Saturday, December 17, 2011

NEWS: Animal control plan has benefits, study says

Animal control plan has benefits, study says

San Joaquin County considers partnership with Stockton

Dogs await possible adoption at Stockton’s animal shelter. A new report says a more regional approach to animal control could save taxpayer dollars while boosting officer resources. Some question the study’s accuracy, however.CLIFFORD OTO/The Record
Zachary K. Johnson
STOCKTON - All but one of the seven cities in San Joaquin County have balked at the idea of pooling resources to create a countywide system for animal control.

But a partnership between the city of Stockton and county government could still form the foundation for a more regional approach to animal control that could, from the outset, save taxpayer dollars while reducing the number of stray dogs and cats killed in the county, according to Stockton's Animal Protection League, an animal advocacy group commissioned by the county.
At its meeting this week, the county Board of Supervisors stopped short of voting to authorize staff to develop a joint powers authority with the city. But the board directed its consultant to meet with other animal advocates, to continue gathering information and to come back early in the new year.

"Please all get together and talk this over so we can come to a realistic and compassionate answer," board Chairman Larry Ruhstaller said.

Such a plan could put more animal control officers in the field, offer programs that will help push down the number of animals killed and allow the construction of a joint shelter to replace the outdated and inadequate shelter currently used by the agencies, said Tammie Murrell, director of the Animal Protection League and a former Stockton deputy police chief. "That, we believe, will not only improve services ... but improve euthanasia rates ... and improve the care of the animals," she said.

About $7.6 million would be needed to build a new shelter. Before a shelter is built, however, Murrell said the merging of the two agencies would bring other benefits, including ways to cut down euthanasia through an adoption and foster program, spaying and neutering services, humane education and use of volunteers.

Because of the economy of scale, an in-house veterinarian and a licensing unit to bring in revenue, Murrell said the plan could shave about $430,000 from city and county operating costs that were a little more than $2 million in the 2009-10 fiscal year.

The plan allows for other cities to opt in at some future point. Since August, Lodi, Manteca and Escalon have shown interest in one or two components of a combined plan, but the other cities have shown no interest, according to the county.

Stockton's animal control and animal shelter are part of the Police Department. County government contracts with the city for the shelter. The county's animal control covers unincorporated land - from urban areas near Stockton to the county's rural reaches. Until this year, county animal control was part of the Agricultural Commissioner's Office. Now it is part of the Sheriff's Office.

The league's study doesn't include improvements made since the shift to the Sheriff's Office, said Ann Mooney, field representative for Service Employees International Union Local 1021, which represents county animal control officers. Mooney urged the board to not jump into discussions with the city without accurate and up-to-date information.

The study also drew fire from Eileen McFall, who said the study used systems with sky-high euthanasia rates as models. There are so-called "no-kill" models of shelters that save most of the animals they take in, said McFall, an animal advocate and professor at University of the Pacific.  "We could certainly be doing a lot better."

Contact reporter Zachary K. Johnson at (209) 546-8258 or zjohnson@recordnet.com. Visit his blog at recordnet.com/johnsonblog.

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