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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Animal Care Advisory Committee - 03/16/2006 l/f City of Corpus C hfistl ;a City of o us Christ] MINUTES OF THE CITY OF CORPUS CHRISTI ANIMAL CONTROL ADVISORY COMMITTEE eces County Public Health District Education Room, 2626 Holly Rd March 16`h, 2006 Members Present: Susan Thiern,Dr John Buckley,Sharon Massad,Pam Rhyner and Kendall Keyes Members Absent: Dr.William Watson and Paul Reynolds Staff Present: Angel Hernandez,Annette Rodriguez and Mercy Jaji Staff Absent: Cherrie Stunz Guests: Sherry Dunlap,Becki Jones,Sheila Cudd and Don Cudd 1. Call to Order: Susan Theim, Chairperson, 12:32pm 2, Approval of March 10,2006 Ms.Keyes amended the minutes under Old Business, 3"d paragraph should read"Ms, Keyes added that she felt the City should not recommend that citizens handle the law by themselves and she as a committee member will lay a complaint to CCPD in regards to the bad attitude of the dispatcher." It should read"the committee"instead of" s.Keyes:" Ms.Thiem added that Elizabeth Hundley had requested that the date at the date at the top of the page should always read the previous month's minutes,and not the current date of the holding meeting. As a result,Ms.Keyes made a motion to change the date at the top of the page to read as February 16d, instead of March 10h. Ms.Keyes made a motion to approve the minutes,Ms.Massad Zed the motion and all were in favor. Approval of Absences Ms.Thiem.made a motion to approve the absences,Ms.Keyes tad the motion and all were in favor. 3. Zoonosis Report e Zoonosis report was attached for viewing. . Staff Report Facifityffe R ort Officer Hernandez reported that field services were going well but the facility was currently short staffed.He also reported incoming calls for service in the last month to be 1,864. Spanish speaking calls made up of 87. Officer Hernandez and Officer Smith had Just returned from attending the 3`d level of Cruelty Investigator Training in Grand Prairie. Ms.Thiem inquired on the Sisson animals located at the Pals Shelter for Animals. Officer Hernandez said he had spoken with Ms.Cooper at the shelter and everything was going fine. 5. Old Business Animal Control Advisot),Committee Meeting of March le,2006 1 Ms.Thiem informed the committee that ID cards could be re-addressed the following month. She also informed that she had spoken with Mr.McKinney the dispatch supervisor at Police Department who advised that in the future,any incidents of the nature reported should be reported to a supervisor immediately. Also,the name and of the dispatcher must be requested from the dispatcher to help investigate such behavior. Mr.McKinney regretted that it was possible that the dispatcher that took the call concerning"selling animals"was probably new and was not aware of the laws. He promised to send a memo to his staff regarding this. Ms.Thiern had no news on the Spay/Neuter Clinic. Ms.Rodriguez informed the committee that the City had received initial monies from the foundation for purchase of equipment. It had been agreed that personnel be hired once a date of opening was decided on.The City had asked for policies and procedures, concerning how it actually intends to get the clinic started.Ms.Rodriguez said plans were moving along as scheduled. Ms.Keyes said Earth Day was on the 22'd of April and would appreciate any volunteers for that day. 6. New usingss For discussion only,not for voting,Ms.Thiem asked the cornmittee on how it felt about the I year versus 3 year vaccine for Rabies. Ms.Massad liked the 3 year vaccine and Ms.Keyes said she did,but only if it was safe. Ms.Thiem had mixed ideas because she was concerned about irresponsible pet owners. She had previously done a research on this but did not have the information with her. Dr.Watson said the city had a low compliance rate on yearly rabies vaccination and veterinarians were 50—50 on the issue of having a 3 year since no one as yet had been able to tell what level of protection was needed from the health department. With written documentation,veterinarians have the ability to back door with certain animals because the responsibility lies with the veterinarian authorizing the procedure and not the city. Ms.Massad wondered what happened when a person had a copy of a 3 year vaccine instead of a one year. Mr.Hernandez replied that we didn't have many of such. Ms.Rhyner said many cities that went from a I year to 3 year vaccination saw a rise in the compliance of citizens,and hoped the same would happen with Corpus Christi. Ms.Thiern felt an opinion from the Coastal Bend AVM on the I year versus 3 year will shed some light on the matter. Dr.Watson said since citizens were not aware of what they were getting,there has so far been no long to study. Ms.Rodriguez asked if there was a change in price with the different vaccines. Dr.Watson replied that the one year was more expensive because it was harder to get. Dr.Pigott at Windsor Park Animal Hospital of be contacted on the matter. Inquiring from Dr.Watson his opinion on the 3 year vaccines, it was confirmed to Ms.Rodriguez that the 3 year vaccine had drug reactions with both smaller and older animals. It also had an adjunct about its cancer causing probabilities and reactions to the animals. Dr.Watson added that most of the one year vaccines were for cats. Ms.Rodriguez said the 3 year vaccine needed to be reviewed. Where veterinairians were willing to exempt an animal from a vaccine, they were required to write a letter to back up their finding. Ms.Massad said a letter was a good idea if a pet could not have a vaccine. A microchip clinic was suggested for Earth Day at the Kennel Club Shows and NIP events for Pet Week during May,including reduced rates for pet licenses. 7. Public Comments Ms.Becki Jones,a member of the Nueces County Animal Advisory Board said they were having a rabies clinic this weekend, and she extended an invitation to ACS to be involved if possible. Ms.Jones congratulated ACS on acquiring the grant from the foundation for the spay/neuter program. She said C-Care was privileged to work and le am with the American Humane Association a program called the Bingo Pet Package. This included free spay/neuter for 2 animals per household plus the rabies and booster shots. 300 cats and dogs had so far benefited from the program and$75,000k had been expended so far on Spay Neuter. She thanked Ms. Thiem in her efforts to get the"puppy sellers"off the streets. Animal Control Advisory Committee Meeting of,41arch 16",2006 2 Ms. Sheila Cudd informed the committee that she asked Ms.Thiem to add the 3-year vaccine on the agenda,as she had been trying to get this accomplished by the City of Corpus Christi for over a year through City Council. Ms.Cudd said she did not realize that there was an Advisory Committee that helped out in such matters. She advocated the 3 year vaccine because 31 other states had switched to a 3 year vaccine and she would like to see Corpus Christi follow the change. She said she had researched and read about veterinarians that had quoted immunologists saying there were no immunological reasons for yearly vaccinations. She said the TDH website information noted in 2003 that permission to go to the 3 year vaccine came out over 3 years ago but Corpus Christi was not for it even though the 3 year was sufficient to prevent human rabies. States that had changed over to 3-year had not experienced an increase in rabid dogs or cats. Ms.Cudd said an email from Mr.Mike Hacker of the Health Department sent to Brent Chesney council member,mentioned at"research indicated that vaccination with e 3 year was just as effective as the one year vaccine." Even though the 3 year maybe riskier due to it's causing sarcomas, s.Cudd wondered about its greater risks to an animal receiving a 3-year vaccine every year because the veterinarians have to do it annually to satisfy the City's legal requirements. Ms. Cudd further wondered if her Vet's letter to the City would do any good if her cat was picked up and was according to the city's requirements,not current on its vaccine. She said her veterinarian blamed vested interest persons and Animal Control as being behind the yearly vaccine. She said research backed her opinions. Dr.Watson informed Ms.Cudd that a veterinarian could lose his license. The research conducted by Pfizer and Fort Dodge,the primary makers of the vaccine does indeed say the 1 year lasts as long as a 3 year,and there was no difference but in labeling. Ms.Cudd further said that the National Association of State Public Health Veterinarians quotes say,that"the vaccinations should be administered in accordance with the specifications of the product label and packaging." With this,said Ms.Cudd,if the label is saying 3 years whereas there is a yearly administration of same,she believes there is a problem of endangering the animals with ecessary vaccinations. Ms.Cudd also said fines seemed to be heavy on impounded animals,even though the majority of the public do not realize that there is a state law of 3 years and there is a discrepancy with e 1 year. Ms.Cudd said she would like to know other groups besides the veterinarians standing to profit from is venture. She also said she believed her veterinarian did not know he could issue a letter in reference to the 3-year vaccine as her pet was I I years old. Mr.Don Cudd informed the committee about a website he created,called the Corpus Christi Examiner. This is a local news website,to inform people on matters as Ms.Cudd had described and other animal related issues. The website had been available for a year and Mr.Cudd said he would add the"selling of animals"to the website to educate those viewing it. Mr.Cudd brought up concerns about the Advisory Committee agenda. Misinterpretations of the open record laws and open meetings could find the committee in violation of Texas Open Meeting laws since New and Old Business were not spelled out in a agendas. It was important that the public know what was being discussed 72 hours in advance.He said one of the things e Examiner was doing,was getting citizens to be more involved with a government. He promised to push the City Secretary's Office to place the agenda on e City's website so it is more accessible. Ms.Rodriguez replied that the Open Meetings Act has had some recent changes,and she informed Mr.Cudd that the 72 hours was always complied'with. All members of the Boards are having to go through a course from the Attorney General's office regarding the open meetings act. What we are doing right now is working with e City Secretary's Office to get the video. Instead of going to the City Council Chambers Office we could view it here at one of the next meetings.Ms.Thiem also added that our agenda is looked at by our City Legal and except we have a voting issue it does not need to be listed as an item on e agenda. Mr.Cudd added that it sounded like a decision was made to send a letter to the veterinarians association and no vote was done on it. If everyone is leaving this room with a impression that you are sending the letter that seems questionable too.Mr.Cudd informed a committee that he doesn't mean to sound too critical,but being a j ournalist he was conversant with a lot of the laws. Ms.Becki Janes had a question for Mr.Hernandez. Ms.Jones adds that under -Care we have a program called ALFA, Animals Lost Found and Abused. She said there were numerous calls from citizens and it would be necessary to be on the same page with ACS in how they responded to citizen questions. As an example a citizen calling for cats in their garage with kittens they don't know what to do with are being told that ACS does not pick up cats,whereas some others say ACS does. Mr. Hernandez replied that the Call Center had recent staff turn over rate and new employees may not be aware of what the policies were. He informed s.Jones that ACS was picking up cats. . Adjournment Animal Control Adv i.tor}'1;" rnnrillcc bfeering of March 16°",2006 3 1, Ms. Rhyner made a motion to adjourn,Dr.Buckley 2'd the motion. All were in favor to adjourn the meeting at 1.40pm. Animal Control Advisor),Committee Ateeting ofmareh 16`� 2006