Cats are highly intelligent, loving, funny, and full of personality. They deserve to be protected from the horrible torture of having their toes removed - also known as declawing - which leads to chronic pain, infection, arthritis, behavioural changes such as aggression (by removing a cat's primary defense mechanism, they are much more likely to bite), as well as not using litter boxes because it simply hurts too much to walk on the litter. The intent of this petition is to show that Vancouverites are outraged with the cruel practice of declawing cats, and demand Mayor Gregor Robertson to ban this inhumane surgery in all veterinary offices across Vancouver.

Declawing is poorly named as the surgical process does not simply de-claw the feline, but more aptly, de-knuckles it. Onychectomy, popularly known as declawing, is an operation to remove an animal's claws surgically by means of the amputation of all or part of the distal phalanges, or end bones, of the animal's toes. Because the claw develops from germinal tissue within the third phalanx, amputation of the bone is necessary to fully remove the claw. 

You don't have to be an animal rights activist to know that cutting the tips of "fingers" off of a cat is inhumane and barbaric. Declawing is considered an act of animal cruelty and is already banned in the following countries: England, Scotland, Wales, Italy, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Ireland, Denmark, Finland, Slovenia, Portugal, Belgium, Spain, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand -- as well as being banned in the following US cities: Berkeley, Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Santa Monica. Malibu condemned the practice in a resolution, but did not legally ban the practice.

By creating a law banning this horrific practice in Vancouver, BC, the city will serve as a model for the rest of British Columbia, as well as Canada, to get on board with numerous other countries and US cities and stop this atrocious act of mutilation on our feline friends!