Animal control & rescue
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1994:
China Daily said October 18 that
Beijing dog licensing fees are to be set at
about $700 per year, triple the average
income of city residents; dogs will be
allowed outside only at night, on leashes;
excrement must be promptly removed; and
dogs will be banned from public places. The
12 million Beijing dwellers now keep about
190,000 dogs, who bit 21,117 people during
the first six months of this year. Since 1988,
89 Beijing residents have died of rabies con-
tracted via dog bites, sparking several dog
extermination drives. Rabies vaccination is
rare in China due to chronic vaccine scarcity.
Manhattan and Brooklyn mem-
bers of the New York City Council c l a i m
the Center for Animal Care and Control the
city is setting up to take over pound duties
from the American SPCA is insufficiently
accountable to the public––the same com-
plaint long voiced about the ASPCA, which
will return animal control duties to the city
on January 1. The CACC was funded by
New York City beginning in September.
Board members include health commissioner
Margaret Hamburg, sanitation commissioner
John Dougherty, deputy police commission-
er Walter Alicea, veterinarian Jane Bicks,
and one person yet to be named.
Executive director Kathy
Savesky of the Peninsula Humane Society
in San Mateo, California, announced
September 16 that euthanasias fell 16.5% in
fiscal year 1994, the second straight steep
drop since San Mateo County adopted a con-
troversial breeding control ordinance in
March 1992. Shelter intakes are down from
14,925 to 12,037 over the same period.
The San Francisco SPCA
neutered a record 6,490 animals in fiscal
1994, including 1,379 done for free during a
special campaign in May, June, and July.
Continuing to introduce innovative programs,
the SFSPCA in August opened a “Doggy
Daycare” center. At $20-$25/day, it isn’t for
everyone, but is expected to attract dog own-
ers from downtown, where professionals’
hourly fees run in the hundreds of dollars.
The Greenhill Humane Society of
Eugene, Oregon, adopted out a shelter
record 1,662 animals by September.
Executive director Mert Davis credited his
staff, local media, and promotional help
from PetsMart and the Petsavers Foundation
division of the North Shore Animal League.
Greenhill Humane claims 98%-plus compli-
ance with its neutering requirement, and has
cut shelter intakes from 9,389 to 3,181 since
1984. About 10% of the intakes arrive
through two municipal sheltering contracts.
The Los Angeles SPCA will save
$21,000 over the next fiscal year, says exec-
utive director Madeleine Bernstein, by using
donated warehouse space to store food dona-
tions as part of a disaster preparedness plan.
Illinois has added the offense of
aggravated cruelty to its cruelty law.
Common cruelty is punishable by 30 days in
jail and a fine of $500; aggravated cruelty
may bring a year in jail and fine of $1,000.
The Los Angeles Animal
Regulation Commission voted 3-2 on
September 12 to refuse an offer of $50,000
for 20,000 cat carcasses per year, issued
by Sargeant’s Wholesale Biologicals, of
Auburn, California. The carcasses, now
hauled to rendering plants, would have been
used for laboratory dissection. Plan foe
Michael Bell of the Wildlife Protection
League said his group would help the city
shelters raise equal funding by other means.
“No statutory scheme exists to
increase the fee for sale of dogs to research
f a c i l i t i e s , “ Ohio assistant attorney general
Marianne Neal opined in early October.
Thus Summit County is acting illegally in
selling dogs to laboratories at $30 apiece,
and may have illegally collected almost
$16,000 since the current fee was set in late
1991. The state-set price is $3. “Under the
Summit County fee structure,” Neal wrote,
“it is more lucrative for the county to sell a
dog to a research institution than to place the
dog with a new owner.” Neal ruled in
response to a complaint by Springfield attor-
ney Shawn Thomas.
Opened in leased space in 1991,
the Animal Refuge Center no-kill shelter of
Fort Myers, Florida, may have to close on
November 30 because the lease is expiring
and the landlord has other plans for the prop-
erty. Begun as a fostering group in 1988,
ARC paid $750/month in rent and utilities,
housing about 30 dogs and 45 cats at a time,
adopting out 3-4 dogs and 4-6 cats a week.
Volunteer Karen Donnelly asks anyone who
knows of space ARC might use to call her at
813-574-5976 or 813-936-2727.
A case/control study of dogbites
published in P e d i a t r i c s 93.6 (June 1994)
identifies as the leading risk factors large
size, lack of neutering, male sex, and being
chained for prolonged periods of time.
Berea, Ohio, is weighing an
Animal Rescue Fund plan to build a pri-
vately financed, 3,000-square-foot shelter at
the old city sewage treatment plant, at esti-
mated cost of $200,000.
Legislation In Support of
A n i m a l s on October 1 filed cruelty charges
against St. Charles Parish (Louisiana) dog-
catcher Linda Bourgeious for failing to seek
prompt treatment for a dog who died at the
parish pound a day after being hit by a car.
The Humane Society of
Harrisburg Area, Pennsylvnaia, h a s
closed its 10-yeaold shelter in Chambersburg
because of an accumulated debt of $225,000.
The shelter handled about 1,500 animals a
year, with an adoption rate of 40%.
The 1994 edition of An Animal
Control Officer’s Guide to Minnesota
Animal Control Laws is now available for
$10, c/o the Minnesota Animal Control
Association, 13416 Xerxes Ave. South,
Burnsville, MN 55337.
In four years on the city council
of Glens Falls, New York, says Kay
Saunders, she’s heard more complaints about
dog feces than anything else. Responding to
dog attacks on children, Glens Falls recently
imposed a leash law; Sanders now seeks a
“pooper scooper” law as well.
