Travis County Commissioners Court
December 18, 2007
Item 29
Number 29 is to sverdrup update from the city of Austin health and human services department regarding animal services in Travis County.
>> good morning, judge, Commissioners, sherri flemming, executive manager for health health and veterans service. As you are aware, state law requires you to provide certain public health related services to the residents of Travis County. We accomplish that through an interlocal agreement with the city of Austin. And included in those services are -- are a variety of -- of services related to animal controls. So today we have with us our partners from the Austin-Travis County health and human services department, to give you an update on animal control services program.
>> thank you, sherri.
>> good morning, judge Biscoe, Commissioners, david lurie with the city of Austin, with me is brenda pulliam our assistant director for administration of animal services we appreciate the opportunity to come before you today and provide you an update in terms of the work that we are doing in partnership with Travis County. We have some handouts, slides here that you should have in front of you. Just to review our mission as a health and human services department, is to work in partnership with the community to promote health, safety and well-being. We -- our vision is to be the healthiest nation. I知 sorry, healthiest community in the nation. This includes focus on animal health and wellness and animal friendly environment. So our role in public health is to promote community wide wellness, protect our community from infectious diseases, environmental hazards and epidemics. In the arena of animal services, this includes prevention, promoting responsible pet ownership, working to -- to control the -- the size of the population and need for services, but also care for animals that enter our shelter and provide for their health and welfare. And also to -- to prevent or respond to the potential rabies in our community and also issues related to animal behavior, bites, so forth. We have forwarded to you in early November a memo giving you some trend data in terms of animal services, most specifically to -- to Travis County. And in this presentation we also had provided with -- you with the year-end data relative to again specific Travis County activities during fiscal year '07, we sheltered 1,969 animals and that's been fairly stable and represents about 7 -- varies, but represents about 7 to 9% of the -- of the total within our shelter. That percentage or proportion being for Travis County. And also 5,092 field activities in '07. This is up substantially related to some of the new regulations that you approved. Specifically the -- the leash law that applies to -- to Travis County. And you also provide funding directly for -- for free and low cost sterilization services and there were 198 of those in fiscal year '07. As you can see here, your overall investment in animal services is $7,812,000 per year, an offset of -- $712,000 per year. An why you have set that they pay back to Travis County for the coyote abatement program. What we would like to share with you today,
>> [indiscernible] is going to speak more specifically about, is our activities, some of the new enhanced activities that we have been developing particularly related to prevention and talk about some opportunities for perhaps additional enhancements or investments on the part of Travis County as we move into fiscal year '09. The other thing that we certainly want to emphasize is with our interlocal and the method dolls that we are applying -- methodologies we are applying there, we feel like we are able to deploy our resources much more effectively. Animal services specifically has a cost methodology that relates directly to the level of services that are provided for Travis County. So with that I would like to turn it over to brenda.
>> thank you, david. A significant effort for us in fiscal year 2008 is going to be our redistricting project. I have talked to you several times about some of the response time issues that we have, the way we've been doing business by having essentially two separate systems. We will be combining into one system the workload will be distributed geographically. The work areas will be contiguous spaces so we will not have people driving all over to get where they need to be to serve the citizens. Our goal is to reduce our response time to an average of 40 minutes by the end of the year. We are at around 130 now. We have begun this project and we expect in January that we will actually be implementing that on the grounds. We will be tracking as well. Response times and activity levels and making sure that these districts are going to work out the way we expect. Another big focus for us and -- in 2008 is prevention programs. A real key to reducing euthanasia as well as protecting the community is to prevent animal welfare problems from having in the community. Safety problems from happening in the community. A significant focus for us in the prevention area is our mission orange project. You may have heard that the aspca, which is the national animal welfare organization has selected Austin and Travis County as one of their target communities where they make a significant investment in the community to try to really have a big impact on animal welfare. Their investment is going to been $600,000. In this community over three years. Talk more detail about that project because it really is a significant effort for us. Aspca, the american society for the prevention of cruelty to animals. It's a national animal welfare organization. In addition to or initiatives, ongoing rabies clinic that provides free vaccinations for citizens, also gives us an opportunity to talk about other animal welfare issues. We do five of those each year, two of those are cited in unincorporated Travis County. We have our Travis County residents now participating in our responsible pet owners class which is kind of like defensive driving for animal issues, where we will waive the citation, folks will come into a class and learn more about what the laws are. This has really been an effective tool in Travis County where we've had new laws for people to understand what the expectations are. We have a significant microchip investment that we're making, animals leaving the shelters are microchipped as well as any animals that are sterilized in our food program. Now including all Travis County animals that are coming into the system either through the free program or coming into the shelter. We are providing free sterilization programs. The Travis County funding is providing 30 clinics and Travis County residents can also take advantage of the 100 clinics that are being provided through city of Austin funding. So that's really significant investment and trying to prevent those unwanted animals from coming into the shelter. Then new and last year was funding for an education outreach coordinator so that is a big initiative for us as well. We are really focusing our education programs and our outreach programs to targeted populations where the animals are at risk of either entering the shelter or not being cared for appropriately. Our outreach activities include free dog houses, free collars, leashes, anything that kind of help get the family squared away with the animal so it can stay in the home. Our education programs are really targeted to -- to those populations that are at risk and we are using a methodology that involves working with organizations that are already working with those populations such as meals on wheels, habitat for humanities, those kind of programs. That gives you more outreach that we can effect with one person, it's really working well for us. Them feral cat sterilizations is another big initiative for us. We will be providing 600 surgeries through city funding and through our partnership in the initial initiative, 5,000 feral cat sterilizations will be provided in calendar year 2008. To talk a little bit more about mission orange, as I said, they are investing $600,000 in cash in the community. They have also created a team at the national level of five to seven people that are dedicated to Austin on a full-time basis that we can call on for assistance and research. Program implementation, program ideas, that sort of a thing. The overall goal of the mission orange project is to increase the live release rate to 75%. That means the number of animals that are leaving the shelter, 75% are having outcomes, adoption, return to their owners, placement with other agencies. The specific goals that the group has established for 2008, is to reduce the intake of at-risk dogs by a thousand. What at-risk dogs mean is there's a population of dogs coming into the shelter more likely to be euthanized because they have behavior problems, because they are large, whatever those -- those reasons are that are barriers to those animals being placed. We are specifically focusing on animals that aren't likely to have a positive outcome out of the shelter. We are also focusing on reducing cat intake by 500. Cats have the highest ute euthanasia rate of any population in the shelter. We are trying to reduce the number coming in so we can reduce our outcomes being more positive. The programs that we are going to be working on for 2008 to try to effect those goals is our -- our sterilization program, the 5,000 cats that I have talked bedroomer. We are creating a pit bull task force to look specifically at those dogs and how we can keep them out of the shelter as well as reduce the number of strays that are loose in our neighborhood. So that we not only have a positive impact on euthanasia, but also have a positive impact on safety out in the neighborhoods. What that group will do is come together and really try to look at how do we change the culture around those animals, how do we get more of them sterilized, we will be inviting a.p.d., the sheriff's office, really getting everybody that can have feelers out into the community involved in helping us solve that problem. We are looking at an initiative to target our free sterilization programs to the same type of dogs so that we can reduce the number of -- of at-risk dogs that are being brought into the system. We are little working on marketing initiative to promote the affordable sterilization programs that exist in the community. We have our free programs and they do very, value well, they are well attended, but we also have animal trustees in Austin and emancipet providing affordable services. We want to make sure as many people that can afford to pay something are aware of getting those animals in to get them sterilized as well as get vaccinations. Examples of what we are going to try to do is working with asfme to get them to promote through their membership, newsletters, african-american quality of life issues that we have been working on, the department is a great way to reach out to populations that may need to get their animals fixed, may be able to afford to pay something. And then last we are working on funding for a joint foster program -- coordinator, foster care coordinator for the -- for the city shelter and the humane society. Both programs are running foster care programs where we foster young animals until they are old enough for adoption, bring them back into the shelter for adoption. This year we have begun to see there's a lot of synergy in those programs that if we had a joint coordinator we think we could place more animals and have that program grow which again increases our -- our live outcomes, so we are looking to try to get that funding during calendar year 2008.
>> [one moment please for change in captioners] our money if. If we have a regular presence in the community that people come to rely on. I have seen that happen in the city program where people know this is their week that the van there be there and they are there for vaccinations or whatever they need.
>> you hear the reports where people show up and run out of space or slots, I guess.
>> yes.
>> so that is showing that the interest is up.
>> the program is successful. We are turning people away at this point. So money are showing up. What we are doing with the 30 clinics in Travis County this year, and I have flyers to show you, we targ to del valle because that is a problem area and we are trying to get the repetitiveness that is one of the sites where we are turning people away. We are usually there on Friday and Saturdays, we are going to add Thursday, so we will have Thursday, Friday, Saturday and we will use the word of mouth already there that comes there that the people we're turning away are going to know there's the extra day that they can get in and get their animals taken care of. I brought examples in the flier so we are promoting these services. One of them you will see the english and spanish version, the other one we haven't done the spinnish version yet but it will be in english and span ir. I would also mention that we focus significantly in the last six months or so on the latin language media. We are getting significant coverage from both the radio and television stations here in Austin. Last rabies clinic that we did had a 50 percent hispanic population because of the promotions we are getting through the stations. If you can increase the funding of sterilization to 50 weeks per year, I think that we can get you a lot of spays and neuters done for your money if we get that service. The final comment, 50 weeks per year because of christmas and new years we do not do those surgeries.
>> how much would that cost? What amount of additional funding would be required?
>> I could get you the exact number. --i don't want to give you the incorrect number. It's about 1700 per clinic. To do an additional 20 is about 35,000.
>> .
>> 15,000 now. How much would that be?
>> the funding now is 50,000. It's doing about 30 clinics. You don't--
>> so 35,000 that we added in the budget process only brought it to 50.
>> brought us to 50,000, which is 30 clinics.
>> I keep hoping every time I see one of the reports that I get, seems every Monday morning, I keep thinking pretty soon we will run out of animals that need the spay or neuter service. You are suggesting that won't happen any time soon.
>> we keep hoping. That is our objecttive. Sometime we are out there and there is nobody to spay or neuter but not any time soon.
>> okay.
>> I don't think that I mentioned, the other tactic that we are going to use in Travis County, after we get the redistricting done and that is settled in we are going to look at neighborhoods where we need to do an intervention and clean up the neighborhood. That would include spaying and neutering, leash law enforcement outso --outreach, and focus on a neighborhood and try to raise the standard had in the neighborhood for safety and animal welfare. Then see if we can keep it that way. We have some pockets that are just some significant problems. I was coming back on fm 812 from a meeting the other day and ended up with two puppies and a kiten in my car because they were stranded on the side of the road. Very friendly, picked them up and put them in. That area, we need to get in there and spay and neuter and get some education done and see if we can change the culture and raise the standards a little bit. I foresee spaying and neutering in the future for another ten years or so.
>> how much does it cost to spay and neuter compared to outh nization?
>> I don't calculate because it is built into the system and achieving positive outcoming. The cost is more than the cost to eut had hanize. It's the cost to get them into a placement partner organization or adoption. Your entire budget of 4.3 million is really the cost of the stray animals.
>> I think it's the cost of that whole series of services associated with an animal that ends up at the shelter versus if you spay and neuter. I think that sense, the calculation would be a dramatic difference. Just to clarify, I went back and looked at our November 5 memo where we did specify the request. And the increase related to these additional clinics is 24,000 dollars. Currently it's at 50,000. So that would increase up to a total of $74,000.
>> okay.
>> finally, the other thing I would like to get you thinking about funding for ferral cat sterilization efforts. The 5,000 severalizations that we will do through the human society I think will make a big impact on what we are seeing, but this population of animals is still a significant issue for us on two fronts. One, those coming into the shelter, cats coming in have a very high euthanasia rate, 66 percent, compared to dogs with a rate of 34 percent. Cats don't do well once they come into the shelter. Their recrime rate is only two percent as compared to dogs, 20 percent of them are reclaimed. In addition, one of our biggest complaints from the community that we really don't have a response to. Cats are out there running around in people's neighborhoods. There's health concerns and concerns about property damage if they are jumping on cars and scratching them. The most effective way we deal with that complaint is to spay and neuter them. To afford enough officers to go out and round them up would be significantly expensive. What the sterilization program does, we utilize volunteers who will trap them and take them in for surgery and then return them to their colony. You're not going to get volunteers who want to trap for euthanasia purposes. An efficient way to deal with the ferral cat problem is through sterilization programs. This is the second year the city has been funding the program and our new funding through mission orange product. I think it is something we need to continue to focus on if we have the opportunity for additional investment in animal welfare issues. The ferral cat issue is a significant one, both on the complaint front as well as the euthanasia front. With that, I will go back to david for a summary.
>> thank you. By the way, the request on that is $15,000, the ferral cat program. As you can see, we are very much focused on prevention, population control, responsible pet ownership. We don't want to have to be in a position of sheltering more and more animals as the population grows. These preventive effort do make a difference and we can have an impact in that regard. I want to commend dorinda and her staff and our partners in the community because there were very few communities identified and funded through this commission orange initiative. It was largely in recognition of the partnerships and good work and foundation already in place here, because these folks wanted to make an investment where they knew they could make a significant difference. That is why Travis County was chosen for this particular initiative. Again, through the interlocal fee feel we have much more flexibility in term of the operationalizing this county wide. There is some increased data reporting that you will sigh as part of the interlog twice a year, you will receive those reports. And the other question I know that came up when we were discussing the interlocal was being able to see the data more broadly within animal services, that is the overall total activities within animal services program. We now have a very comprehensive report that we provide on a monthly basis, and that's available at city of Austin website. You have the address there also in your handout, city of Austin. And there you will see an extremely comprehensive report on all the animal services program in total. That is our report, judge Biscoe. Thank youyou have not.
>> I have not seen an article recently regarding the site for the new shelteryes.
>> is that still pending?
>> the city council has decided on the campus where airport boulevard interest err seconds with 103.
>> that has been approved? It has. They have approved to proceed with the contractor and the preliminary design work which we are in the process of implementingon.
>> okay. Any other questions or comments?
>> I have a comment. Dorinda, you are the one that obviously does the statistics on this stuff. If we were to hone in on what the most complaint would be out there, at least in print --precinct 3, I very seldom get a call on too many cats scratching the cars. What they are calling about is a dog at the bus stop, and I知 afraid to get my child off the bus. Hope my this redistricting thing will help us a lot. I really think that the idea of us identifying these areas where we know we have real pockets of problems, and because they are, those are frightening and scary. You can only, you know, say so often to people when they call that it really is a funding issue. Whenever you are trying, especially in the unincorporated areas. I mean, because quite frankly, our tcso, which is kind of what our plan is, I mean, we have a contract with animal control to take care of dangerous animals. Really the first real call here in western Travis County, anyway is tcs o. Of course, our officers aren't the most equipped folks to come out. Unless you are going to let them take care of an animal. Most people don't want them taken care of that way. So I hope that this redistricting helps us get in and clean up some pockets. But if not, you know, I for one am going to be pretty determined to try to find some additional dough for personnel. When push comes to shove that is really what this thing, the policing these large areas, you're right. Somebody calls you about a dog at a bus stop, by the time somebody gets out there even if it's a tcso officer, either the dog is back in the fence and the officer goes, well, it's back in the fence.
>> right.
>> so you really just have a situation that is very difficult to explain to the public. Hopefully people do understand that it is a funding issue more hand anything because we just don't have the personnel to really take on the problems immediately. I would expect that as well. I think we're going to have to look at that. I know it's not your fault. It's all a function of of how many dollars are you going to apply to take on an issue.
>> I would ask darindan also to comment, Commissioner Daugherty, you can see reducing our response time is dramatic, but on the other hand, 40 minutes is a long time given what you have described. I know we have situations for example with apd where someone feels seriously threatened, a 911 call. You get public safety response, but maybe dorinda would like to comment more about the relationship with the sheriff's office and so forth.
>> I think our redistricting is going to make a bigger difference than what we have been seeing because I think that they are going to see a presence from animal control more regular. What we immediate to get done in that area is really about culture change. We'll never be able to be everywhere to watch every dog. What we need to get is people acting --being more responsible. I think with the redid iting we will be doing that. The interventions are targeted to western Travis County. We have other pockets but yours is high a my list. Think that is going to make a difference as well because we can go in and get the culture change to happen. We're never going to the be right there a the spot when some of these things happen. Travis County sheriff's does support us just like apd does in emergency situations. They have their limit as well. We have really been working with them to try smooth those transitions so citizens don't have to sort out who should be responded. I知 not shower we have been a hundred percent successful but we are workinging on that.
>> when do we think the redistricting plan may be done?
>> we're starting in January. Our redeployment will happen right after the first of the year. What I値l be doing, and I can certainly come back and talk to you about it or get you information, I will be plotting it geographically and looking at what's happening now so we can tweak it if we don't think we are getting the kind of result we need. We are going to start with what we think is going to work for resource deployment but we also will be tracking that very carefully to see what is happening and are we getting the kind of results that we want to get. I always appreciate your feedback on this issue. I know you get calls from your citizens out there. It does help me know that we still have some pockets out there and helps us know what is going on out there.
>> hopefully we will be in a better position to measure potential impact relative to investment. If you look at those numbers and say you want to ratchet up to a certain level, we should be able to quantify for you what that would require in terms of resources.
>> okay.
>> thank you.
>> with all of the training, are we also thinking that we're making an impact on people learning to take personal responsibility with that?
>> that is a significant part of our effortokay.
>> to get people being more responsible with all aspects of the pet, confinement or not letting them run loose, and also animal welfare, food, water, shelter, appropriate veterinary care. What we really see, if there is one thing going on like they are letting them run loose there may be all these other welfare issues where they are not caring for the animal.
>> yeah.
>> we try to look at it holistically and go at it that way to solve the problem within the fally. Our part sherse with the other agencies on education and outreach is working well. A lot of themes these other organizations are already having interactions with the family and they are adding the message in there about the dog issues and not letting them run loose, not change them up, that sort of thing.
>> okay.
>> it extends our reach significantly.
>> the other thing, have we run into problems with dog fighting and rooster footing--fighting, that type of thing?
>> not that I知 aware of.
>> that's good news.
>> thank you. Appreciate.
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Last Modified:
Wednesday, December 19, 2007, 18:30 AM