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12 L Appendix A Meeting Minutes Animal Services .Advisory Board (ASAB) Task Force on the Spaying and Neutering of Recovered Stray Animals Thursday, July 5, 2012 Present: Lynn white (Chair), Kris Bergstrand, Bob Marotto, Aviva Scully 1. Agenda unanimously adopted as presented. 2. Review of the Task Force objectives: At the Animal Services Advisory Board monthly meeting that took place on May 16, 2012 there was a discussion of the legislative component of the shelter's Strategic Plan for Managing Pet overpopulation. The year 2012 had been previously designated as the year to work on legislation. one of the legislative areas was the possibility of requiring mandatory sterilization of stray animals that were repeatedly impounded in the orange County Animal Shelter. Donna Bravo raised the motion to form a subcommittee to review the owner requirements for reclaiming an impounded stray animal. Kris B ergstrand, Aviva Scully, and Lynn white were named to the committee, with Bob Marotta participating as a representative of the orange County Animal Services staff. There ensued a conversation about the problem of stray dogs and cats which are repeatedly found at large and brought to the shelter. Bob estimated that approximately 20 -25 % of stray dogs were eventually returned to their owners, while only about 3 %n of stray cats were recovered by their owners. He stated that there are dogs and cats known to shelter personnel who have been recovered by owners at the shelter on multiple occasions. These repeated episodes of stray animals are a concern for multiple reasons: A. Animals at large may be at greater risk of injury and death. B. Unsupervised animals who are not spayed or neutered may participate in reproductive activities that can result in unwanted litters of puppies and kittens and contribute to the already burdensome issue of pet overpopulation in our area. C. Stray animals, particularly unneutered males and females in heat, may cause human safety issues by engaging in fights with other animals, behaving aggressively towards humans, and causing human injury during attempts to capture and aid these animals. D. There are significant costs incurred by animal services to capture, impound, and care for repeatedly stray animals and to identify and contact their owners. Currently, orange County Animal Services relies upon the County's animal ordinance to discourage pet owners from allowing their animals to stray from their property. The first time an animal is recovered by the owner from the shelter, the owner is charged a $10 impoundment fee, a $10 /day board fee, and is charged for rabies vaccination if he/she can not prove that the pet's rabies vaccination status is up to date. The owner is also asked to update the pet's license if it has lapsed. Pet owners who fail to do this are warned that they may receive a citation for a lapsed pet license. when a pet is returned to its owner a second time, the owner is charged a $50 impoundment fee in addition to the fees noted above. A third infraction results in an impoundment fee of $100, and the fourth an impoundment fee of $200. (Note that impoundment and allied fees are distinct from civil fines and/or criminal prosecution for at large animals in violation of the public nuisance provision of the county's animal ordinances. The owner may receive a civil citation with monetary penalty in addition to paying the recovery fees itemized above. The owner could also be charged for a misdemeanor offense under the same ordinance for the same violation.)