Hats off ... to County Animal Initiatives

In FY95-96, Orange County, Fla. Animal Services received more than 31,000 complaints and issued more than 400 citations to pet owners for civil infractions. In issuing the citations, animal services staff found that most pet owners claimed ignorance of the pet regulations that affect them and their pets. To address this lack of knowledge and stop the cycle of pet owners becoming repeat offenders, the Responsible Pet Education Class was developed.

The class seeks to educate citizens on pet welfare, responsible pet ownership, services available from animal services, and regulations pertaining to pet ownership. The class is offered to citation offenders to correct unwanted behavior. Fines are waived in exchange for attending the class.

The four-hour interactive class is casually structured and encompasses lectures, discussion and videos. Various aspects of the animal control profession, pet overpopulation and responsible pet ownership are discussed. At the end of the session, the pet owner receives a certificate of completion.

To date, the program has been quite successful. From May 1996 to January 1997, 11 classes were held, educating 93 pet owners. Of these 93 citation offenders, only four were issued subsequent citations for violations.

The class has provided the department with a way to educate citizens at no cost to the county, as the class is taught by current animal services employees as a part of their jobs. The class has become a major educational and public relations tool for the animal services department, because it provides an opportunity to portray a different image of this profession, helping to change the citizens' impressions of the department.

Controlling a wild cat population
In the early 1900s, the City of Miami Beach, Dade County, Fla. imported cats to address a serious rat problem on the island shipping port. The imported cats were set free, and left to their own devices, quickly controlling the rat problem. Since then, when a small number of cats were placed on the island, the feral (wild) cat population has steadily increased. It now, numbers in the thousands.

In 1995 city officials became concerned about citizens' and business complaints involving the high number of cats roaming free. The officials decided they had to act. Their initial plan was to hire a trapper to capture and destroy the animals. After this proposal met with very vocal opposition from local and national animal organizations, city officials agreed to search for a more humane option.

Recognizing the seriousness of this problem, the Metropolitan Dade County Division of Animal Care and Control wanted to be a part of the solution. Because the Code of Metropolitan Dade County does not prohibit cats from running at large, no enforcement action to capture stray cats could legally be taken by the division. As a result, it was determined that an intergovernmental effort would be needed to address the problem.

The division contacted and held meetings with citizens, city officials and animal welfare organizations. All agreed to work together to address this problem. As a result of this cooperation, a sterilization, vaccination and stabilization plan was developed and implemented in August 1995.

The plan consisted of humanely trapping the cats and bringing them to the county's Mobile Animal Care (MAC) unit for sterilization and vaccination services. The MAC provided the mobile veterinary staff and the sophisticated medical equipment necessary to conduct high-quality outpatient surgery.

The City of Miami Beach provided space along the Miami Beach Boardwalk, where the majority of the cats live, and agreed to pay the Animal Care and Control Division standard, low-cost sterilization fees of $10 for each male cat sterilized and $25 for each female cat sterilized.

The program was very successful. Between August 1995 and November 1996, 499 cats were spayed or neutered and vaccinated. Residents and businesses who complained about the feral cats saw tangible results and the start of effective population control. The program was spotlighted by local media and national animal welfare organizations.

Maricopa County promotes animal adoption
Maricopa County's (Ariz.) Rabies/Animal Control (RAC) Department was facing the same problem experienced by many animal control departments nationwide - the all-too-common problem of the needless euthanasia of unwanted animals. In an effort to decrease the number of euthanized animals, a comprehensive animal adoption advertising campaign was developed.

The primary objective? To decrease the shelter animal euthanasia rate by increasing the shelter adoption rate. The campaign also had three secondary objectives: increase and promote responsible pet ownership, increase the adoption program volunteer base and increase the number of responsible pet ownership community education presentations.

In order to achieve the primary objective, RAC decided to focus on the groups most likely to adopt an animal or have an influence in choosing to adopt a pet. It was determined that these groups were the Hispanic community, parents, families, children, senior citizens and women.

To target these groups, several media formats were chosen. Public service announcements were aired on two major radio stations, one of which, KIDRadio, provides all-family formatting. Advertisements and articles were run in three local publications, Arizona Parenting, Arizona Pennysaver and Cambio! (a Spanish magazine). In addition, outdoor billboards and bus posters advertising the campaign were utilized.

The program was very successful in meeting its objectives. The number of animal adoptions increased by 828, which represents a revenue increase of $37,000. Euthanasias decreased by 1,078 during the campaign months, which resulted in a savings of approximately $6,500. RAC recruited 45 new volunteers who donated 3,000 hours of service, reducing staff costs by approximately $19,000. Twenty-eight community and school presentations, reaching more than 1,000 residents, were requested and given as a direct result of the campaign.

(Programs described in Hats off columns are 1997 NACo Achievement Award winners. For more information on these programs, contact the NACo Research Department at 202/393-6226.)

(Hats off was compiled by Peggy Beardslee, research assistant.)