LITTLETON 1/31/13
January 31, 2013
Arapahoe County, Colorado • Volume 124, Issue 2
75 cents
A Colorado Community Media Publication
ourlittletonnews.com
Employers may still enforce pot ban By Glenn Wallace
gwallace@ourcoloradonews.com
Ahmia Bennett plays Jan. 23 with some of the kittens taken to the Humane Society of the South Platte Valley in Littleton. Staff members at the shelter are working on socializing the kittens and making sure they are healthy before making them available for adoption. Photos by Courtney Kuhlen
Kittens cute, but challenging Local shelter receives dozens that were rescued from hoarder
PET REQUIREMENTS Many cities have ordinances limiting the number of pets in a home. In Littleton, there can be no more than a combined total of three dogs or cats older than six months, and no more than one litter at a time. Also against the law are nuisance odors and barking, exhibition fighting, abandonment, cruelty, inhumane killing, neglect and disposing of a dead animal in any way other than burial, rendering or incineration in a facility approved by the animal-control officer. Pets are also required to wear a tag proving they’ve been vaccinated against rabies. HSSPV can help with that - HSSPV has a low-cost spay/neuter clinic, and even will even spay/neuter and vaccinate feral cats and kittens. Their adoption fee includes vaccines, a microchip, spay/neuter and a 14-day limited health guarantee.
By Jennifer Smith
jsmith@ourcoloradonews.com Even for the Humane Society, getting more than 30 cats from a hoarder — most of them kittens — is a challenge. “Situations like this are unfortunate, but we are grateful that we could help give these little ones a chance for a better life,” said Leslie Maisonneuve, facilities coordinator for the Humane Society of the South Platte Valley. She declined to say where the cats had been. “Oftentimes in these hoarding situations, folks feel like they’re helping these cats out by providing them food and shelter,” she said. “But when the cats are not spayed or neutered, the situation can get out of hand rapidly.” The sudden influx of kittens left employees and volunteers scrambling to feed them - they weren’t yet eating on their own when they arrived, and Maisonneuve said they were super skinny and really scared. They’ve been fattened up now, their caretakers feeding them special milk from a dropper until the babies figure out how to eat gruel from a bowl. “That is just so cute,” Maisonneuve said. “They also didn’t know how to play, but now they’re learning and bouncing around.” Complicating things further, one kitten
A Humane Society staffer holds a blind kitten Jan. 23 that was brought in with about 35 others that range from 4 weeks old to 2 years old. is blind and all are on antibiotics to treat a contagious upper-respiratory illness. “If one gets it, somehow it spreads like wildfire,” Maisonneuve said. And therein lies the problem. Animal hoarding often leads to unhealthy environments, not just for the critters but for the people in the home, too. The Hoarding of Animals Research Consortium identifies the following characteristics as common in hoarders:
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Accumulating a large number of animals, overwhelming the person’s ability to provide even minimal nutrition, sanitation and veterinary care. Failing to acknowledge the deteriorating condition of the animals (disease, starvation and even death) and the household environment (severe overcrowding, very unsanitary conditions). Failing to recognize the negative effect on health and well-being of all household members. HARC found that nearly 80 percent of animal hoarders also hoard possessions. “While no study has conclusively identified the psychological underpinnings behind animal hoarding, research in areas of [obsessive-compulsive disorder], addiction and delusion and attachment disorders may be useful for providing insight on hoarding,” says HARC’s website. The new batch of kittens will be ready for adoption in about four weeks. “Helping these babies is very challenging on our resources,” Maisonneuve said. “Help from the community would be so appreciated.” Money for medicine is the biggest need right now, she said, but also welcome are blankets, towels, cat litter, food and volunteers. For more information, visit www.HSSPV. org or call 303-703-2938.
The passage of Amendment 64, legalizing recreational marijuana use — at least at the state level — may seem like a monumental shift in drug policy. But according to pot proponents as well as labor lawyers, not much will change in the workplace. “Amendment 64 clearly states that employers will be able to keep any enforcement policy that they’ve had,” said Mason Tvert, one of the co-directors of the amendment’s campaign. Tvert, now Director of Communications for the Marijuana Policy Project said that in the workplace, the pot status quo will remain. Employers that want to ban all drug use, including marijuana, would still be able to fire an employee who fails a drug test. “One thing that seems to be occurring is that some workers may not understand the scope of employers rights to continue to have drug testing policies and procedures,” Denver labor lawyer Emily Hobbs-Wright said. Hobbs-Wright said there is a Colorado statute that protects employee rights to participate in legal activities outside of the workplace, which has been cited by some medical marijuana users to protest a firing. “The problem with the argument is it goes back again to federal law, where it’s still illegal,” Hobbs-Wright said. That is bad news for anyone at a drugfree workplace that was hoping to enjoy a little weekend weed. Unlike tests for alcohol that typically show levels of intoxication, marijuana tests usually indicate just that the drug has been used some time in the past. A standard employee drug urine test can be positive weeks after the last joint. Heavy users have reported positive tests even months after their last usage. “But quite frankly, I think employers will get away from firing and rehiring employees over off-the-job marijuana use,” Tvert said. He added that as cultural perception of marijuana changes he expects business policies to become more lenient. Denver Metro publication Westword, which features a medicinal marijuana critic on staff, has announced that it has not, and will not conduct drug tests. So far, Westword is in the minority. A 2011 survey by the Society for Human Resource Management found 57 percent of U.S. employers conduct drug tests as a part of the hiring process. Any business that complies with the federal Drug Free Workplace Act of 1988 has little option over their marijuana stance. It remains a criminalized substance at the federal level, and any business or organization that receives a federal grant or contract must comply with the act. Likewise, any business with major safety requirements for its employees or the public will likely continue to follow federal regulations, since any accident could trigger steep OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) penalties. Hobbs-Wright suggests businesses review their drug policy, and make sure their employees know what the rules and penalties will be regarding marijuana. “Some employers might want to tighten up the definition of illegal drugs in their policy, to explicitly mention marijuana,“ Hobbs-Wright said.