Tethering restrained in Scotland, California

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 2006:
The Animal Health & Welfare Scotland Act,
taking effect on October 6, 2006, increases the
potential penalty for cruelty to a fine of up to
£20,000 plus a year in jail; authorizes animal
health officers, state veterinary officers, and
Scottish SPCA inspectors to warn suspected
violators and initiate animal seizure
proceedings; restricts tethering dogs; and
prohibits docking dogs’ tails. “Let us hope
that the new obligation on animal owners will
mean no more animals kept in conditions which are
barely tolerable,” Advocates for Animals
spokesperson Libby Anderson told BBC News.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
on September 27, 2006 signed into law a ban on
keeping a dog tethered for longer than three
hours. “The legislation, by Senator Alan
Lowenthal (D-Long Beach), takes effect in
January 2007. It makes exceptions for dogs tied
to running lines and pulleys, used for hunting
or herding sheep or cattle, and those staying in
campgrounds,” explained Los Angeles Times staff
writer Nancy Vogel.

Earlier, on September 18,
Schwarzenegger signed into law a bill increasing
from $5,000 to $25,000 the fine for killing sea
otters, other marine mammals, or other fully
protected mammals, and requiring kitty litter
bags to carry a warning that cat feces flushed
down toilets can spread toxoplasmosis gondi, a
cat parasite that kills sea otters. Although
the full toxoplasmosis gondi reproductive cycle
occurs only in cats, many species can carry it,
and it is most often transmitted by consuming the
meat of an infected animal.