According to the Web site of the Kansas City Dog Advocates, the Animal Control Department of Kansas City, Missouri, just issued a new policy for holding field officers accountable for their work.
As of August 1, each field officer must issue a minimum of 15 summonses for negligent pet owners and impound a minimum of 20 dogs per month.
The KCDA did the math: 18 full-time field officers bringing in 20 animals a month equals 360 per month, which is 4,320 per year.
Creating incentives for picking up more animals will only overcrowd Halfway Homes Pet Adoptions, the city's shelter, the Web site argues. In order to comply with the quota, animal control officers might pick up animals for minor violations that wouldn't have triggered an impound in the past. To make room for these animals, others will be killed. So far this year, of the 4,137 animals brought to the city's shelter, 1,636 have been euthanized.
According to Brent Toellner, author of the KC Dog Blog, not all of the 4,137 animals were impounded by animal control officers. "779 were dropped off by owners at the shelter to be euthanized or to be adopted out," Toellner tells The Pitch via e-mail. "There were another 670 stray dogs that were brought in by the public that seized the dogs themselves."
Toellner considers himself an "unofficial watchdog" (har) over these issues and keeps tabs on animal control via regular records requests. Patrick Egberuare at Animal Control confirmed that the new policy is indeed in effect.
So far this year, Toellner says, an average of 382 animals were brought
to the shelter by animal control officers per month, which is a bit
more than the new quota policy would dictate. But the normal cycle for
animal impounding usually shows an increase in the summer months and a
decrease during the winter. Holding animal control officers to a
summertime average even during the colder months could mean officers
having trouble meeting their quotas in the winter -- and arbitrarily
impounding more animals than necessary.
At least, that's what has people in the animal welfare community worried.
The City's Web site suggests that citizens should call the 3-1-1 Action Center
to contact Animal Control. I called the number and was on hold for six
minutes before being redirected automatically to a voice mailbox, where
I left a message. Had I been calling about some stray running loose
outside, that doggie would be long gone by now.
Check out the KCDA Web site and Toellner's post for some examples of proactive policies that the city's animal control department could implement instead of the quota system.
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Interesting post. Many interesting articles and comments.Thanks a lot for sharing. Also interesting in case you are prepared to check it out: Abs machine
They will probably just start picking up dogs out of yards. Pretty simple, really. It is not about the animals - its about the money. 1,636 innocent animals already dead at the hands of animal control. You would think that The HSUS or SPCA would be complaining about this, but the fact that they are not speaks volumes. This is all part of the on-going effort by animal rights nuts and "abolishonists" to kill as many animals as possible, while disguising it as something that sounds good.
So the DIRECTOR is too lazy to do the research to find that animals don't breed and more pass away in winter months and that's why numbers go down and instead punishes officers/citizens? It's time to start yelling at city hall... perhaps not every person in charge is the right person for that position... this sounds like it's the case here.
After reading the last comment from "vick supporter", I am now certain that I have moved to hell. Ever since I was forced to move to this hamlet of excrement because of a family member's job situation (we moved here from Florida), I have been pinching myself every morning and hoping that living in this decrepit, desolate burg of ignoramuses is just a nightmare - no such luck. I have been involved in rescue for most of my adult life and have lived in more than 20 states in the US as well as several countries in Europe and I can unequivocally state that when it comes to animal neglect and abuse, moronic ordinances, people's attitudes and the morbidly obese Animal Control peons that I've seen, Kansas City wins hands down over any place I've ever been to. To think that I have saved animals from the dilapidated streets, had them spayed/neutered, vaccinated, treated for various ailments - at my expense - and am giving them a good home at considerable inconvenience to me, it is considered illegal and with this brilliant new plan, I have to live in constant fear that some fat cretin will come waddling to the door and try to take the "overage" - all I can say to that is OVER MY DEAD BODY! When I did this in CA (my home state) and also in FL where we lived most recently, the director of Animal Control there voiced his deep appreciation for my efforts. I wish I could evacuate all animals and the handful of decent humans and drop a very powerful bomb on this pathetic excuse for a city.
Its great that k.c.now has a dog pick up ouata there are so many ignorant dog owners who let these stupid untrained muts run throughout the neighbor hood, shitting in yards getting into trash , barking at all hours of the day its abouttime that these dumb as dog owners get fined or their pets taken away! Im tired of hearing all these whiny sympathetic dog lovers who constantly say "these dogs are like my kids" oh yea if they are like your kids then why dont you let your kids play in the street, shit in the yard go throught the trash. If your dog interferes with my everyday life i hope they take it and never give it back you dont deserve that mut!
Nighmtmare ... I'm ready! I'm tying on my bandana and grabbing my Doggles (not purchased by Aggie!) and ready to hit the road. San Diego sounds good to me.
Shelter Skelter ... you should come too.
Aggie's Dog and Nightmare in KC: I type this request with weary paws from my cage at Halfway Home. Please bust me out of here and take me with you to California, where people treat animals humanely. Any day now, I could get one of those "URGENT" banners across the face of my cage. How are the kind people here at this shelter supposed to find a home for me when the lazy dog catchers are given an "incentive" to bring in 360 extra dogs a month scooped up from who knows where? I wish people in management were as smart as dogs.
Lately, KC is reminding me more and more of a hick town with the vision of a one-eyed bat. Even Kansas City, Kansas -- hardly a bastion of progressiveness -- managed to get a handle on its stray population and nearly eliminate euthanization at its city shelter by EDUCATION of the people causing the problem. KC's stupidly lazy solution only "treats" the symptoms, which will continually worsen until some decent person in charge actually puts the work in that they were elected, appointed or hired to do.
To Aggie's dog; you certainly may come along. Many people are leaving this city to go to more dog-friendly towns, where there are dog parks on every corner and a bone in every dog dish. And if you're trying to escape an ugly, unreasonable owner you will be welcome to join our pack....how does San Diego sound?
I'm crying over this decision. They have some nerve. Forget about the lazy dog catchers; how about the lazy boss who's solution spends more city money, betrays citizen's rights, and can't think any further than his own paycheck. Fire them all; start over with some of us who are looking for work and who will keep the animals' welfare at the forefront of our minds.
Nightmare in K.C., can I come with you? I've been plotting my escape from this hellhole for a while now.
Also, how horrible must the management at K.C. animal control be if they can't figure out, in this horrible economy, how to get workers that, uh, work? Clue to K.C. animal control: there are a lot of non-lazy people out there looking for work right now.
Hold your puppies tight...who knows when they will be snatched from your yard by a lazy dog catcher who needs to fulfill his quota. Oh, Fido, I loved you so.......
When will I wake up from this nightmare? I can't wake up because it's reality.....a city with no clue, so backward that it's stuck in the last century, so thoughtless that others suffer because of their inept decisions. Ya know, I think it's time to move. I'm sick of all Kansas City's nonsense and this lazy dog catcher fiasco is the last straw. I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels this way.
Are you kidding me? Who's skewed thinking came up with this ignorant idea? Maybe the animal control officers should spend some of their workday educating people on animal care like proper shelter, sufficient water, no neck-chains, etc. Or giving out information on low cost spay and neuter clinics. Instead the city continues to treat the symptom and not the cause of the problems. I've never seen a more pathetic solution to a problem or a more irresponsible way to go about solving it.
Unbelievable....can this city get any dumber? Their solution is not a solution at all, but a death sentence for many undeserving dogs. Why not fire some of the lazy dog catchers if they aren't doing their jobs? Don't make the dogs suffer because the humans are asses!
Leave it to Kansas City. If there's a problem (such as their own employees not doing their jobs), you can count on Kansas City to find the most backwards "solution" and to ignore all the possible creative win-win type solutions. That's why we're a "podunk town" (the one thing the mayor's wife was ever right about) and not a progressive city.
Are they going scan the strays they bring in for microchips and make efforts to find the owner(s)? This policy sound ridiculous and could find animal control officers picking up "strays," that are not really strays, if you know what I mean...
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