HomeMy WebLinkAboutASAB minutes 091819Orange County Animal Services
1601 Eubanks Road, Chapel Hill, NC 27516
919-942-PETS (7387)
ANIMAL SERVICES ADVISORY BOARD (ASAB)
6:30 to 8:00 p.m.
Wednesday, September 18, 2019
Meeting Summary
MEMBERS PRESENT: Maureane Hoffman (Chair), Molly Mullin (Vice-Chair), Evelyn
Daniel, Lee Pickett, Amanda Schwoerke (Secretary), Edmund Tiryakian, Lucia Welborne
MEMBERS ABSENT: Casey Ferrell, Beth Grooms, Diane Obeid, Bryan Stuart, Lisa Wells
STAFF PRESENT: Bob Marotto (Animal Services Director), Rachel Plast (Administrative
Assistant)
Call to order: 6:34 p.m.
Review and adoption of the Agenda: approved, after adding an additional agenda item (Rabies
and Lyme Disease in Orange County)
Summary of August 2019 meeting: approved
Review of public participation guidelines: Not reviewed
General Public Comments on items not on agenda: None
Animal Services Advisory Board Updates:
Old Business
Succession Planning for ASAB representative to the Animal Services Hearing Panel
Pool
o Evelyn Daniel and Casey Ferrell went to the latest appeal hearing. Evelyn spoke
about her experience.
o Briefly discussed possible changes that panel chairs might make in running
hearings in light of Evelyn’s experience
o Continued to talk about possible panel chairs
ASAB Recruitment
o Lee Pickett was appointed by the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) to
serve out Susan Elmore’s term as the ASAB representative to the Orange County
Board of Health
o However, that vacates Lee’s position on the ASAB as a community veterinarian
o The hearing panel pool also has a vacancy for a veterinarian, so there will be joint
recruitment for the positions
o Members discussed possible candidates
Progress Report of the Wild and Dangerous Animal Task Force
o Bryan Stuart (task force chair) prepared a summary of the Task Force’s current
work and future plans, which was distributed to the ASAB members in his
absence. See Attached.
Procedural Note on ASAB Task Forces
o Bob Marotto explained that if an ASAB task force has a majority of ASAB
members on it, then the same procedural rules apply to the task force as to the
ASAB as a whole.
o This means that such Task Force meeting must be noticed, open to the public, and
minutes must be published.
New Business
Veterinary Practices Act
o Lee Pickett summarized the Act
o Bob Marotto and others discussed the impact of the Act on Animal Services’
programs
o ASAB members agreed that they would like to see repealed the prohibitions on
shelters providing low-cost spay/neuter and similar services
o Members also discussed the procedural routes for seeking repeal
o The Board agreed on the following next steps:
Read the new model Veterinary Practices Act promulgated by the
American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) to compare to North
Carolina’s Act
Find out what other states do for comparison
Animal Services, Lee Pickett, and Amanda Schwoerke are to
research this issue and report at the next ASAB meeting
Make an inventory of the Act’s negative impacts on Animal Service’s
work to present to the BOCC to demonstrate why changing the law is in
the County’s interest
Begin introducing the issue to the BOCC and the County Manager
Rabies & Lyme Disease in Orange County
o Ed Tiryakian presented on his view that the public health approach to Rabies is
seriously flawed since Rabies purportedly has been virtually eradicated as a threat
to humans in the U.S. Ed’s objection centered around what he considers the
unnecessary euthanasia of numerous animals for testing purposes, etc.
o Ed provided data on Rabies, as well as comparison data to other diseases and
causes of mortality
o Ed argued that public health authorities should be moving their focus to diseases
transmitted from mosquito, tick, and flea bites—whereas we are, in fact, killing
the fauna that feeds on these insects
o ASAB members discussed Ed’s presentation, and asked questions
o Ed’s immediate suggestions included:
Orange County should publish the number of animals testing negative for
Rabies (currently the County only publishes data on animals testing
positive)
The County should publish the incidences of Lyme Disease
The County should publish what it’s trying to do to eradicate Rabies
Animal Services Updates
Dog-Fighting Case
o The State came to a rest in the dog-fighting trial
Upcoming Events
o 15th Annual Dog Swim (Sept. 22, 12-3 p.m. @ Heritage Hills Pool)
o Low-Cost Rabies Vaccination & Microchip clinics (Sept. 26, 5-7 p.m. @ Eno
River Farmer’s Market, and Sept. 28, 1-4 p.m. @ Efland-Cheeks Community
Park; Oct. 24, 5-7 p.m. @ Eno River Farmer’s Market)
o October is Dog Adoption Month: all dogs and puppies will be nearly half price for
the entire month
Grants
o Animal Services received another grant from the Margaret T. Petrie Spaying &
Neutering Foundation to help residents with a higher income (up to 400% of the
Federal Poverty Guidelines) spay and neuter their pets
o Animal Services also received a $40,000 grant from PetCo for its barn-cat
program (a central part of its free-roaming cat strategic plan)
Community Spay-Neuter Program
o Bob Marotto provided updates on this year’s numbers.
o Two grant applications submitted by Animal Services are currently under
consideration.
o Animal Services is working to obtain sufficient surgical capacity for barn-cat
sterilization.
Shelter Statistics
o Bob Marotto presented on the August sheltering statistics, which were extremely
encouraging
Adjournment and next meeting:
The meeting was adjourned at 8:37 p.m. The next meeting is October 16, 2019, at 6:30
p.m., Orange County Animal Services Center.
Attachment: Progress Report of the Wild and Dangerous Animal Task Force