Veterinary group airs concerns

Saying the county animal shelter's adoption rate is "alarmingly low," a local veterinary group wants to reduce the number of animals euthanized each year.

The newly formed Pasco Hernando Veterinary Medical Association will meet today with county administrators and members of the Animal Services advisory board to find solutions to the county's growing number of stray and unwanted animals.

In the past year, Pasco County euthanized 5,386 cats - 85 percent of the cats brought to the shelter. Nearly 60 percent of 4,314 dogs brought to the shelter were euthanized during the same time period.

This year, local media excoriated the SPCA shelter in Largo, forcing the reassignment of the shelter's longtime director. Jenifer Chatfield, president of the new Pasco-Hernando veterinary group, said the media coverage forced her members to take a look at Pasco's euthanasia numbers, which are the highest in the region.

"We weren't really held up as a shining example," Chatfield said. "Our primary goal is to elevate the standard of animal welfare and animal care in Pasco and Hernando counties. I don't know of any government-run shelter that couldn't benefit from a little bit of help."

Assistant County Administrator Michele Baker and Commissioner Michael Cox are among those who will meet this afternoon with the veterinarians to discuss ways to improve the county's live release rate, a figure that includes animals that are adopted, transferred to other facilities or reunited with owners.

"We are ready to jump to the plate," said Terry Spencer, shelter veterinarian for the Humane Society of Tampa. "We're not trying to hammer them or accuse them of anything. We want to find out what their issues are and what factors could influence those issues."

Spencer was the county's shelter veterinarian for several years, so she is aware of the statistics. "The live release rate is a problem," she said. "The intake rate is a problem. The euthanasia rate is a problem."

Officials from Hillsborough County Animal Services will share how they were able to raise their live release rate by 116 percent in the past five years. In the same period, Hillsborough County reduced its euthanasia rate by 23 percent. The veterinarians want Pasco County to raise its live release rate by 20 percent a year, and they say they can recommend low-cost ways to do it.

Dan Johnson, assistant county administrator who oversees animal services, is quick to jump to its defense. "We have made tremendous improvements in adoptions," he said. "Twenty-five years ago, we were euthanizing 10,000 animals a year."

Johnson said it isn't fair to compare Pasco County's numbers with its neighbor because Hillsborough County commissioners "pumped $600,000 a year into their animal control budget, and we just lost three out of 11 animal control officers."

Hillsborough County also requires license and registration for cats. Pasco does not.

"The county has an overpopulation of feral cats," Johnson said. "The number of cats we're taking in has skyrocketed, and almost all of them are brought in by residents."

Hillsborough County also raised its registration fees this year to deal with a budget shortfall. The county now charges $40 to register a nonsterilized animal and $20 for a sterilized animal. The higher fees are expected to generate $1 million this fiscal year and help the department offset some of its losses.

A dog tag in Pasco County costs $5 ($25 for a nonsterilized dog). Voluntary cat tags cost $5.

"We do not regulate cats," Johnson said. "We tried to pass an ordinance five years ago, but we don't have the personnel to enforce it."

Pasco County broke ground in the spring on a new adoption center. But Spencer said that building a larger shelter won't lower the county's euthanasia rate.

"If you make yourself bigger, you end up holding more animals, and you can hold them for longer," she said. "But ultimately, they become unadoptable because the longer they stay in a shelter situation, the more emotionally and physically sick they become."

One fix might be for animal services to participate in more off-site adoption events such as the ones at the Florida State Fairgrounds.

Johnson questioned the association's motives because he and animal services manager Denise Hilton weren't invited to the workshop. Whitfield said the association was not trying to exclude animal services, noting that the county's current shelter veterinarian is a member of the association.

"We want this to be a problem-solving-oriented meeting - not an opportunity to bash animal control," Spencer said. "Our job as vets is to help them, and that starts with reducing the intake numbers."

Chatfield said the association will prepare a report with a list of recommendations to present to county commissioners in December.

"We won't be making these recommendations lightly," she said. "We want them to be legitimate and fiscally responsible. We have friends in high places who are experts in the field, and we intend to call on them."