Animal control & rescue

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1996:

No-kills
The International Fund for
Animal Welfare in an April mailing asserted
that it needs “to raise over $10,000 each month
to continue providing vital support to local
shelters worldwide who cannot exist on their
own.” IFAW is well-known for many programs,
but assisting animal shelters isn’t even
mentioned as a program activity on the IFAW
filings of IRS Form 990. “During 1994 and
1995, IFAW contributed approximately
$190,000 to some 40 animal protection groups
with a no-kill policy,” IFAW director of field
activities Paul Seigal told ANIMAL PEOPLE
on April 12. “We are now selecting the
spring 1996 recipients, who will share
$200,000.” Among the 1994-1995 recipients
were shelters in Australia, Canada, France,
Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, the United
Kingdom, the U.S., and South Africa.

Neighbors Brian and Anita
Matheson and Mike Milas on March 18 sued
the Pets In Need animal shelter in Ringwood,
Illinois, seeking $100,000 in damages because
barking dogs allegedly “interfere with the
plaintiffs’ quiet enjoyment of their home” and
the shelter operates in violation of a zoning
ban on the operation of an “obnoxious trade.”
The shelter was target of an anti-barking ordinance
adopted by the Ringwood council on
February 19, two months after McHenry
County circuit judge Gerald Zopp o v e r r u l e d
previous attempts to close the shelter for zoning
violations. In separate incidents after the
ruling, shelter operators Pat and Rudy Klimo
found a dog and a goat hanged in their yard.
The Klimos have been battling unhappy shelter
neighbors for more than two years. The
Matheson and Milas homes had not yet been
built when Pets In Need opened.
The Buddy Foundation, of
Arlington Heights, Illinois, recently completed
a year of operation with 30 volunteers, 120
paying members, and a mailing list of 400.
The young foundation, still without a shelter,
placed about 100 animals in homes.
On the beat
As expected, the County Council
in Montgomery County, Maryland, h a s
abolished the Department of Animal Control
and Humane Treatment, making animal control
a branch of the police department, over
the opposition of staff and others concerned
that the consolidation will limit the budget and
authority of animal control and humane officers.
The Department of Animal Control and
Humane Treatment was targeted by fiscal conservatives
eager to ax a visible symbol of
bureaucracy, due in part to lingering bitterness
over tough breeding control regulations adopted
in 1992.
The Humane Society of Sonoma
County on March 15 won a 39-month contract
to continue managing the city animal shelter in
Petaluma, California. HSSC had run the shelter
from 1989 into 1995, but lost the contract
to a lower bidder, Thunder and Lightning’s
Cause, in August 1995. Four months later,
however, the Petaluma city council suspended
the TLC contract during a police probe of
alleged mismanagement, and brought HSSC
back on an interim basis. Although no charges
were filed, the city council cancelled the TLC
contract in January.
“Indiana is considering the institution
of a uniform animal bite report format
for all agencies that take bite reports and conduct
animal bite investigations,” reports Fort
Wayne Animal Care and Control director
Belinda Lewis. “The state committee is made
up of representatives from the I n d i a n a
Association for Animal Control, t h e
Indiana Board of Health, and the I n d i a n a
Board of Animal Health.” Standardizing the
report format is expected to produce better bite
statistics, leading to better bite prevention.
Schering-Plough Animal Health,
marketer of the heavily touted HomeAgain
microchip pet ID system, annnounced April 3
that its microchip maker, Destron-Fearing,
has produced a scanner able to not only detect
but read all pet ID chips sold in the U.S.
Laws
Arizona governor Fife Symington
on April 5 signed into law a bill upgrading cruelty
to animals to a Class 1 misdemeanor, and
increasing the maximum fine for harming a
trained service animal to $150,000. The new
law was inspired by the poisoning of M o o s e,
service dog of paraplegic Peggy Thomas,
whose training by Canine Companions for
L i v i n g cost an estimated $10,000. Neighbor
Beebee Mouton, who said she set out
antifreeze to kill ants, will stand trial under the
old law, facing a maximum penalty of eight
months in jail, a fine of $1,500, and four
years on probation. Thomas is now aided by a
CCL-trained golden retriever named Van.
The Pennsylvania state senate o n
March 25 unanimously passed a bill to oblige
pet sellers to reimburse dog buyers whose animals
become ill or die within 10 days of purchase.
Similar laws are already in effect in
Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire,
New Jersey, and New York. Introduced by
Stewart Greenleaf (R-Montgomery), the bill
is reportedly opposed by many of
Pennsylvania’s 2,771 commercial dog breeders,
184 of whom produce more than 150 puppies
per year.
To eliminate duplication of the
Illinois rabies vaccination and tagging requirement,
the town of Elgin on April 10 abolished
both a one-year-old cat licensing ordinance
and a dog licensing ordinance enforced since
1945; raised the reclaim fee for animals
picked up by animal control to $50; and
imposed fines of $50 foa first offence, up to
$100 for a third offense, for allowing a cat or
dog to defecate on or damage someone else’s
property. Nearby M o k e n a passed a similar
ordinance on April 2, but the fine there is only
$25 per infraction.
The Tulsa city council on March 22
approved a draft breeding control ordinance
proposed by Joan Mays of the H u m a n e
Society of Oklahoma. The ordinance must be
ratified in May before taking effect.
People
Broward County Detective
Sergeant Sherry Schleuter, 43, was profiled
in the March/April 1996 edition of Boca Raton
magazine, whose usual subjects are multi-millionaires.
Schleuter was noticed because in
1982 she “pioneered one of the world’s only
law enforcement units specifically in charge of
investigating animal abuse,” a job usually left
to humane societies. “In June of last year,”
the article continued, “the six-person unit was
expanded to include child abuse as well as
elder abuse and financial exploitation.” The
profile noted that Schleuter is a vegan.
Police chief Jerry Long, public
works director Burt Willard, and police
officer Mike Wilson, of Newport, Arkansas,
dealt with humane inspector Brenda Smith of
Arkansans for Animals back in 1993 by
charging her with trespassing, for which she
was fined $50 plus $77.25 on court costs. The
last laugh was on them: Smith sued, recently
winning $20,000 from the city of Newport to
cover her costs, plus a judicial order that
Newport must improve its shelter and operate
it according to the guidelines prescribed by the
Humane Society of the U.S.
Modean Barry, elected president of
the Humane Society of North Texas to succeed
longtime president Art Brender, on
February 8 named as interim executive director
Thomas Murnane, DVM, who replaces
James Bias. Brender and Bias resigned, separately,
in January. Murnane served from 1947
to 1949 with the joint USDA/Mexico task
force to eradicate hoof-and-mouth disease;
joined the U.S. Army later in 1949, retiring in
1980 as brigadier general in charge of the
Army veterinary corps; spent three years with
the InterAmerican Institute for Cooperation in
Agriculture; was regional vet for the Texas
Department of Health from 1983 to 1993; and
was among 10 vets honored on February 6 by
the Fort Worth City Council for operating
rabies vaccination clinics.