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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Animal Care Advisory Committee - 03/30/2014 MINUTES OF THE CITY OF CORPUS CHRISTI ANIMAL CONTROL ADVISORY MEETING Nueces County Public Health District Conference Room, 2626 Holly The Minutes for March 30, 2014 Members Present: Cheryl Martinez,Dr. Barbara Whitlock,Megan Wimi,Harold Bennett,Barbara Beynon, Laina Schonefeld, Janet Strawn Members Absent: None Citv Staff: Buck Brice,Heather Hedrick,Edward Cruz,Kellie Duncan,Daimi Alcantara,William Rhodes, Commander Green,Dr. Melissa Draper, Susan Thorpe, Jennifer Sotelo,Dr. William Burgin. Guests: Mary Amu Kelly, Johnny French,Mark Phillips,Angela Powell, Susan Thieiu,Lana Smith,K.D. 1. Call to Order: The meeting was called to order by Dr. Barbara Whitlock at 12:31 p.m. 2. Discussion and Possible Approval of Minutes from February 20,2014 Dr. Barbara Whitlock advised Buck Brice,Debra Brown and Douglas Deflatius were absent: Susan Thorpe was present. Cheryl Martinez advised Commander Green and Monica Martinez were present. Dr.Barbara Whitlock also advised item 5, second paragraph to change"quested"to*'questioned",item 7 change``board"to``staff',item 8 change*'harbor"to*'harborage". Cheryl Martinez stated she did not say"there are only 5 cities"and Dr. Barbara advised changing it to"many cities are not trapping opossums". Dr. Barbra Whitlock asked Johnny French if we represented him correctly in the minutes, Johnny French responded``I believe you did". Cheryl Martinez motions to approve the minutes with the noted changes, Janet Strawn seconds, all approve, none oppose, and none abstain. 3. Discussion and Approval of Absences from January 16,2014 Dr. Barbara Whitlock stated there were no absences. 4. Discussion of Current Texas Department of State Health Services Region 11 Zoonosis Report Dr. Barbara Whitlock stated the Texas Department of State Health Services has not provided a Zoonosis Report for Region 11. She also stated,through no fault of the city staff or committee,the State of Texas has some personnel changes in that department and is having difficulty getting the newsletter out. Cheryl Martinez questioned the case in Beeville. Dr. Barbara Whitlock stated last month there was a bat. Damri Alcantara stated there was another bat in Februaiv. William Rhodes stated the second bat,after investigation, came from a different kennel. Cheryl Martinez stated there is a dog in quarantine for rabies in Beeville due to a rabid slink going through the doggie dog and fighting with the dog. Dr. Barbara Whitlock stated she received information from the previous state veterinarian regarding region 1,not in Nueces County, on how the protocol was not followed in the case of the rabid skunk. She noted she would send it out if no one else received it. Cheivl Martinez also stated there were dead bats all over North Beach and directed the citizens to call ACS. She also noted the staff at her condo was picking them up with their fingers. Cheryl Martinez stated she showed them what to do and who to call. Danni Alcantara and Edward Cruz both stated there have been no calls for North Beach. Dr. Barbara Whitlock noted almost all human cases of rabies in the United States have been contracted from bats. 5. Discussion of the Current Shelter Report Daimi Alcantara stated the biggest numbers she would like to point out are live release and euthanasia. She stated the rescue number has gone up this year compared to last year. Damn Alcantara noted we had 68 animals that went out to rescues in February, 133 adoptions,and 95 animals that went to foster care or foster to adopt program. Dr. Barbara Whitlock question if all of the 95 animals that were foster to adopt were Oessentially adopted. Daimi Alcantara responded saying 2 or 3 were true fosters and needed to get bigger before they could be brought into the facility and adopted out. She also stated the euthanasia numbers went down drastically compared to last year,noting there were only 115 for the month of February. Cheryl Martinez stated there were fewer intakes of cats for Februaiv 2014 compared to 2013. Damii Alcantara responded it was due to not picking up privately owned traps in the field. Dr. Barbara Whitlock questioned if trapped cats in privately owned traps were not picked up or just opossums. Daimi Alcantara responded ACS does not seivice privately owned traps. Heather Hedrick clarified ACS will pick up the 5 rabies carriers in private traps,not cats or opossums. Cheryl Martinez stated ACS just picked up the dead bats from the complex and noted the call was put in this morning. Edward Cruz stated the calls for seivice have gone down this month compared to last year due to being 3 officers down from injury. Barbara Beynon questioned the type of injuries. Edward Cruz responded back strains, shoulder strains,etc. Barbara Beynon questioned if they were more ergonomics verses animal related. Edward Cruz responded some of the officers are trying to pick up dogs that are too heavy. Barbara Beynon questioned if the calls for seivice in February 2014 were actually answered or if they calls were down due to the ACO being injured. Edward Cruz responded saying the calls were down compared to last year and 1,232 calls were responded to by either seivicing them in the field or calling to make sure the animal was still there before the officer went out. 6. Discussion of the Current and Previous Clinic Report The clinic report for January and February 2014 was unavailable. 7. Discussion of the Status of Rachael Rav Grant Funds Heather Hedrick stated she and Damn Alcantara have received quotes from manufactures that do humane housing. She noted the quotes have to go through the purchasing department and will take some time. Heather Hedrick also stated Dr.Melissa Draper has been in contact with a local rescue on getting assistance on how to spend the money as far as subsidizing their program and making sure the fiords get spent appropriately. 8. Discussion,review,and update on Rachel Ray Challenge No discussion. 9. Discussion of Current Practice Concerning the Pickup of Opossums in Private Traps Commander Green stated there is a brief presentation and introduces Dr. William Burgin. Dr. William Burgin stated he wanted to dispel some myths and said the opossum has a face only a mother can love and gets blamed for things it is not responsible for. He stated it is not the opossums,but the fleas that cause murine typhus. Dr. William Burgin noted the rat flea is the most common flea that causes and spreads this particular disease. He also stated the second most common cause is the feral cat and their fleas. Dr. William Burgin stated this whole issue came up because the city changed its policy to have people bring in the opossums which would then cause a murine typhus outbreak. He stated the lack of picking up opossums is probably the most common practice throughout the state of Texas. Dr. William Burgin stated if an opossum was caught in a trap,it was just released on public land back into the wild. He noted this is a standard practice in cities such as Austin, San Antonio,and all the major cities including ours. Dr. William Burgin stated 90%of people that get bit by a flea canying murine typhus shoe no symptoms what so ever. He noted the symptoms vary from having none at all to flu like symptoms,which is next common,to having symptoms more serious in which one would have to be hospitalized. Dr. William Bergin stated most all murine typhus are from Nueces County and south. He noted last year,throughout the state of Texas, there were onh-41 cases and no deaths. Dr. William Bergin noted this is generally not a disease which causes death and is easily-treated with an antibiotic, such as tetraci-cline,for 10 dal-s. He also stated there is no real connection between the opossum and murine typhus. Linda Smith question if the flea guard that is applied to their dogs will keep the murine typhus flea away from their animals. Dr. William Burgin stated if a there is a repellant it will repel the fleas in general,the murine typhus flea is not a particular flea. He noted there are things you can do such as keeping your yard clean and don't leave animal food out that will attract opossums,rats,etc. Dr. William stated if you are going to poison rats to get rid of them before de-fleaing,the fleas will just look for a new home. He noted to always de-flea before killing the rats. Johnny French question if Dr. William Bergin knew the percentage of rats can-ying the murine typhus. Dr. William Bergin responded no,but to remember rats do not can-y murine typhus,fleas do. Johnny French stated he disagreed and wanted to know how many cats carried fleas with murine typhus. Dr. William Bergin stated he had no idea. Johnny French question Dr. William Burgin's stats on rats being number one and cats being number two carriers of the fleas are based on what. Dr. William Burgin stated they are based on The Department of Health and Human Seivices studies done throughout Texas. Johnny French stated there was a study done here by Dr. William Burgin's predecessor,Dr.Bustrom,and had a percentage of one-quarter of opossums were can-ying fleas and the opossums were can-ying murine typhus. He stated the flea doesn't get it from anywhere except from biting another mammal. He also noted the fleas are the vectors,not the carriers. Susan Thorpe and Dr.Barbara Whitlock questioned the date of the study. Johnny French stated the information was gathered from opossums that were trapped by people in the late 90's and the study Dr. Bustrom co-authored came out in 2002. Danni Alcantara questioned if only opossums were studied or if they trapped rats and cats as well. She also questioned the accuracy if they did not trap any other animals. Johnny French stated opossums were the only animals studied and no claims were made on any other animals. He also wondered on what basis is there to think there are other animals that carry this disease other than the opossums. Johnny French stated in order to make a comparative statement a study does need to be done elsewhere. He also noted south Texas may be unique in that the opossums are the major carriers,the only other place would be south California. Johunti-French stated all over the world the rats would be the number one carrier. MaryAnn Kelly stated the public is riving to help the city in controlling these particular animals that are destroying people's fruit trees, she has seen opossums crowing down on the cat's food, a neighbor's lawn that contains high grass which attracts rats,and the neighbors also throwing food with causes the opossums and rats to gather. She questioned on why the city is turning a blind eye to the public helping by having a private trap. She stated if they have a private trap it is for their convenience,which the city doesn't seem to care about. MaryArm Kelly stated having to bring in the opossum and relocating it out into the wild is just creating another problem. She questioned why spay and neutering is not being done on opossums if they are already being done on cats. Dr. Barbara Whitlock stated it is not done because they are marsupials and have a completely different reproductive si-stem. MaryAnn Kelly stated it is also called population control and that is the problem. She also noted the problem can not only be blamed on the animal,it is also the people which are kind of a lost cause here in Corpus Christi. Commander Green introduced Dr. Melissa Draper who is our shelter veterinarian. Dr. Melissa Draper stated the cat population could in fact keep down the rat population. She stated there are different names for marine typhus,which is a rickettsial disease meaning bacteria,and it is hard to differentiate them. Dr.Melissa Draper explained mammals get it from the flea. She stated traditionally it's always been the Norway rat though every species has its own flea which likes their body temperatures. Dr.Melissa Draper noted there was a study done in 2002 in Texas that showed owning or having contact with pets presented no significant risk for acquiring typhus. She stated in Texas, California,Hawaii,and other islands it is endemic. Dr. Melissa Draper also stated other states have it but it is not widely know because it is not a required reporting. She stated the transmission of this typhus correlates closely to the number of fleas out there rather than the number of mammals that carry it. Dr.Melissa Draper stated fleas propagate more closely in hot,dry environments so the marine typhus has a seasonal distribution. She noted in different parts of the world the rat flea cycle is generally from late summer to early fall,but here in Texas it is from April to June,and California it is more in the fall. Dr.Melissa Draper stated the euthanasia process requires more handling of the animal and epidemiology wise there is no predilection for this disease. She also stated this disease is an occupational hazard and there have been staff that has had it. Dr. Melissa Draper stated we are using euthanasia by injection and no longer by gas chamber here in Corpus Christi. Cheryl Martinez stated it has been 9 years since the gas chamber has been used. Dr. Melissa Draper stated this is a eery stressfial environment for the animal since it is brought in from the wild into captivity. She also noted there is a cruelty aspect being that these are still live animals and are not exempt from humane care just because they are not well liked. Dr.Melissa Draper stated she will be conducting a necropsy on an opossum from a suspected cruelty case. She stated opossums do have a really good immune system and don't typically carry other disease and are low risk for rabies but do get fleas. Dr.Melissa Draper noted there is no valid research in showing euthanasia as an effective way to control the population opossums. Heather Hedrick stated one of the things she has to riuly manage is the time we spend on calls for seivice. She stated one of most important aspect of our job at ACS is our investigation of cruelty,picking up stray animals that need our help,and domestic animals of that nature. Heather Hedrick stated,back in August,ACS noticed the time actually spent on picking up live, trapped opossums versus the time spent on being able to pick up and handle investigations,cruelty, abuse, and neglect calls. She stated it felt like the animal control officers were taxed way too much and by focusing on the core mission of animal care and investigating these calls and getting away from trapping,which is the best practice of most large cities,would better sever the citizens of Corpus Christi. Heather Hedrick stated an internal,non documented study was conducted on how much time the ACO actually spent euthanizing versus relocating opossums. She stated 2 ACO are needed to euthanize every animal,including opossums,which takes 2 ACO off animal cruelty cases, investigations,and neglect calls to spend 3 hours to euthanize an animal. Heather Hedrick noted this was just man hours,not what the tax payers pay for the salaries and supplies needed. She stated whereas if the animal was relocated it would give the ACO more time to focus on,with our limited resources, the cruelty and neglect types of calls for seivice. Commander Green introduces William Rhodes, a certified marine biologist. William Rhodes stated marine typhus is a catch all from the different bacterias. He defined the term``endemic"to actually mean naturally occurring and we have considered marine typhus to be endemic in this area since before the 70's. William Rhodes stated for marine typhus to riuly be a big problem it would have occurred and been recognized already. He also defined"marine"to mean rat or rodent caused when broken down into its Latin form and is primarily carried by rats and mice. William Rhodes noted, in this area, some studies have shown it to be also common in some feline fleas. He stated other diseases, such as Lime disease, are more of a threat across the state of Texas than marine typhus. William Rhodes stated there have been more cases of Lyme disease and there are discussions on whether we should be looking into Lyme disease as a potential threat for Texans. He stated,in general,Lyme disease is a much more serious illness because it is not as easily treated and the ailments that come with the disease are much greater and loner lasting. William Rhodes noted fatalities rates from the flu are higher than those of the marine typhus. He stated some flu seasons reach epidemic levels with above 7%fatality rate where as the marine typhus is less than 1%when medically treated and below 4%when not treated. William Rhodes stated these are common,accepted studies. He stated the study that tested the fleas on opossums in 2002 showed 8%of opossums with fleas came back positive which is actually a low risk. He stated if you were ftuly worried about catching something from these fleas,you should be worried about the Plague which is still around and is carried by fleas. William Rhodes also stated if you were worried,you should be treating your yard for fleas because even if every opossum was eradicated from the city endemic typhus would still be here. He stated it is in pets and any mammal species that can get bit by a flea and get infected. William Rhodes stated when these studies are done they look for antibodies just to see if that animal has been effected,which doesn't mean the animal is carrying the viers but that the animal has fought off the virus and now carries the antibodies. He stated if he were to be tested for rabies it would show he carries the rabies antibodies,which doesn't mean he has the virus only-that he had the vaccination. William Rhodes stated eradicating all opossums from the city would be illogical in money terms and in man-hour terms. He stated opossums in general are migratory species and are vagrants and tend to only stay in one area for 2 to 3 days unless there is something there attracting them. William Rhodes stated you are bringing them into your yards by baiting them or not cleaning your citrus tree refuse and will only bring in another once one has been trapped. He stated even if you were to pick up and euthanize,opossums from the wild will still come out. William Rhodes stated the opossums in the city actually leave the city at some point in their lives and is part of their life cycle considering they are vagrant. He stated these are not destructive creatures and should be looked at as something special and unique since they are the only marsupial species in North America. Cheryl Martinez stated a study done by Parks and Wildlife showed opossums have a low suivival rate and die within 2 weeks of being relocated William Rhodes stated,in general, opossums do have a short life span because they do have predators including household and feral cats,hawks, owls, coyotes. He noted their life span in their natural habitat,at max,is 3 years and rarely ever reach firll adulthood. William Rhodes stated the longest an opossum has ever lived in captivity was 8 years. Dr. Barbara Whitlock stated opossums do not establish a territory and will only stay in a place as long as there is something to eat and a place to hide then move on. She stated they are not like other species and establish their tenitoiv and stay-there. Dr.Barbara Whitlock noted when then are relocated they-have to find food and water in a strange place and have not disrupted their home territory because they are not that type of animal. Commander Green stated he wanted the to experts to speak first because when the police department took over they didn't know anything about these topics. He stated they felt it was very important to bring the experts in and speak. Commander Green stated when the police department took over one of the things that they are trying to do is maximize the resources available on the priorities we feel are most important to the community. He stated among these priorities are of course rabies control,conducting bite investigations,picking up shay cats and dogs,animal cruelty investigations,managing the shelter,focusing on live releases, adoptions,rescues, etc. Commander Green addressed the staffing and stated there are 28 firll time employees and out of those, 20 are firll time ACO. He stated, when broken down,there are total of 12.5 officers out in the field,which may-seem odd,but there is 1 cruelty investigator who spends half their time investigating cruelty cases and half their time out in the field. Commander Green stated the 12.5 is when we are firlly staffed and have everyone out in the field and on board and right now everyone is not on board due to injuries. He noted there are 4 officers out on injury or light duty and not able to handle field calls. Commander Green stated there is one vacant position that is waiting to be filled:there will be another position that will become available due to an officer that will be leaving shortly, and another position that can't be filled because there is an appeal process going on. He stated what this means is ACS can put out 6 ACO to handle field calls for the entire city working a schedule 18 hours a day, 7 days a week. Commander Green noted that we are vein short staffed but even with the 12.5 officers we would still be short staffed. He stated some of the things we have done to try and maximize efficiency are quit picking up dead animals,hired temporary kennel staff, and upgraded the technology for the ACO. Commander Green noted the calls for seivice, since 2008,fluctuate between 21,000 last year to 30,000 in 2008:there are 8,000 to 9,000 shay calls eveiv year,the bite investigations are going up. He stated the bite investigations are time consuming because the case worker has to but a case together, just like a detective,for the police department. Commander Green continued to state the cruelty and abuse cases hover about 1,000 to 1,400 cases a year and picking up 3,000 to 4,000 trapped opossums every year. Commander Green noted at one point we were euthanizing them but we are currently releasing them on city property. He stated there have been a total of 66,which include probable and confirmed,reported marine typhus cases in all of Nueces County with a population of roughly 450,000,per year. Commander Green stated to fty and trap these animals to fty and reduce an illness,which seems pretty minor,really doesn't make sense. He noted effective January 1 ACS will continue to seivice small animal traps which have been rented from the city for$10 and privately owned traps will be accepted at the facility after 1 P.M.,Monday through Saturday,with no fee involved. Commander Green stated the permit that is needed from Texas Parks and Wildlife to relocate the animals has been obtained. He noted we are the only municipality in the entire state of Texas to ever ask and be granted this waiver. Commander Green stated we were told this was a regulation that is not enforced with but we are complying with it. He stated another piece of misinformation is where the opossums get released and confirmed they do get released on city owned property not on privately own property. Commander Green noted there are places in the city where we fty not continuously release from. He stated ACS did seek information regarding the matter from the state,as requested by the public, and asked Ron Cornelison with the Texas Department of State Health Seivices,who is our region 2 zoonosis control. He continued to say Ron Cornelison basically stated he was not aware of any city policies in the state where it was required to trap and euthanize opossums but did say it was the flea that carries it and to try to get rid of the disease one would have to rid the entire city of every opossum,rat,dog and feral cat which would be unrealistic. Commander Green explained opossums are beneficial animals because they are like scavengers and clean up the neighborhoods and basically like buzzards with 4 legs. He noted if you were really concerned about this illness you would take preventative measures to clean up your yards,eliminate hiding places,don't leave pet food out,prevent rodents from living under your house,put out moth balls,put cloths soaked in ammonia,and not try to attract the animals,and treat your pets and yards for fleas. Janet Strawn questioned if there was any education to give out to the public. Commander Green stated there is information posted on the ACS website, on Face book, and we are trying to get the media involved. Heather Hedrick stated we do seivice privately owned traps for the 5 rabies carriers. She also stated we do hand out information on how to detour these animals,clean up their yards and prevention in the field,on social media and the ACS website. Commander Green asked the advisory board for a recommendation on continuing the current practice of trapping animals or if the board recommends changing the policy because they are going to go before the city council and speak on the same topic. Dr. Barbara Whitlock questioned Buck Brice to see if it was okay to take a vote. Buck Brice approved. Barbara Beynon questioned,for personal clarification to understand all the information,if the city currently still rents and seivices traps for everything that comes in those traps. Heather Hedrick stated for the 5 rabies carriers and if they want to get a trap from ACS Barbara Beynon stated for a city owned trap that is rented,put out,and catches opossums to a feral cat,ACS will come out and seivice that trap. Dr. Barbra Whitlock stated ACS will go and pick it up. Barbara Beynon continued and questioned if it was a privately owned trap,unless it is one of the 5 rabies carrier, ACS will not seivice it. Dr. Barbara Whitlock stated ACS will not go pick it up. Heather Hedrick stated the trap can be brought into ACS. Barbara Beynon stated if an opossum was trapped and brought in,it was not euthanized but released into the wild on city property. Edward Cruz responded yes. Barbara Beynon continued to question if that is what the waiver or permit is for,which only allows 100 animals a year. She stated the permit will only get the city through the state's fiscal year which ends on August 31 but looking at the numbers,ACS will be coaxed out of the permitted number of animals in just a fern months. Heather Hedrick agreed and stated ACS will be maxed out on the allowed opossums. Barbara Beynon questioned what will ACS do when the maximum is met. William Rhodes responded and stated the permit itself states if the maximum is met we can contact them. Heather Hedrick stated ACS can ask for a larger allocation and ACS will also have to provide a monthly report. She also stated the roman who issued the permit did note this was unchartered territory and if they maximum was met ACS should contact her. Heather also stated she does not know what Texas Parks and Wildlife will do since this is something new and they will have to allocate new procedures for ever animal control in the state of Texas based on our one permit. Barbara Beynon questioned if ACS feels strongly on opposing seining private traps why is ACS still seivicing rented traps. Heather Hedrick stated ACS had to give the public an option and it is written in the City Ordinance. Johrmy French stated,to Dr.Melissa Draper,we are not just looking at marine typhus,another rickettsial disease. Dr. Melissa Draper stated it is lumped together as two different forms of rickettsia. Johrmy French stated one of these is being looked at as an emerging disease and takes a considerable effort to differentiate,through testing,what you have been exposed to whether its marine typhus or rickettsia felis. He stated the symptoms and treatment are so much the same that there may be a difference without a distinction. Dr. Melissa Draper stated being a private physician and veterinarian, she has seen different parasites in the different regions she has practiced. Johrmy French stated the jury is still out on the relationship between the two diseases and it has yet to proven if one person has had both diseases. He stated this typhus was originally carried by rats or mice,which is a throwback to the name,and it is a worldwide description of the disease. William Rhodes agrees. Johrmti-French stated there is no local evidence that rats and mice are the chief carries which is whti,this is an issue. Dr. Barbara Whitlock stated the cat flea is a know carrier of typhus so in that sense,feral cats mould be as bad as opossums. Johnny French questioned hors many cases of rabies Corpus Christi has had. Dr. Barbara Whitlock quested if he ranted animal or human. Johnny French responded he was curious about both. He also stated opossums seldom get it but in fact can. He questioned if someone was bit by an opossums mould they get treatment for rabies. Heather Hedrick stated she is the local Rabies Control Authority and the state of Texas gives her the authority to determine which animals are quarantined. She stated according to the Department of Health and Human Seivices, opossums are not considered to be a rabies carrier and there has only been one incident of an opossum having rabies in the state of Texas. Heather Hedrick noted she does follow their guidelines and if a person was bit, she mould not quarantine the opossum or ask their physician to start them on rabies treatment. She stated that mould be a decision for that person and their doctor to make,not the city's. Johnny French accepted that answer. He also question if he had a dead animal mould Solid Waste be the entity he mould call to have it picked up or can he just put it in the trashcan. Buck Brice suggested allowing Johnny French to finish his comment and then address this question in public comments since it does not pertain to opossums. Johnny French continued with saying the list of preventable measures are not enforceable. MaryAnn Kelly questioned Dr. William Burgin if the flu is heated by one type of medication and typhus heated by another. Susan Thorpe stated public comments are for comments not questions. She also stated the staff and committee are not obligated to answer questions from the public. MaryAnn Kelly stated if the flu and a rickettsial disease, a physical is more prone to give Tami flu than to heat for typhus which presents a particular problem. She also stated she will no longer be trapping and if there is an outburst in the population she doesn't think anyone else should trap. Dr. Barbara Whitlock motions from the committee members to agree or disagree with the change in policy. Cheryl Martinez moves in support of the change in policy of Animal Control only picking up animals that are trapped in city rented traps and other animals trapped in private traps can be brought to Animal Control and will not be picked up. Heather Hedrick noted except for the 5 rabies carriers. Harold Bernet Seconds,all approve and none abstain. The committee votes to recommend to council they approve this change in city policy. 10. Animal Control Advisor` Board Tour of the Facility Danni Alcantara introduced building 1 and stated the building houses dogs under 30 pounds, dogs that are ready to be adopted and those that are on a stray hold. She also explained the shay hold times. Danni Alcantara introduces building 2 and building 3 and stated these buildings house larger dogs over 30 pounds or dogs that come in together and need more room. Dr.Barbara Whitlock did note there was a change in policy in that each dog does have they own run whereas in the past they had to share even if they were not brought in together. Danni Alcantara pointed out there were 3 buildings where the cats where being house but one has been shut dorm due to the air conditioning and ventilation system. She introduced the building where adult cats are currently being house and explained the nursery is locked to the public because the kittens are too young to adopt and there is currently no foster program available due ACS being short staffed. She noted ACS does reach out to rescues with foster programs to see if they can take the kittens. Dr.Barbara Whitlock noted the cat carriers are wonderf'ul to use because it does not promote cross contamination between the cats. Danni Alcantara noted the three compartment sink that was just installed 2 reeks prior. Danni Alcantara introduced the bite case and quarantine building and noted if there is an overflow of bite cases building 3 mould have to be shut dorm. She stated even if just 3 dogs had to be placed in building 3,the whole building mould have to be shut dorm which mean 19 kennel runs are lost. Danni Alcantara introduced the cat quarantine and states there are 6 kernel spaces. Danni Alcantara introduced the space where feral cats are houses. She stated there are 9 kernel spaces and are used for cats that are possibly feral instead of euthanizing right on intake. Damn Alcantara noted we don't know if the cat is ftuly feral or if it is just scared and gives the cat a chance for it to rearm up and possibly moved to be adopted. Danni Alcantara introduced the volunteer room and states it is currently being used to photograph the animals. She also notes other rescues can come and take photo of their animals. Danni Alcantara introduced the bay and states it will be undergoing some renovations but is currently being used by the ACO to unload and impound the animals they have caught. She stated euthanasia animals are staged here in the morning in the black cages. Dan ie Alcantara did point out the euthanasia room and stated the remodel will extend the room. She also pointed out the opossums that are waiting to be relocated. Danni Alcantara stated this is where the animals get vaccinated. She noted there is a freezer in the euthanasia room where the bodies are placed and also stated the remodel will include a walk-in freezer. Darmi Alcantara noted the vector control building and that is where they house their mosquito traps and insecticides. She also pointed out the tanks where vector control houses their chemicals and will get moved with the remodel. Darmi Alcantara stated there are 3 play areas where the animals can come out and play with potential adopters or have play groups with other dogs. 11. Public Comments Linda Smith states she is a member of United 361 Rescues and noted she was veiv close to the situation with Harriet Prince and her dog Petey, the most severe case of abuse and neglect she has seen. She has noticed the city has a horrible stray problem and mention she,herself, does rescue on a smaller basis and hies to help. Linda Smith stated the city of Odessa paid for a billboard stating they prosecute animal abuse. She stated she would like the city to have something like this and would not be a big expenditure. Linda Smith suggested if it deterred just one person from animal abuse it would be well worth the money. Dr. Barbara Whitlock questioned if she would like this issue placed on the agenda for the next meeting. Linda Smith responded yes. Dr. Barbara Whitlock noted the suggestion and stated it will be placed on the agenda for next month. 12. Identift items to be placed on next agenda Remove item 8 and item 9,keep item 7, discuss and review the possible recommendation of a billboard concerning animal cruelty, the number of days in March ACS is not taking in animals from the side gates,discussion of the by- laws, discuss,review and possible recommendation of alternate options for shutting down building 3 for quarantine, insert copy of Texas Parks and Wildlife report in fixture packets, insert the building plans in fixture packets. 13. Adjournment Cheryl Martinez motions for adjournment,Harold Bennett seconds, all approve. none oppose, and none abstain. Meeting closed 2:24 p.m.