Transition in Tampa
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November/December 2013:
Ian Hallett, director of Hillsborough County Animal Services
in Tampa, Florida since May 2012, was transferred on December 2, 2013
to a management post within the county parks, recreation and
conservation department. Hallett was succeeded on an interim basis by
Hillsborough County code enforcement director Dexter Barge. Previously
deputy director of the Austin Animal Center in Texas, Hallett was hired
in the expectation that he would help Hillsborough County to achieve
no-kill animal control. Instead, Hallett ran into “a string of
problems at the animal shelter,” recounted Mike Salierno of the Tampa
Tribune, including “two disease outbreaks, animals killed who should
not have been, and scathing audits by outside experts.”
Contributing to the disease outbreaks was obsolescent shelter
design, enabling either airborne or waterborne pathogens to easily
spread throughout the building.
Hallett also came under criticism for failing to implement a
neuter/return program for feral cats. Approved in principle in May 2013
by the Hillsborough county commissioners, the program could not advance
without amendments to the county animal control ordinance. Hearings on
the proposed amendments were scheduled for December 18, 2013. The
introduction of neuter/return is opposed by the Hillsborough Animal
Health Foundation, Hillsborough County Veterinary Medical Society, and
Florida Veterinary Medical Association.