animal control.......grrr

[BlacksheepCardigans]

Animal control is a contract, like a rural postal carrier gets. In most areas the various shelters bid for it, and lowest price wins. This means that you can have everything from a fantastic shelter/impound to an absolutely awful one.

The animal control in my area is famous for hiding dogs from owners. They feel that if the dog got loose, the owner doesn't deserve to get it back. Tags, chips, nothing matters, and woe betide you if what gets through your gate is an unneutered show dog. You may eventually get the dog back, if you threaten them enough, but it'll come back without its parts. They also refuse to let dogs go into purebred rescue. They have a $4 million facility with indoor training arena and adoption counselors dressed like waitstaff at a Friday's. Every serious dog person around here absolutely hates them.

On the other hand, the ACO I work with down in CT, where we pull rescue dogs from to foster, is fantastic. She works like crazy to reunite dogs with owners and pushes for a very high adoption rate despite almost no facilities. Her pound is twelve chain kennels in the basement of a barn.

My dogs are behind welded wire panels and our dog yard doesn't even have a gate - that's how terrified I am that they might accidentally get out. There's no way for the dogs to leave except through our front door. Even so, when I hear them get quiet I'm at the window checking. I know if they got loose I'd be fighting for days or weeks to get them back.

 

[Tala]

Quote:
I don't like the animal control guy Kenny who threatened me about my chickens. I know where he lives and he has an outdoor dog that could always end up dead. Besides, chainlink gates are no match for a 4x4 truck, their impound isn't any kind of fort knox. Trust me, if they were trying to keep me from my dog, I'd get him back even if I had to go in guns a blazin to do it.

Like I said, they were perfectly willing to get him back to me after I called, but they sure didn't go out of their way to try. A little call would have made it easier. Like I said, what's the point of having tags if nobody uses them??

I once reunited a lost cat who had nothing more than a rabies tag - called the vet and gave the number on the tag, and they gave the owners my number. And a cat who has been missing for months isn't exactly easy pickins for reading it's tag number. Hawk is a happy lover dog, it couldn't be easier to get his tag. I'm just annoyed with them.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

We have no animal control here but there is a group trying to get one. I hope they fail. People here still see dogs as a commitment unlike the places that have them an turn there dogs in when they get board of them.

 

[welsummerchicks]

Actually, Animal Control's job is to pick up stray dogs, and put them to sleep if no one comes to claim them in the specified number of days. Very few Animal Controls have the budget or the staff to track down owners. And in most cases, they also do not have a charter that says it is their job to chase down owners as well as dogs.

Sometimes the function of Animal Control in a given area is done by a rescue operation that has different policies, but in most cases, Animal Control just cannot and does not, operate like how everyone is saying they do. And once again, it's putting responsibility on Someone Else. We are the ones that need to take action in this case, not Someone Else.

It's the owner's job to call Animal Control, not Animal Control's job to call owners. How do they know the owner didn't dump the dog or move out of town? How do they budget staff to make repeated calls until the owner answers the phone? How much less dog care could animal control do if their very limited staff spent several hours trying to call an owner that turns out to have dumped the dog and says, 'Go ahead, I don't want him'.

The owner needs to contact Animal Control when his animal goes missing, and ask them if they have the dog - in some cases, the owner must come in, in person, to claim the dog and pay costs, or it will be put down in the time they specify. When one lives in an area it's best to know the local dog laws and how animal control works in that area, but in general, this is the policy - it's the owner's job to call and come in, not AC's to find them.

I would be frantic if my animal was lost, and I sympathize with the emotions involved - very very much, all sorts of thoughts go racing through a person's mind as they tear around trying to find their dog. But...Animal Control works how it works, I don't think anyone here is doing any dog owner a service by pretending they will track down owners - CALL THEM IMMEDIATELY, and if they are not sure a dog is yours (your collar could be long gone, or put on another dog), go in and look at the dogs.

Get to know how things work in your area and as much as is humanly possible, try not to let your dog get loose - accidents happen, but try to minimize it as much as possible. Neutering dogs, training them, repairing fences, microchips or tatoos, keeping the dog indoors, we all do what we can.

 

[natrgatr]

Quote:
OH PLEASE! Unless you are in somewhere like New York City, where they might legitimately be swamped by the number of loose animals , it only takes a minute to call and leave a message. If they have the time to pick up your pet, they probably have time to make a quick call (once) to leave a message. Every responsible pet owner tries to keep their dog safe, but occasionally the unexpected happens and a dog or cat gets out. Why microchip or tag your dog if nobody is going to pay attention? They could even save the time to travel back to the shelter, and the money to care for the animal, if they try a quick phone call if the owner is close. The owner would still get a small fine, but time and money would be saved all around.

Also, why pick up a dog from the front porch unless they know the dog was wandering the neighborhood? I have neighbors with invisible fences that extend to the front yard. Of course, that's legal here, but probably not legal in many places.

 

[Camelot Farms]

I agree NatrGatr. Our shelter makes serious money off of that one phone call.
When the owner comes to get Fido or Fluffy, they better have a check in hand for 50$
If you dont have the money right then, you can pay a kennel fee by the day until you do.

I think that most experienced AC workers know the difference between a pet and a stray in most situations.

And in our area, if they call you because the microchip leads back to you and you say 'keep it, I dont want it', you better be prepared for some hefty fines and charges.
Animal Control isnt a recycling center for unwanted pets.

 

[OSUman]

If the animal contro officers call you and you say "keep it I dont want it" they could fine you because dumping animals is illegal. Also why would someone A) leave a collar on or B) Microchip a dog that they are going to dump?

 

[GoneHomeGrown2]

I briefly worked as an Animal Control Officer for county. Every agency and jurisdiction is different. As someone already mentioned, some areas contract out to animal welfare groups in part or whole (Humane Society, ASPCA, etc.) This can be limited to a contract in which the officer brings all of the animals into one of their shelters to the officers themselves work for the organization and not the city, town, county, etc. The agenda for every one of these circumstances varies by responsibility and the contract. In my case, it was dependant on where I was in the county when I picked up an animal. In one part of the county, we had a contract to drop the animal off at the Humane Society, while the other part of the county was a city pound that we were contracted with. I know that one of the city agencies in the area has a contract with a local vet to impound the dogs. In either case, determiniung ownership plays a big part in the processing/handling of the animal. A stray must be held for so long to allow an owner to come claim it. An identified dog has to held for so long before it can be placed up for adoption, or the unfortunate side destroyed. ALL dogs and cats were scanned for microchips immediatley to attempt to identify the owner. Now, the immediate case load would often determine how soon an attempt was made to contact an owner. If I am dropping an animal off and get another call that is even slightly urgent, I will have to keep the information written down and attempt owner contact later that day or the following.

Most areas have shifted to an educational focus. Attempts are made to help animal owners understand the reasoning behind laws and ordinances as well as animal welfare/safety. A lot of times a little guidance can go a long way. The owner may bestruggling with figuring out how the dog is getting out an officer may see somehting that assists, therefore getting no more reports on the dog and not having to catch him over and over. Identifing animal ownership allows an officer find out if the person may need a little guidance, if may have been one of those unusual circumstances that led to the animal getting out, or if the owner is a repeat offender that may need to be dealt with a bit more strictly to understand the consequences of a disregard for the ordinances/laws.

 

[Tala]

Maybe they didn't call ON PURPOSE because they were about to close. Maybe they were trying to milk an overnight kennel fee out of me?
I sure wouldn't put it past them