Will they ever learn?

Lake County Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, is considering a change in the price of their rabies tags. Madhu Krishnamurthy writes, in a Daily Herald article entitled "Rabies shots might cost more for non-neutered pets," that the county is considering an increase in the cost for rabies vaccinations and that owners of unaltered pets will have to pay three times the cost of an altered pet vaccination. There already is a differential for altered vs. unaltered pets, but the proposal will increase that differential substantially.

"Under the current proposal, rabies tag fees for pets that haven't been spayed or neutered would rise from $25 to $40 for a one-year tag and from $50 to $125 for a three-year tag. Tag fees for spayed and neutered pets also will increase but are much cheaper: $10 for the one-year tag and $25 for the three year tag."

Anthony Smithson, Lake County Health Department environmental health services director, gave the following quote as a rationale:

"Our fees for non-neutered animals have always been higher. If we raise the fees high enough, they might decide to just have the surgery instead."

But if you raise the fees too high, someone with an unaltered pet won't bother getting the vaccination at all! These people are already irresponsible for not altering their pets; they are not suddenly going to grow a conscience and insist their pet be vaccinated damn the cost.

To get people to behave the way we want them to behave, we have to give incentives, not penalties. A penalty will accomplish the exact opposite of the desired behavior, which in this case will be not getting the pet altered along with not getting the pet vaccinated for rabies. Why does animal control want to create disincentives and penalties that will keep people from vaccinating their pets? That I just don't understand.

My questions for Mr. Smithson - Lake County already has a price differential for vaccination of altered vs. unaltered pets. How's that working out for y'all? Are people altering their pets to avoid the higher vaccination price? If not, what makes you think making the cost even higher will work?