We are pleased to report great news for California’s kittens and puppies! 

Today Governor Brown of California signed the Kitten and Puppy Safety Net bill (A.B. 2791), granting rescue organizations the lifesaving ability to immediately pull kittens and puppies under the age of eight weeks from shelters and forgo the state’s three-day waiting period. 

Current law in California requires a mandatory three-day hold for all motherless animals who come into that state’s shelters to allow time for owner redemption. But during this holding period, days- and weeks-old kittens and puppies can easily contract any number of common veterinary diseases. This vulnerability can be disastrous for young animals, whose care often requires additional time, attention and resources. 

The new law will allow these kittens and puppies to be removed from a shelter environment and placed within a rescue organization or foster that has greater capacity to provide care, making it more likely that these animals experience a happy and healthy outcome. 

A.B. 2791 offers a commonsense and collaborative approach to increasing positive outcomes for kittens and puppies and will save thousands of lives each year. 

The ASPCA thanks Governor Brown for signing this lifesaving bill into law, and we are grateful to Assemblymember Muratsuchi for his work to secure stronger protections for some of the most vulnerable animals in shelters.