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Animal Services Monthly Report July, 2009 <br /> <br />6 <br />2007 that differential became $5 for sterilized dogs and cats and $30 for intact dogs and <br />cats. <br /> <br />Other legislative options include an extra redemption fee for intact animals recovered <br />from the Animal Services Center, which can be refunded if they are sterilized within a <br />given time period, and permit systems that require a permit for dogs and cats that are <br />going to be bred. Staff and the Animal Services Advisory Board expect to develop these <br />programs and others as part of a strategic spay/neuter plan that is being drafted and will <br />be presented to the Board of County Commissioners for consideration. <br /> <br />No less essential is a community spay/neuter program for animal companions such as <br />dogs and cats that promotes responsible pet ownership and enables all community <br />members to spay and neuter their own pets. The development of the Community <br />Spay/Neuter Fund during the past year, in coordination with the Animal Services <br />Advisory Board, has been a major accomplishment for the Animal Services Department. <br />Funded by an increase in the differential licensing fee for unaltered pets, this fund will <br />allow the Animal Services Department to work with several existing programs to <br />promote Spay/ Neuter and responsible pet ownership throughout Orange County in the <br />coming months and years. <br /> <br />In 2008, Animal Services, with assistance from the Department of Social Services, <br />partnered with AnimalKind’s “The $20 Fix” to offer low-cost and no-cost spay/neuter <br />surgeries to pets of qualifying households in Orange County. It is the hope of Animal <br />Services and Orange County that this program will increase the number of pets that are <br />spayed and neutered in the County, and in turn help eliminate the ongoing problem of pet <br />overpopulation we face as a community. More information and an application can be <br />found online at www.animalkind.org. <br /> <br />Moreover, there is an overwhelming need to address the deep-seated problem of feral cats <br />in Orange County. Month after month feral cats (as defined by their community history <br />and/or observed behaviors in the context of the shelter) are one of the largest groups of <br />animals euthanized. In July, 39 feral cats were euthanized, and they comprised 29 <br />percent of all cats euthanized during the month (and 17 percent of all animals <br />euthanized). <br /> <br />In fact, euthanasia of feral cats is not a “shelter problem,” but rather a community <br />problem, and it needs to be addressed as such. There is a great need for initiatives in the <br />area of public education to raise awareness insofar as euthanasia is the end result for most <br />of these creatures, and their presence must be considered in relation to the risk of rabies, <br />given the ongoing and endemic nature of so-called “raccoon rabies” in our County and <br />region. Thus addressing the problem of feral cats has also been a major objective for the <br />County’s Animal Services Department, and will be included in the Community Spay/ <br />Neuter Fund’s program scope, beginning next fiscal year. <br /> <br />These are illustrations of the kinds of positive and proactive approaches that are needed <br />to address the problem of pet overpopulation as a community problem. In working to