Brisk and informative, The Paw Project, from director Dr. Jennifer Conrad, is a look at practice of cat declawing and, ultimately, the lobbying efforts to have the practice banned in major California cities. Citing behavioral issues that arise as a result of declawing cats (a procedure that is, in essence, a form of amputation), Conrad lobbies local legislators, gaining first the attention of HIV-positive West Hollywood mayor John Duran. Declawing, opening the door for behavioral issues that can create even more risk for immunocompromised persons seems, to Duran, to be a less controversial issue, but he’s wrong. After passing the ban his city is sued by California Veterinary Medical Association and is fought up to the state supreme court, where the city prevails.
In 2009, after they are unable to defeat West Hollywood, the CVMA along with the American Veterinary Medical Association and local chapters lobby Sacramento a ban on bans, SB-762. SB-762 passes with a loophole allowing cities that pass declawing bans by January 1, 2010 – setting Conrad’s Paw Project into action. The issue becomes a proxy for a larger political discussion: individual city governments would prefer Sacramento say out of their business.
Conrad interviews several players, including vets who mostly remain in agreement with her, in a straightforward matter. The film has the visual style of a corporate training video, with little flash beyond some computer animation; it’s a testament to just how easy it is to tell a story you have an inside track on with limited technology and I applaud Conrad for doing so. The point is made early on (and continues to be made) that declawing is big business for the veterinary industry verses other alternatives, including rubber slippers that slide over claws, like a pair of Vibram FiveFingers. I do wish she found someone, other than the usual suspects like the CVMA, who would talk to her about this practice. The defense comes in the form of awkward promotional videos.
The Paw Project, to its credit, does play straight, relying heavily on medical evidence and very little on fluffy/adorable factor. This is, thankfully, not a movie about adorable cats on YouTube, but a call to action that hopefully will have broad appeal beyond the choir it preaches to. Taking the health and well being issue seriously the film is an effective grass roots tool. Running a very brisk 56 minutes, it doesn’t break new ground for documentary form, but it sets out to make its point and does so credibly.
The Paw Project opens in Los Angeles this week and is expanding throughout the country.