Thursday, July 1, 2010

Broward County Animal Control Wants to Kill Your Pets

That is my conclusion after reading this:
Animal Control said, their employees are not obligated to ask the person on the other line if they are the owners of any animal, and are not obligated to inform owners they have three days to pick up the animal, and if they do not, that animal will be euthanized.
If the mission of Broward County Animal Control was to "make it as difficult as possible to reunite owners with lost pets, kill animals with microchips, euthanize animals in 3 days, and not ask people if they are the owner of a lost animal" then their above logic would be rational. It would not be morally acceptable or right.

Their website says this:
The mission of the Broward County Animal Care and Regulation Division is to promote responsible pet ownership, Animal Care, community safety, increase adoptions, and reduce pet overpopulation. The Division treats the symptoms of irresponsible pet ownership while seeking to eliminate the causes by compassionately using education and enforcement.

Finding new homes for abandoned cats and dogs, returning lost pets to their owners, ensuring public health and safety
If they want to improve the rate at which they re-unite owners with their pets, then it behooves them to take that extra step and a) ask people who call if they believe a found dog is theirs and b) notify them that they have a measly 3 days to pick the dog up.

If they want to improve their adoptions, they probably should reconsider killing healthy, adoptable dogs after only three days. They should also avoid killing animals with microchips. Just saying.

Making it difficult to reclaim a dog is not in the best interest of the dog. It is not saving lives, it is a death sentence.

And to owners, increase the chance of reclaiming your dog or cat with collars, id tags and microchips. They may not be a guarantee (Broward County Animal Control apparently kills chipped cats) but it is better insurance than hoping animal control will hold onto your dog for more than 3 days.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I totally agree. I have 3 pit bulls that were picked up this morning by Broward County Animal Control and they have tags, but nobody called to let me know they were there. When I called they told me that they couldn't tell me anything and that I had to search their data base. When I finally found them they told me I had 5 days to get them and that it was going to cost $472 to bring them home and I just lost my job. This is totally ridiculous and there has to be something that can be done. My dogs are the most loveable dogs and giving them this death sentence because they charge an arm and a leg is very unfair!!!