vet certificate. The Town of Hempstead Animal Shelter, Town of North Hempstead Shelter, and NCSPCA all comply. There is no county-wide mandate forcing privately owned pets to be altered. Low-cost vouchers are administered through New York State Animal Population Control Program funded by surcharges on unaltered dog licenses.
Shelter that releases an unaltered animal without a sterilization agreement faces civil penalties up to five hundred dollars per animal under section 377-a.
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