New York Governor Targets Dogs and Cats

During his run for governor of New York last year, State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer railed against many things: influence peddling, inefficient administration and entrenched bureaucracy among them.

It's a safe bet, however, that Candidate Spitzer never drew applause by declaring himself an enemy of the state's cat and dog population.

Yet the New York-based American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) reports that, as part of his first gubernatorial budget, Spitzer is looking to carve $150,000 from the state's low Animal Population Control Program, which has funded operations for animals adopted by low-income New Yorkers since 1997.

Spitzer also wants to take $100,000 from the pet dealer license fee pool - fees used to help keep pet stores and dog breeders in compliance with often under-enforced animal welfare and consumer protection laws. Such a hit would "essentially deplete" the fund, says the ASPCA. The governor reportedly wants to devote the money to unspecified "fringe benefits for state employees."

This is not the first time Spitzer - a Democrat who replaced retiring Republican George Pataki - has run afoul of animal advocates during his short time in office. In January, just over two weeks after his swearing in ceremony, New York's new governor launched an effort to block a ban on foie gras, or duck liver, which some consider a delicacy.

Animal welfare watchdogs say the regular forced feeding of ducks to produce artificially enlarged livers fits the definition of animal cruelty. Several plaintiffs filed a lawsuit against the state of New York last November on the grounds that the force-fed ducks and geese are, by definition, diseased, and are therefore unfit for human consumption.

In 2006, Chicago became the first city in the U.S. to ban foie gras, after city leaders determined that birds farmed for their livers were subjected to inhumane conditions. The state of California will prohibit the sale of foie gras starting in 2012.

New York, meanwhile, is one of the largest producers of foie gras in the U.S. Spitzer has instructed the state's Department of Agriculture to seek a dismissal of the lawsuit on the grounds that plaintiffs have no standing to sue.

While the new governor's support of luxury food farmers might get him into trouble with a relatively small number of New Yorkers, his constituents may find any shortchanging of beloved cats and dogs a lot harder to swallow.