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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Animal Care Advisory Committee - 02/19/2015 MINUTES OF THE CITY OF CORPUS CHRISTI ANIMAL CARE ADVISORY MEETING Nueces County Public Health District Conference Room,2626 Holly The Minutes for February 19,2015 Members Present: Dr. Barbara Whitlock, Cheryl Martinez,Mark Phillips, Samantha Person Members Absent: Laina Schonefeld,Megan Winn,Harold Bennett City Staff: Danni Alcantara,Edward Cruz,Jaydra Villagran,Joseph Brice, Steven Bly Guests: Christina Davis,Kayla Canales,Angela Powell,Jarvis Amaya,Melissa Rizzo, Cheryl Hartzendorf,Joy Zamora,Karen Cowan, Brenda King,Michelle Rodriguez, Delores Sanchez 1. Call to Order: The meeting was called to order by Dr. Barbara Whitlock at 12:30 P.M. 2. Discussion and Approval of Minutes from January 15,2015 ACAC Meeting held on January 15,2015- Cheryl Martinez moved to approve the January 15,2015 meeting minutes,Mark Phillips seconds. 3. Discussion and Approval of Absences from January 15,2014 Table till next month. 4. Discussion of Current Texas Department of State Health Services Region 11 Zoonosis Report Dr. Barbara Whitlock informed the committee the Zoonosis Report was attached for viewing.A general discussion was held on the Zoonosis report.No further questions or discussion. 5. Discussion of Texas Parks and Wildlife Report Dr. Barbara Whitlock states 60 opossums were captured 58 released,4 raccoon,4 released, 1 bat. 0 released, 1 squirrel, 0 released.No further question or discussion. 6. Discussion of Current Shelter Report Danni Alcantara states adoption numbers went up compared to last year, foster numbers went down compared to last year,rescue numbers went up compared to last year and bite case numbers went down compared to last year.A general discussion was held on the Shelter Report.No further questions or discussions. 7. Discussion of the Current and Previous Clinic Report Dr. Barbara Whitlock states Surgery numbers are 204 for 2015.No further questions or discussions. 8. Discussion of the Status of Rachael Ray Grant Funds Steven Bly states currently 135 surgeries have been completed.Another 100 are scheduled for this upcoming week. Some are done in house by Dr. Draper and Dr.Vilinski is participating. In the next couple of weeks we are trying to schedule for Dr. Miller and Dr. King.No further questions or discussions. 9. Discussion of items voted previously,i.e. Tethering Ordinance and Pet Data Information Cheryl Martinez wants on the record that if the city managers or manger are not going to send this up to council then we can get it on the agenda by either getting the mayor to put it on the agenda or getting 5 city councils members to put it on the agenda. So we do have a group Texas Humane Legislation Network from Dallas and they are willing to fly in and talk to the council to get tethering on the council agenda. Cheryl states, "I'm sorry but I don't feel just because they do not have fences they need to be tied up 24/7. Something needs to be done on this because why are we here passing ordinances and making recommendations if they are not moving forward. Everyone is busy and for all of us to be here we are trying to make a difference here and these things are not being done. The only ones suffering are the animals." General discussion on the status of Tethering Ordinance was further discussed. General discussion on Pet Data was discussed and tabled to the end of the year.No further questions or discussions. 10. Discussion of Target TNR General discussion of an overview of Targeted TNR in residential areas and ownership of community cats. Joy Zamora 13918 Sea Anchor St. Corpus Christi TX 78418 "There are currently some people doing it. Is that illegal to bring them in or are you considering them to be the owner of that cat. By bringing them in getting them fix are you considered a criminal for bringing them in and fixing with you own money." Edward Cruz states"no you are not considered a criminal just considered an owner of the cat if you go over the limit." Cheryl Hartzendorf 3918 Castle Corpus Christi TX 78410 "In terms of the capture release program and a cat colony manager so to say would be two different things. Then have the catch and release program were you take and fix and mark on ear and release somewhere near they live, somehow they are the owners." Edward Cruz states"so you have 30,000 stray cats that have been vetted for surgery but are not current on rabies vaccinations. So now we have 30,0000 potential vectors for rabies that I can't hold anyone responsible for because they are community cats. So if anybody gets scratched and gets rabies who would I hold responsible for that?" Kayla Canales 3650 Fairchild Corpus Christi TX 78405 "In my opinion you're in the same predicament now. You have feral cats running around all over the The place and who is going to be held responsible if a kid gets scratch,bit,whatever right now as we speak? It's going to be the same situation either way. Most of the time the outcome is the same if a dog bites somebody. Most of the time the dog gets euthanized. There is no difference whether there is an owner or not. The outcome is still going to be the same. I mean you're in the same situation now and you don't have anyone Responsible for the cat if the cat scratches someone." Samantha Person states"if they were TNR they would have one rabies vaccination vs. none . Brenda King 8218 Esla Court Corpus Christi, TX 78414 "Is there a way when they bring them in TNR to put it under community cat?Maybe have that person's name so they know if the cat scratches somebody that it's a community cat. It doesn't belong to anybody. It's a community cat and that person is not held responsible." Dr. Barbara Whitlock states"that would be what we are trying to work out. Yes,because right now there are no provisions in the municipal code for anything like that. We are trying to work this out and that's the sticking point we have to get passed. Who is responsible after the allowed 6." Dan McQueen 1102 Leopard Corpus Christi,TX "Is there something that perpetrated the scenario where we're looking for a definition of community cat to a residential area or anything else?Did we find we are under a legal obligation if we stop that?What led us to this direction?" Dr. Barbara Whitlock stated"as far as I know there has been no legal action towards anyone for having more than 6 cats spayed or neuter but we think the city should deal with this because there is a huge feral cat problem". Dan states"but at this point in time I know we were gathering a lot of animals and we were spaying and neutering them but did we stop that process by going block by block capture and release? Whitlock stated"we have through the last few years had targeted spay and neuter campaigns but they are small compared to what we need to do." Dan states"so that's the reason why we are searching for the definition of the community cat. To me legally define who the community is at that point in time and have 5 people who are listed as community asset cat. So that's the wrong direction for me as opposed to the current direction and just expand and fight the legation when we get there with the individual that claims that was their cat". Whitlock states"that would be one way of doing it. There are people that are having cats neutered and vaccinated way past their 6 limits. So what we want to do is have the city acknowledge this problem and come up with a solution were these people are not acting against municipal code." Christina Davis 659 County Road 226 Orange Grove, TX "I think we're not talking about what the feral population that has to do with the ecosystem. Cities that target you know we are going to put 6 cats in a house and put down the rest because they don't have owners. It affects the ecosystem of that city. These feral colonies take care of a whole other population throughout the city. So I think we need to address the feral cat population more as we deal with skunks,raccoons and bats because they are part of that ecosystem and we need them and trapping them and putting them down will only hurt us in other hurt us in other ways.". Dr. Barbara Whitlock states there is some discussions whether euthanizing stray cats is actually affective whether you can ever euthanize enough to make a difference." Michelle Rodriguez 1934 Sunny Crest Corpus Christi, TX 78418 "Why doesn't the city worry about people that have pets that don't spay/neuter"? Dr. Barbara Whitlock states "that is off the subject but city has no municipal code that your animal has to be spay/neutered only if your cat goes outside it has to be spay/neutered." 11. Discussion and recommendation of Impounding Ordinance General discussion of impounding puppies and kittens being sold on the streets and paying the impound fees. 12. Discussion and recommendation of City Screening Policy for Adopting Animals General discussion on educating adopters about heartworm prevention during adoption process. Angela Powell 1709 Amazon Dr. Corpus Christi,TX "While looking at the application of agreement something else you might want to consider is asking where an animal is going to ride and the answer is on the back of my pickup truck then they need to be educated." Dan McQueen 1109 Leopard St. Corpus Christi, TX "I commend your efforts and I believe that you're doing due diligence to try to teach any pet owner their responsibility. It's going to be hard to legislate all of this and get a puppy adopted and my opinion is its going to be the pet owners responsibility and the paramount issue that we don't have enough adoptions occurring anyway. We see opportunities to do this.Any level of education is good but we need to expand the education process across the city and not just to the adopters." 13. Discussion of 5010 Organizations Compliance with MOU General discussion of rescues being in compliance and current on everything. Angela Powell 1701 Amazon Dr. Corpus Christi,TX "2"d page item 43 first sentences say"PPO's are not limited in the number of unaltered animals placed with them. However each animal will be assigned a date by which it must be altered">Right now For the Love of Strays is having a problem getting back in to get altered. We been sending emails for the last few weeks no feedback and still waiting on three or four to get fixed right now."Danni Alcantara states"the animals you are inquiring about and I had spoken with the clinic and they did say because we are in the middle of Rachel Ray surgeries that is tying up their time." 14. Discussion of recent changes in the City Registration Fees Steven Bly states the licensing fees is$6 for a 1 year vaccine and$12 for a 3 year vaccine and the tag replacement is$6 instead of$8. Cheryl Martinez states no change whether they are spayed or neuter? Steven states no as long as they are in compliance. Cheryl states let the record show I have a very big problem with this because I feel if you have an animal unaltered in the city of Corpus Christi then you should have a higher licensing fee. Further general discussion on City Registration fees was discussed. 15. Public Comments Joy Zamora 13918 Sea Anchor St. Corpus Christi TX 78418 "Owner surrenders are they put on a list not to adopt?" Dr. Barbara Whitlock states they are not. Kayla Canales 3650 Fairchild Corpus Christi TX 78405 "So going back to the tethering, so basically dogs are allowed to be tethered?" Edward Cruz states-"tether properly 3 ways, 1. Short period of time not through the hours of 10 p.m.-6 a.m. you can have them tied to one object no longer than 3 hours, all day if you have them tied up then we enforce the tethering ordinance and if not then we educate the person on what a trolley system is and try to get them in compliance and if they refuse to do that then we'll move forward with enforcement." Kayla states"if a call is made on a specific violator and they continue what can be done?" Edward Cruz states"every day they are not in compliance they can be cited each day?" Dan McQueen 1102 Leopard St. Corpus Christi, TX "What concerns me is that we have passed ordinances that have not crossed this board. Is that a correct statement?" Dr. Barbara Whitlock states"this board has made recommendations for changes in ordinances that have not gone to the city." Dan states"I understand. I recently read the city release Jan 20`h signed ordinance and I didn't see anything concerning the topics that were talked about. If somebody is utilizing a vehicle or anything in the use of illegal activity selling animals can we impound the truck?We need to address that and it all comes into the legislation or a code,the ability to pass through the process and I'm curious right now because you guys are telling me that we have not achieved several of the goals that you set forward for years. What is the reason for that?" Dr. Barbara Whitlock states"our lawyer says I can't respond because it's not a factual statement. You know there are open meeting laws in Texas that are very strict." 16. Identify items to be placed on next agenda Discussion of items voted previously,i.e. Tethering Ordinance, discussion and presentation of Target TNR 17. Adjournment Cheryl Martinez moves to adjourn at 2:12 p.m., Samantha Person seconds, all approve,none oppose and none abstain.