Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
17 <br />organizing special events in conjunction with an annual Spay (and Neuter) Day, as well <br />as the creation of a partnership with AnimalKind to offer The $20 Fix program in Orange <br />County. <br />An important component of staff work in the first few years of this plan will be to develop <br />a more refined budget for the strategic plan as it unfolds over the next five years (and <br />beyond). Preliminary discussion with Budget staff has identified long term budgeting as <br />an important part of not only this plan but the County's Community Spay/Neuter <br />Program. Accordingly, staff will be involved in developing a longer term as well as <br />annual budget as the program commences and evolves. <br />B. Pet Registration Compliance <br />There is good reason to believe that annual income to the Community Spay/Neuter <br />Funds can be grown by increasing the rate of cat and dog registration. What is needed <br />is an effective program for more effective follow-up on licensing notices and renewals <br />based upon available human and technological resources.10 <br />In any of the last several years, between 21,000 and 22,000 pet dogs and cats have <br />been registered with the County. This number is only about half of the pets that should <br />be registered given the number of registration notices issued by Animal Services. In <br />2009, for instance, Animal Service issued 42,594 registration notices based upon <br />available information about dogs and cats in the County.~~ <br />Also, it should be stressed that the number of registration notices is itself less than the <br />number of cats and dogs estimated to be in Orange County. Using an established <br />formula developed by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), and <br />human population data, we can estimate that the total number of dogs and cats for <br />Orange County in 201,0-72,630 (34,128 dogs and 38,502 cats).12 The difference <br />between the estimate and the number of registration notices issued suggests that there <br />10 Staff is already considering a more systematic follow-up to non-renewals of expiring cat and dog <br />registrations or the failure to register given a recent rabies vaccinations for a new animal. Our <br />orientation is toward an economical as well as efficient follow-up process, one done by mail rather than <br />in person. Nevertheless, the specific process and procedures for increasing the rate of compliance still <br />need to be formalized and implemented. <br />" The number of registration forms sent out by Animal Services is as high as it is because North Carolina <br />state law requires veterinarians to provide rabies vaccination information to the local animal control <br />authority. <br />12 Using these formulas, the AVMA now makes a U.S. Pet Ownership Calculator available on line <br />(http://www.avma.org/reference/rnarketstatslownershio calculator.asp). The 2010 human population <br />figure for Orange County used in our calculation is 134,770, which is taken from the Linear Population <br />Projections based on 1980-2000 Census, prepared by and available from Orange County's Planning <br />Department. The estimate may overstate the number of cats and dogs in the County because the <br />underlying formula does not adjust for college students and the figure we have used for human <br />population includes college students if they are living at school. <br />15 <br />