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Animal Services News
March 18, 2015
HIGHLIGHTS
• For 2014, animal intakes (2939) and animals euthanized (760) were the lowest ever and the
live release rate (85%) was the highest ever.
• Year-to-date there have been 3 laboratory confirmed rabies cases—2 raccoons and 1 bat.
• Pet colocation was available at the mass shelter opened for the public in the southern part of
the county as part of one of the inclement weather events in late February.
• Development of web-based lost and found resources has been completed with the creation of
a real time Twitter feed for incoming animals.
• An article about our web-based lost and found resources appeared in the Chapel Hill News and
an article about sheltering successes appeared in the News of Orange.
MANAGING FREE -ROAMING CATS REPORT
• Finalized and posted on the Animal Services website on both the resources page
(http://orangecountync.gov/AnimalServices/info.asp ) and on the advisory board page under
committees (http://orangecountync.gov/animalservices/FRC.asp).
• Provided to the Board of County Commissioners as an information item attachment for its
March 17, 2015 regular meeting.
• Currently being shared with professional peers North Carolina and beyond with a request for
useful feedback and resources.
UNIFIED ANIMAL ORDINANCE
• Finalized version prepared and shared with partners in the towns of Chapel Hill and Carrboro.
• Scheduled as an agenda item at the April 7, 2015 meeting of the town of Carrboro Board of
Alderman.
• Scheduled as an agenda item at the April 27, 2015 meeting of the town of Chapel Hill Council
meeting (unless approved as a consent item at Council’s April 13, 2015 meeting).
• Town meetings will be attended by the Animal Services Advisory Board Chair, Vice-Chair and
town representative to the board as well as Animal Services Director and Staff Attorney.
• Separate consideration of the new animal recovery fees tabled as a result of the process that
is underway for adopting a unified county animal ordinance.
SPAY/NEUTER DAY 2015
• SNAP-NC came out as did the owners of 10 of the more than 20 scheduled dogs and cats,
despite the inclement weather.
• The Board of County Commissioners retroactively adopted a resolution declaring February 24,
2015 Spay/Neuter Day in Orange County at its March 3, 2015 meeting (and needed to do so
since its February 17, 2015 meeting was cancelled due to inclement weather).
Animal Services Update
March 18, 2015
Page 2
• Commissioners and their clerk, the manager and the county attorney all received a
spay/neuter t-shirt as a token of appreciation for their support of a progressive approach to
managing pet overpopulation.
• The mayors and town managers of Hillsborough, Chapel Hill and Carrboro also received a
spay/neuter t-shirt and a copy of the BOCC resolution with a note from staff.
SPRING WILDLIFE REFRESHER TRAINING
• Several wildlife training sessions are being offered in March in preparation for the information
and service requests that attend the spring birth of many birds and wild animals.
• CLAWS provided two training sessions
o Handling, receiving and transporting wild animals when other options are absent
o Answers to common wildlife questions how to refer callers to wildlife rehabilitators for
challenging questions.
• A third training sessions (Bears and Coyotes, Oh My) is being taught by North Carolina Wildlife
Resources Commission staff.
• A valuable reference for wildlife questions in which there are not concerns with rabies and
public health is the Animal Services Wildlife webpage
(http://orangecountync.gov/AnimalServices/Wildlife.asp)
Prepared by Bob Marotto,
Animal Services Director