A county commissioner wants more animals to be spayed or neutered and proposes hiring a second veterinarian to help.
By BRIDGET HALL GRUMET
Published September 21, 2004
County Commissioner Peter Altman wants to put the brakes on Pasco's population boom.
The pet population boom, that is.
Each year, Animal Control euthanizes more than 10,000 dogs and cats, the vast majority of whom are unwanted or abandoned. Pet sterilization is the obvious solution, but the question remains: How do you encourage people to get Fido or Fifi fixed?
The county now gives $40 rebates to people who take their dog to a participating veterinarian to be spayed or neutered. Altman wonders whether it would be cheaper and more effective for the county to hire a second veterinarian at the Animal Control shelter in Land O'Lakes to provide the procedures for free.
"In the long run, the continuous unchecked population boom that occurs is a much more expensive proposition," Altman said Monday in an interview with the Pasco Times, outlining some of his goals if he is re-elected this fall.
County staff members are looking into the idea. At first blush, it could make economic sense.
Those $40 sterilization rebates add up to about $100,000 a year, county budget director Mike Nurrenbrock said. Hiring a second veterinarian for the Animal Control shelter would cost about $43,767 (the salary of the current vet) plus benefits.
"We are going to start, as a result of (Altman's) suggestions, investigating it further to see what else we can find out," said Dan Johnson, the assistant county administrator for public services, which includes Animal Control.
Altman called for "a very aggressive spaying and neutering program" in light of the fact the county will spend $2.5-million next year to build a new Animal Control building and renovate the existing one. The larger facility is needed, in part, to handle the growing number of animals coming into the shelter.
The county hired its current veterinarian, Dr. Raul Figarola, in April 2003 to examine and sterilize shelter animals for adoption. The county previously hired outside veterinarians to do the work part time, but as a full-time staffer, Figarola can prepare hundreds more animals for adoption each year.
Altman's suggestion is to hire a second veterinarian to sterilize pets brought in by their owners. The idea came up during Altman's visit to the Animal Control shelter last week. "The conversation evolved into (the fact that) the vast majority of the problems and issues that Animal Control has to deal with - everything from dogs running loose and running wild, to causing traffic problems, to abandoned strays - goes back to the need to alter pets, to spay or neuter them," Johnson said.
Bridget Hall Grumet covers Pasco County government. She can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6244 or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6244. Her e-mail address is bhall@sptimes.com
