HomeMy WebLinkAboutAnimal Services News Stats UpdatesAnimal Services News
March 19, 2014
ICE STORM ONE
• Animal Services staff were at the Emergency Operations Center both Friday and Saturday
• Pet co- location was organized in combination with a mass shelter opened by the Red Cross at
C. W. Stanford Middle School in Hillsborough
• Two cats were co- located (and a group of 5 dogs and cats were almost co- located)
• The Red Cross and many others were very appreciative
• Power and heat were lost for upwards of 24 hours at the Animal Services Center
• Major lessons include
• Renewing relations with new EM staff and others in regard to pet colocation
• Challenge of no generator generally and for mass sheltering too
RABIES
• So far in 2014 there have been 5 laboratory confirmed rabies cases (all involving raccoons)
• In 2013 and 2012, there were 12 confirmed rabies cases, and in 2011, there were 11
• Historical data generally shows that rabies ebbs and flows, i.e., that there is a cycle within the
host or reservoir species (raccoons in North Carolina)
• As can be seen from the attachments for our county and North Carolina, however, the cycle
has not been prominent in recent years
• 2014 could be an uptick in the rabies cycle or the 5 cases YTD may just be a "blip"
• No matter, the message is that a little of prevention is worth a lot of cure!!!
COUNTY NOTES
Department budget recommendation meeting with Manager is this week
• Generally, it is a continuation budget
• However, there is a request for a fourth "vet tech" FTE
• Community Giving Fund donations have become part of next year's budget
■ Specifically, for Community Spay /Neuter and Veterinary Health Care
Animal Services is now under Assistant County Manager Cheryl Young
DEPARTMENT NOTES
• Ashley Miller was selected for our new Training & Lead Animal Control Officer position
• There are 3 vacant Animal Control Officer FTEs and 1 Office Assistant vacancy
o Interviews are now being conducted for Animal Control Officers
• Ten volunteers attended the State of Animal Service session Friday, March 14
• Congratulations to everyone for making 2013 a very extraordinary year with more than 1500
adoptions and live release rate of 83 percent (see attached column)
By Bob Marotta, Animal Services Director
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Orange County unwanted pet euthanasia hits record low I Guest Co..
ChapelHillNews.com
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Commentary
http://www.chapelhiHnews.com/2014/03/11/3687804/orange-co-unty ...
Oran to ow
unwanted pet euthanasia hits
reco By Robert MarottoDrew Brinkley
March 11, 2014
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Last year Orange County Animal Services (OCAS) increased animal placements, while simultaneously
reducing intake and the number of animals euthanized. These accomplishments arose in collaboration
with partner organizations, our community, and support from our elected officials.
Pet overpopulation is a community, not a shelter, problem. We partner with other organizations to reduce
the unneeded pet reproduction that occurs upstream of our own and other community animal shelters.
To provide low -cost options for spaying /neutering, we partner with the Orange County Department of
Social Services, AnimalKind (which offers the $20 Fix), and Spay Neuter Assistance Patrol -NC. Targeting
pets that otherwise would not be sterilized is basic to the strategic plan for managing pet overpopulation
we developed with the Animal Services Advisory Board in 2010.
OCAS now pays as much attention to animal intakes as it does to adoptions and other "live releases.,, In
2013, we received 3,207 animals, the lowest total in our history. Intake was down 283 from the average for
the three preceding years, and more than 1,100 for the average from the period 2005 to 2009.
At the same time, we had a remarkable year placing animals in new homes. We adopted 1,506 animals,
our second highest total since 2005, and we set a record for monthly adoptions (193) during August's
"Back to School" special. As with other adoption events such as "Adopt a Cat Month," this one entailed
reduced adoptions fees previously approved by our county commissioners which we now apply to all
available animals during an adoption event.
Our staff and volunteers worked diligently to adopt these animals and to transfer another 310 animals to
rescue organizations for their final rehoming. They warmly welcomed guests and provided top -notch
service in the context of the state -of- the -art Animal Services Center Orange County had the foresight to
open in 2009.
As Humane Society of the United States President Wayne Pacelle observed when visiting a few years
ago, the Animal Services Center both embodies and expresses our community's commitment to animal
welfare and protection. Designed as a destination for the public, it attracts and enlivens residents and
others in marked contrast to earlier shelters, which many people actually avoided.
A dramatic reduction in the number of euthanized animals — a reduction to a historic low — is the outcome
of the combined effect of lowered intake and higher placements. If there is a general lesson from our
recent experience, it is that reducing euthanasia is neither to be attributed solely to spay and neuter nor to
efforts to boost placements and rescue homeless animals.
Staff did euthanize 847 animals by direct injection last year. But this number was a 25 percent reduction
from the previous year; and an overwhelming decrease (1,039 animals / 55 percent) from the average
1 of 3 3/19/2014 12:36 PM
Orange County unwanted pet euthanasia hits record low I Guest Co... http: / /www.chape1hillnews.coi /2014 /03/11 /3687804 /orange - county...
number of euthanized animals (1,886) for the period 2005 to 2009. Decreasing the use of euthanasia as a
means of population control is fundamental to Orange County's effort to manage pet overpopulation.
Together these factors produced a record "live release rate" of 83 percent for the year. As some animals
are simply not adoptable, this is the percentage of our placeable intakes that are adopted, transferred to
placement partners, or recovered by their owners. Last year's rate was truly remarkable for an "open
admission" shelter, not only in North Carolina, but throughout the U.S.
We are excited by and pleased to share these outcomes of Orange County's efforts to manage pet
overpopulation.
Robert A. Marotto and Drew Brinkley are the director and operations manager, respectively, of the Orange
County Animal Services Department.
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2 of 3 3/19/2014 12:36 PM