According to the New York Times, The City Costa Mesa has fired half of its city employees, including some in the Animal Control section of the Police Department.
It seems to us that both the fired employees, and Costa Mesa dogs would be well served if the City brought back the terminated employees and had them work on getting the dogs in Costa Mesa licensed. Using the AVMA US Pet Ownership Calculator, Costa Mesa has about 28,000 dogs. If Costa Mesa's licensing compliance rate is at the state average, only about 5600 of those dogs are licensed.
Why does it matter? It matters because licensed and positively permanently identified dogs get home. They do not end up in shelters long-term; they are returned to their owners. They do not become a tax-payer burden. We know they have had rabies vaccinations. It matters because those of us fortunate enough to own dogs should contribute to the infrastructure which takes care of lost dogs. It should matter to everyone who opposes mandatory spay and neuter because when the lost dogs are returned to their owners, 80% of the shelter population does away and the cry for MSN looks silly.
What is at stake here? Licensing 10,000 of the more than 22,000 unlicensed dogs in Costa Mesa would generate $250,000. Not one time, every single year. It would be money well spent for the City to institute a program to bring back staff to work on this. If pensions are the issue, then hire people as part-timers initially. Los Angeles County has a canvassing program with full-time staff with benefits and that program generates more than it costs - and their base licensing fee is less than the base fee in Costa Mesa.
We hate to see anyone lose jobs in this economy. But with animal control, the City has an opportunity to increase income, get the animals onto the database so they can be returned home and provide jobs all at the same time.
