Strange but true tales of attitude
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1996:
Nearly a year after refusing to
pay the Humane Society of Greater Akron
$150,000 annually for animal control service,
the Akron city council is reportedly moving
to set up a municipal animal control
agency––spurred by public outrage over an
April 12 incident in which health officials
boarded up the home of Bill Woolridge, 77,
with 27 dogs inside. The home was sealed
due to alleged unsanitary conditions discovered
by paramedics who responded to an
emergency call when Woolridge’s wife died.
Volunteers rescued the dogs the next day.
Akron city service director Joseph Kidder
called the HSGA request for $150,000
“exhorbitant,” but at 67¢ per capita, it would
have come to 43% less than the U.S. average
of $1.18 per capita paid for basic animal pickup
and impoundment. Akron had been paying
just $19,600 a year, less than 10% of the
cost of running the HSGA shelter.