Calif. Budget Cuts Means Ax Falls Sooner for Strays

California's budget deal could mean lost family pets meet the Grim Reaper sooner rather than later, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. The deal cuts the time shelters are required to hold animals from six days to three, and officials fear the move could mean animals in shelters lacking resources will be euthanized while owners are still searching for them—and before they can be moved to no-kill shelters or rescue groups.

"It makes a difference because for some animals every day counts," said an official at the Marin Humane Society, which rescues animals from other shelters and tries to find homes for them. "The new law will affect a lot of the shelters that we rescue animals from because, especially in this economy, they are bursting at the seams."
(More Humane Society stories.)