Agenda - 02-12-2013 - 1 - Laserfiche WebLink

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`E3 14 A. Microchip placement. Based on review of local practices, national practices, and literature regarding animal recovery and microchip placement, the committee voted unanimously to recommend to the Animal Services Advisory Board (ASAB) that Orange County Animal Services mandate microchip placement in all cats and dogs at the owner's expense before the animal is returned to an owner. All efforts will be made to register the animal with the microchip company prior to the animal leaving the shelter. This fee will be in addition to other fees, including the impoundment fee, boarding fee, rabies vaccination fee, licensing fee, and any other fees the animal may have incurred during its stay at the shelter. If the owner finds these recovery fees difficult to pay because of limited resources, shelter personnel will help the owner to set up a payment plan. B. Mandatory sterilization of stray animals repeatedly impounded by orange County Animal Services. This committee was charged with considering whether legislative action should be taken to require mandatory sterilization of animals repeatedly impounded by orange County Animal Services and reclaimed by owners. The committee reviewed local and national practices, literature, and recommendations by animal welfare organizations. The committee also reviewed the data regarding numbers of stray dogs and cats recovered by owners at orange County Animal Services, reproductive status, and repeated recovery rates. After the evaluation of this information the committee came up with options for program actions that could be put into place for recovered animals: i. Requirement for mandatory sterilization after a specified number of recoveries from the shelter ii. Owner pays a sterilization deposit which is refunded with proof of animal sterilization within a given time frame iii. Charges for recovery, boarding, licensing, and other penalties would be offset by agreement to sterilize the pet prior to return to the owner iv. Tiered impounding fees based on reproductive status of the recovered pet, with lower rates for sterilized pets (reflecting the current tiered approach to licensing currently in place). Six major issue were considered by subcommittee members: i. Respect for owner choice ii. Safety and care of the animals /pet overpopulation iii. Safety of the general community iv. Sensitivity to pet owners who are experiencing difficult financial circumstances v. Costs incurred by Orange County Animal Services as a result of repeated impoundments vi. Consideration for additional time and effort required of the staff regarding instatement of new recommendations Review of local practices and recommendations from animal welfare organizations did not at this time support a mandatory sterilization policy for repeatedly recovered pets. The impact of such a policy would also be small, given that from 2007-2011, only 60 reproductive dogs and one reproductive cat were repeatedly returned to an owner. The committee also thought that requiring a sterilization deposit of pet owners would be a difficult approach, as it would require staff time to collect and track deposits, return deposits to pet owners, and validate owner claims of pet sterilization. The option of incentivizing owners to allow their pets to be sterilized prior to recovery by reducing fees was also deemed difficult for a variety of reasons. orange County Animal Services does not provide in -house sterilization services to pet owners at this time. The organization also relies on fees to financially support the running of the shelter, and is not financially in a position to consider fee discounts to pet owners. Fee reductions might be difficult