Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Animal Care Advisory Committee - 02/17/201104- 14 -'11 17,58 FROM -- ANIMAL CARE SERVICES 3618268259 Carpus w Chris�a Members Present; Members Absent: "tma C ity of MINUTES OF THE CITY OF CORPUS CHRISTI ANIMAL CONTROL ADVISORY COMMITTEE Nuaces County Public Health District Education Room, 2626 Holly Rd The Minutes for February 17th, 2011 T -126 P0002/121005 F -345 �ECE1VED APR 15 2011 sa SECRETARY'S OFFICE iraus Christi Bill Schroeder, Cheryl Martinez, Samantha Person, Helen Sterbach, Barbara Beynon and Dr. Barbara Whitlock Heather Tarnoski (The following staff members were present) Aurora Parlamas, Cindy Ramos, Diana Naranjo, Dennis Noble, Elizabeth Hundley and Janet Schenzel Guests: 1. Cali to Order: Mark Crider and Jane Seno Mr. Schroeder called the meeting to order at 12:35 2. Discussion and possible Approval of Minutes frorn January 20u 2011 Mr, Schroeder asked if there were any corrections for the minutes. Ms. Diana Naranjo introduced herself to the committee as the new Public Health Administrator for the division which includes the Health /Environmental and Animal Control both for the City and the County, MS. Parlamas announced that she has invited Dr, House to attend the meetings. Ms. Parlamas noted that there was a question that came up that Dr. House can clarify the information in regards to micro -chipping. Dr. house added that ail animals that go into the adoption program are micro- chipped including cats. We use a check list form for each animal going into adoption, each item is performed and one is the microchip. There was a few that didn't get chipped because we were out or there for a brief period, the animals were identified, those that were adopted out, the owners were asked to come back so we could put them in. Our protocol of inserting the micro chip is on the check list and this list is completed before going into adoption. Ms. Martinez made a motion to approve the minutes, Ms. Person 2% the motion all in favor motion passed. 3. Dis cus s io n and p ossible Approval of Absences from January 20 2011 Mr. Schroeder noted that there were no absences to approve. 4. Discussion of Monthly Reports A. Zeonos�a s Rep ort Mr. Schroeder informed the committee the Zoonosis Report was attached for review. Mr. Schroeder pointed out the Information about what you should do if you have found bait that has been dropped if the liquid hasn't been broken dispose of properly. tf you have a pet monitor it for any signs of illness. B. Shelter Report Ms. Parlamas informed the committee of the numbers for the shelter in January. The total for rescue/adoptions; was 44; a total of 56 return to owners; and 64 Bite Cases. There were a total of 811 incoming animals, 352 from the field and 459 dropped off at the shelter. Animal Control Advisory Committee February I7 2011 04- 14 -'11 17;59 FROM- ANIMAL CARE SERVICES 3618268259 T -126 P0100310005 F -345 Ms. Parlamas also noted the nurobers for file Violation_ Report for January was 28 failure to restrain, 22 failure to vaccinate, 2 f4lture.of rare, and keeping of animals and 24 failure to register for a total of 70 violations for the month of January. Ms. Martinez asked about the item for P&G KW, with the one that reads P &G other should be P &C other; it should be for Gulf Coast Humane Society. To clarify this Humane Socially back in November had a fund ra €ser for us which raised $14k for heartworm treatment for heart worm positive from our shelter. I gave a report for Paws and Claws HW which we need to keep separate and the other is for GGHS for transfers. The Paws and Claws have nothing to do with a regular transfer, only with the fund that is for heart worm positive dogs. We do both, we send them HW positive animals and we also send them regular transfers. Ifwe could change P&C other could be changed to GCHS instead of saying other. Ms. 8oynon asked that with the P &C HW are those 9 dogs physically transferred to GCHS, Ms. Martinez replied yes they stay there. Ms. Bsynon added they go there, get treated and adopted out from GGHS. The other is a regular transfer, MS. Padames asked about the regular transfer that one doesn't get treated for HW, why is that one transferred, Ms. Martinez replied it is a rescue transfer to be adopted out from their facility. Or, Whitlock asked if we had 9 dogs die and it we knew what they died from. Ms. Parlamas asked the ones that died in the kennels. Df, House added that we haven't had many parvo cases in the last month. Mr. Noble added that the only one he Knew of that died from parvo was during the freezing weather, It was lying on a blanket by itself and you could tel I it had parvo when you picked up the blanket. It amel led and looked like parvo, the dog was not here very long and it carne In sick. Mr. Noble also added that he wasn't sure about the other animals. Mr. Schroeder replied that we don't know why the re$t of them died. Mr. Noble added that when the staff Finds an animal it is marked that way and outcome DIK. A lot of the dogs we get in they are sick when we receive them. Ms_ Parlamas verified that they come Into the system and when they go out they are it is marked as adopted, return to owner ar died in kennel. Dr. House added that they are marked DIK, Mr, Noble added that we don't know why and the only determination would be if Dr. House did an autopsy. Dr. Whitlock added that you can look at a dog in the kennels that has bloody diarrhea and say !Vs probably parvo. Dr House informed the committee that the field staff will usually alert us in the clinic if they are cusp €cious of parvo or something. Me, Naranjo added that due the official documentation would suggest to word as suspected parvo and that way if there has been an autopsy its an official report. Dr. Whitlock added that she felt there usually isn't a necropsy. Mr. Noble added that when there is a suspect of parvo a lot of the times we will euthanize all the dogs in that kennel. Then we will sterilize the kennel and it won't be used for 3-1 days during that time. Ms. Naranjo added that maybe we could look of what is in the system and where we could some notations to refer back to it. Mr. Noble added that we could add in the list we could add Ved parvo', it's a drop down in the system, to the drop down you con add whatever you want. Dr, Whitlock added that if you have animals dying in the kennel and you don't know what it is then there is no way you can have proof. Dr, House added that you Gan always add something in a memo to note what may have taken place in the kennel. C. Clinic Report Ms. Parlamas informed the committee there was a total of 124 surgeries for the month of January. Review and discussion on five trap nick up Ms. Martinez pointed out to the committee that she knows a lot of the citizens of Corpus Christi pushed hard for us to receive a trap truck by going to City Council. We have a lot of people that call in for pickup constantly. There are a lot of these that are not dleabled but just don't want to drive over to the shelter. We have one employee that picks up the trapped arilmals every day; we want to talk about the possibility of charging for the pickup traps. Ms, Martinez added that ifs been brought up not to bring up the traps. If we can charge a'fee, we have many people that call on a weekly basis. There are a lot of these people that are not disabled, they walk, dr €ve they just don't want to touch the trap. Ms. Martinez added that she had talked with the €ndividual who provided us with the trap truck; I asked her what she thought about this because I know she would be against and probably win. Ms. Madinez pointed out that they don't want to touch the traps especially if there is an opossum or a raccoon in it Ms. Martinez added that we do have a trap rental and there is a charge, why can't we charge a smell fee to pick up at their homes. If we are picking up traps from the same person and they don't have a truck it could be an issue for them. Mr. Schroeder added that the downside could be someone calling in that they may not call because now it would cost them. Also when people trap they are told they need to feed and water that animal. Mr. Schroeder asked how many traps will be picked up in a given day by the employee. Mr. Noble replied that we have one person that picks them up could be 18 -20 traps a day. Ms. Ramos_ added that Ms. Casas is able to pick up a lot of traps. Mr. Noble added that when the officer comes in from the field of picking them up if they have opossums they are euthanized and with the cats they have to be put in the kennels. Ms. Parlamas added that it's not that we wouldn't charge but from a stand point, who will be charging. If we are able to impose the fee on a trap pick up. Ms, Hundley pointed out that we impose the fee on the trap rental and the City Council feels that part of the rental fee helps to cover the cast of going out to pick up the trap. You have many that could bring in the trap. Ms. Ramos added that it's a matter of collecting the monies because you have a lot of people that are at work when we pick up the traps. Ms. Parlamas added that when I've received calls about those who trap, if we impose a fee on someone who is trapping willingly and then having to pay for It they may not trop. Dr. Whitlock added that we started charging the vets for when we pick up the dead animals. Ms. Taubs verified that the charge was $5.00 for the first 3 and then $5.00 for each one after that. Ms. 8eynon added that my family trapped use to trap and I would set the trap; we would have opossums in the trap 243 days of Animal Control Advisory Committee February 17 2011 64- 14 -'11 17;59 FROM- ANIMAL CAPE SERVICES 3518268259 T -126 P0004/0005 F -345 the week. If my Mom bed to pay for..doing this sho would be screaming -at City Council, Mr., Schroeder asked if the charge is it nonrefundable... Ms. Ramos replied that ws charge $10 for the weekly rental and the $50 deposit is refundable, Ms. Parlamas asked when they have their own traps they are not paying. Ms. Martinez replied those that have their own traps they are not paying. Dr. Whitlock asked when we take them does the animal [hey are taking out go into one of our traps. Ms, Martinez replied they go into the truck and asked how many traps we have. Ms. Taube replied we have approximately B -10, Ms, Martinez replied that's the total we are receiving monies for, then you can see a lot of people have traps. Mr. Schroeder added that with those there are no charges we just pick them up. Ms. Hundley added that if you are able to entertain any kind of operational recommendation to management that the committee feels that is valuabfe to the city. Mr. Schroeder asked If It falls u nderneath because it's not oily property, it I'm calling to have one picked up. Ms. Hundley added could the city charge a fee to collect for animal traps that are not rented_ Dr. Whitlock added that if they are trapping and bring them in there not charged. Ms. Naranjo pointed out that we have citizens who trap animals or strays that are picked up and they bring them in, 1 understand there is a charge because of renting the trap; if someone is using their own equipment, own time and bringing it here theta's no charge. It someone is bringing it to us with a trap they rentfrom us there is no charge because we've already charged for the trap. The customer is saving us money by doing it themselves and in turn they are saving us money by bringing it N because that is one less animal being picked up, The fact of the matter is the animal comes here period. What does it matter whose trap if is. Mr. Schroeder replied that with the breakdown of the monies on gasoline and manpower. Dr. Whitlock also added that IN like having to pay for someone to go pick it up. Ms. Beynon commented that if we were to recommend charging the people to pick up with private traps to pick up a animal, what you would charge them, Dr. Whitlock asked if we would charge for opossums or just for cats. Ms. Martinez replied a flat rate which would be easier. Ms. Beynon asked what we would charge. Ms. Martinez replied $2-3.00. Ms, Beynon asked if we are charge the $2.00 and we have 20 traps that's $40 and that's if they are coming from a private trap. Earlier it was mentioned that we have customers that call in 2 or 3 times a week that Crave their own traps and have a estimate 20 per day. We have the 1 staff member, the truck and thats all they do.; to run the truck all day and pay the staff to driva it costs a lot more than the $40. Mr. Schroeder replied in reference to the people paying. How are they going to leave this money, because you will have people that won't be at home and would we be able to add on to their water bill. Then you have people that won't want to pay they won't trap. Mr. Schroeder added that when you are dealing with fur animals you cannot relocate them. Dr. Whitlock asked V we still relocate or do we euthanize. Mr. Noble said that the raccoons are relocated, the opossums are euthanized. Mr. Schroeder noted that in lieu of the conversation this is for possible discussion and something we Can do with charging. Ms. Martinez asked would it be feasible to charge a fee for people that private trap and pickup from them, We go out and pick up trapped animals with their own trap not rented from the City is it feasible to charge a fee. Dr. House asked about the collection of the monies. We cannot have the ACO out there with a change back. Ms_ Parlamas raplfed if it would really be cost effective. Ira possible we could but what would be fair and equitable for the citizens. Mr. Schroeder added that it is a concern with budgets and gas going up, it is an expense. Ms. Parlamas If we charged and with the ACO collecting and the time it would take to do so. Ms. Naranjo asked what kind of Information data we collect in terms of differentiating how many animals trapped. is !tours or not, who brought It in. If the Information Is not easily available we may need to do a study and determine from that, Dr. Whitlock added that when she had worked at a previous shelter Is that you have people that are retired and that this is their life work to trap animals, it's not that they are doing this for the City they don't like them in their yards. We would have people that would bring in 50 stray cats and not all of them were stray same could be owned free roaming and didn`t want them in their yard. If we to charge a fee where if we have picked up over 20 times in a time period, Mr. Schroeder pointed out that we want to see about addressing this and if not Mara fine. Review and discussion on micro - chipping Mr. Schroeder noted that Dr. House had responded to this in the correction o (the minutes, Ms. Martinez added that Dr. Whitlock wanted to talk about this today and make a recommendation, Dr. Whitlock added that we were talking about animals that are picked up for running loose or there was a case where a pit bull killed a dog which was right before our last meeting. The animals that come in that has attacked a person or attacked an animal and picked up by their owner that before they are picked up have them micro chipped. In the event the dog is picked up again we can say this animal belongs to this person and this is what happened before. Mr. Schroeder asked about the ones that are tagged if they are deemed dangerous_ Mr, Noble replied that they are supposed to have a different color of collar on and also have a tag that they are issued, Mr. Schroeder asked if they are required to be chipped. Mr. Noble replied no, we usually won't deem a dog dangerous on an animal versus animal, Ms. Ramos replied that it's complicated deeming a dog dangerous, ICs not just something we can do. ids. Martinex commented that we don't have many of them, Dr. Whitlock if a dog was deemed dangerous if we were also to require them to be micro chipped that they would have to pay for. The problem with these dogs is they are running loose with no tags and then you don't have anyone claiming ownership of the animal. Ms. Hundley replied that with dangerous dogs in our jurisdiction have been required to be micro chipped, it is one of the additional regulations that we can put on dangerous dogs and believe that we have 5 of them. Tile owners were required to purchase a $100k of liability Insurance and not sure if staff followed up on the orders that were required of them, The collar is supposed to he green and the tag Issued is green and they are supposed to put a sign on their fence. Dr. Whitlock asked if this is already in the ordinance, Mts. Hundley replied that IN not in the ordinance but there are certain requirements for dangerous dog registration in Texas and beyond that a jurisdiction is allowed to add additional information, one of our regulatory requirements is micro chipping. The animals registered as dangerous dogs right now in our city should all be micro chipped. It appears that what you are asking is that the committee is asking whether or not animals that Is at large and impounded if they too should be micro chipped. That Itself would require an ordinance amendment directly to those animals impounded due to the animals running at large. Animal Control Advisory Committee February 17 2011 04- 14 -'11 18;00 FROM- ANIMAL CARE SERVICES 3618268259 T -126 PO0O5/00O5 F -345 ...J1ts. Noble informed the, commiaee that one.of the problems we have, is.that one of the problurntKis tbat.you have a dog. returned to its.owner; the first time the sister may pick up the dog and tho next time its the Dad or the brother. If it's not wearing tags or micro chipped; we probably have dogs running around the citywith 4 animal I0's. Ms, Heynon asked what kind of number is the animal control number. Mr. Noble replied that when a dog comes in it gets [D#, whether it is a person or an animal We should be only one number. Ms. Beynon asked if that's the number only when they are in the shelter, Mr. Noble replied that they should always have that number, for example I had a dog that had tags on it and the tags expired back in 2000,1 was able to took it up; under the tag it had an ID #, when that dog was impounded it was given another ID #. The 'K number is not the same as the registration number; the registration number is linked with the dog. When someone receives an animal with no tags it is going to get another ID number; so we have noway to look at this one dog and see that it's been here 5 times. Every time the dog was here it got a new animal ID #. To get an animal deemed dangerous you have to show that it's the same dog. Dr. Whitlock added that with most software's Nit's an animal from your facility if you can enter the microchip number it could tell you the history an that dog. Ms. Martinez added that our ordinance states that you bring a dog in and its not licensed or vaccinated they receive citations, then the 2n time the dog gets brought in and We mandatory spay/neuter, How we do know that 'Mr. Smith' comes in and they send in their relative to pick up the dog different name, if its micro chipped it will be different. Mr. Noble added that it may not Just be different people but they could say We a different dog. Dr. Whitlock asked when we require mandatory spay neuter do we microchip. Ms. Martinez replied that they may not do it here, but they get the voucher to take it to the vet of their choice. Mr, Noble added that they may not even get it spayed or neutered, Mr. Schroeder asked if they have to prove it's been done even though they have the voucher. Once the animal is picked up and they are given the voucher to have it chipped. With every animal that is brought in is not chipped in the'revolving' door, or is it mandatory when they are brought in. Dr. Whitlock added that we do that even when they come through, but is there some mechanism that we can do for the repeat offenders that we can microchip them so we can hold sorrreone rasponsible. Mr. Schroeder added that ultimately the animal is the repeat offender. Ms. Parlamas replied yes but to micro chip like you are suggesting we would need to change the ordinance. Mr. Noble added that would be good if we could micro chip everyone, it would help a lot, Dr. Whitlock asked that when a dog is picked up and the owner claims them if require them to be vaccinated or proof of vaccinated before the first time. Ms. Ramos replied not before it goes home. Mr. Noble they get citations for not be vaccinated or registered and agree to have it altered, Dr, Whitlock asked if the fine Is forgiven if they get it done. Mr_ Noble replied that is up to the judge, Ms. Hundley added that they can be required to be vaccinated by law before they leave here. Ms. Hundley added that the committee can ask the chairman to bring back the draft on the agenda, Mr. Schroeder added that next time it wil I be as a recommendation for next time. Ms. Taube clarified on the vouchers; there Is no voucher for a micro chip, there are vouchers for rabies vaccination and the spaylneuter voucher, 7. UDLsSumfon and a plIti[q channo to local tethering laws Mr. Schroeder opened up the floor for discussion on tethering taws. A discussion was held on the local tethering taws, Ms. ftnon asked if the city ordinances regarding tethering weaker or stronger than the state as they presently are written, Ms. Hundley replied that the state mandated that you cannot tether la.extreme cold, extreme heat and other weather advisories that are issued. We can provide you with a copy of what state law is on tethering and it is prohibited. The city eddressas where you can and cannot tether. You cannot tether where it crosses a driveway or sidewalk, You cannot tether it, tie orchain to a post or sign. It's more conditional on objects as opposed to conditions that exist for heat and cold, Ms. Beynon asked if we address the equipment used in tethering, Ms. Hundley replied yes, we outlawed tethering with a chain; actually use a chain as a collar. There are certain sizes of chain because of the weight that cannot be used as a collar because then a becomes animal cruelty. !'_0@9 Comments Mr. Crider asked when we would be gehing door hangers. Ms. Parlamas replied that it's been turned in, Ma, Martinez added that she could give us the same information for the hangers for Spanish, Ms. Beynon asked what the hangers were for, Ms. Martinez replied they were for tethednglchalning an animal. It shows them the proper way and what is the wrong way to tether or chain an animal, 9. Identl 'te s t n a ends Dr. Whitlock wanted to add for the agenda to review and recommend micro chipping for return to owned animals, Ms. Hundley rep4d that it appear the committee wants the staff to bring back the draft pertaining to mandatory micro chipping or release on impound, ter. Whitlock asked that we can suggestions on what items thatwe want and provide that to the city staff and they review. Ms. Hundley added that if a committee member has suggestions you Gan communicate that with your liaison or Ms. Parlamas or.whoever she assigns to work on that. The staff tells me what I have just heard and we work on the draft ordinance based on what I have heard you discuss. Dr. Whitlock asked would we have this by next month or how long would it take; Ms, Martinez wanted to add discussion and possible recommendation for fees on trap pick up. 10. Adioumment Ms, Martinez made a motion to adjourn, Ms. Sterbach 2nd the motion all in favor motion passed. 1 Animal Control Advisory Committee February 1 7` 2011