{"id":8162,"date":"2016-06-12T20:28:31","date_gmt":"2016-06-12T20:28:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gypsydogops.com\/?p=8162"},"modified":"2016-06-22T03:37:59","modified_gmt":"2016-06-22T03:37:59","slug":"why-you-should-care-who-about-who-is-running-dallas-animal-services","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gypsydogops.com\/?p=8162","title":{"rendered":"Why YOU should care about who is running Dallas Animal Services"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you own a dog and live in the city of Dallas, you should be very concerned about who is running Dallas Animal Services. You should be very concerned about what is going to be presented in the Quality of Life meeting this coming Monday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Back in the fall, the City Council told Dallas Animal Services (DAS) to go back to the drawing board and come up with a strategic plan that would address the loose dog issues and restore the safety and quality of life for the city\u2019s citizens and the animals. Among DAS\u2019\u00a0\u201cbest ideas\u201d was to close the tax payer funded shelter to admissions. They just wouldn\u2019t take in any more owner surrendered dogs and that would solve the capacity problem. That\u2019s was honestly their best idea. It set off a firestorm in the community. To add insult to injury,\u00a0that strategy was going to solve nothing except to keep down capacity at the shelter and in turn\u00a0it would increase the numbers of dumped dogs on the streets. Keeping the intake down was never the goal! Every Dallas tax payer should be\u00a0concerned when current management can\u2019t see and align with council\u2019s\u00a0goals and directives.<\/p>\n

In the shadow of Antoinette Brown\u2019s tragic mauling by a pack of loose dogs<\/a>, Dallas Animal Services has been asked again to look at the policies and procedures and to come up with some innovative ideas to address the issue. Some of these ideas will be presented in the Quality of Life Meeting<\/a> on Monday, June 12th. We got a sneak peak at the document they will be presenting on Monday at 9am.<\/p>\n

First, let us say, some of the suggestions are solid. These suggestions, things like mandatory microchipping, stricter spay and neuter laws etc., are no brainers and best practices in other cities. \u00a0 But some of the ideas put forward are so misaligned with the welfare of the citizens it is hard to comprehend that these suggestions are management’s best ideas.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start with a little background. The Dallas shelter was formed with three main functions:<\/p>\n

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  1. Rabies Control<\/li>\n
  2. Animal Control<\/li>\n
  3. Sheltering: To shelter animals long enough to give them a\u00a0chance to be returned to their owners<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n

    In the document being presented on Monday, there is a suggestion to:\u00a0\u201celiminate hold times on…strays impounded from designated areas with high incidents of injury by animals.\u201d Again, DAS\u2019\u00a0misaligned idea is to\u00a0increase shelter capacity for intake, which is not a goal that has to be reached via euthanasia. \u00a0Your dog should not be put at risk and denied a hold period on intake to make more shelter capacity. The idea of a shelter is to actually shelter the dog long enough to give its owner a chance to look for it and to reunite the pet with its owner. You currently have a 72 hours period to claim your pet at the shelter. This policy change would be a huge\u00a0penalty against\u00a0otherwise good complaint dog owners. Let me give you an example:<\/p>\n

    I live in District 1. According to DPD dog bite data, District 1 is #2 for attacks\u00a0per square mile<\/a>. That potentially makes District 1 an area of \u201chigh incidents of injury by animal”. Which means that if my dog accidentally\u00a0gets out and slips its collar, or my neighbor\u2019s dog gets out, and it ends up at the shelter – it would immediately be at risk for euthanasia. Your dog could be accidentally let out by the meter man while you are at work and by the time you got home to figure it out, your dog could be dead, killed by the City. Even if your dog is chipped it could be in jeopardy, trust me when I tell you, the shelter regularly misses microchips when they scan dogs. I don\u2019t know about you, but a City that will immediately euthanize a healthy potentially owned dog on intake at\u00a0the shelter is\u00a0not a City I want to live in.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n