COSTA MESA HAS NO MONEY SO DOGS AND PEOPLE WILL SUFFER

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.  

Posted via email from cdocdogtalk

test

Posted via email from cdocdogtalk

PUPPY DEFEATS ALLAN DRUSYS - MSN ADVOCATE

If you are a responsible and knowledgeable dog owner who opposes Mandatory Spay and Neuter, you probably have some not so fond memories of Allan Drusys*.  He is the veterinarian in Riverside County who traveled all over the state with Judie Mancuso talking about why MSN was such a great policy.  He spoke to local governments and was a speaker for Lloyd Levine and Dean Florez.  And Drusys prefaced all his talks by stating that he was an elected official - he was on the Yucaipa City Council. 

Well no more.  PUPPY - People Understand Pet Population in Yucaipa decided they had had enough of Drusys.  So PUPPY (a) supported the candidates who are reasonable and (b) got the word out in Yucaipa about Drusys including his repressive animal policies in Riverside.  And the two candidates supported by PUPPY - Masner and Bogh were elected to the Yucaipa City Council.  So congratulations to all the people across the state who had finally had enough and who joined forces with good candidates.  

As Edmond Burke said "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."  Responsible dog owners are taking action all over California.  Thank you.

*A personal favorite was when Drusys was asked by Council Member Bill Rosendahl at an LA City Council Meeting about the failure of MSN in so many places across the country, Drusys got up and said that actually none of those municipalities had ever implemented it - they just passed it.

Posted via email from cdocdogtalk

NO MSN FOR SANTA BARBARA

Congratulations to the responsible dog owners of Santa Barbara and their reasonable elected officials.  This is  from Ginny White and Janet Lee Vining.

On October 5, 2010, the City of Santa Barbara, California, passed an ordinance amending the existing City pet licensing law.  Although the original proposal was to make the City ordinance consistent with the County of Santa Barbara's recently passed spay/neuter ordinance, the City significantly changed the language and did not support a mandatory spay/neuter approach.  The City designed an ordinance based on education of pet owners regarding spaying/neutering options and responsible pet ownership.  

A veterinary certificate will be required to license an unaltered dog or unaltered cat, but unlike the County ordinance, it does not require the veterinarian's authorization to keep the dog or cat intact.  The City's certificate would state only that the veterinarian has counseled the owner on the concerns and responsibilities associated with owning an unaltered pet and has provided educational material on responsible pet ownership.  The intent is that this discussion would take place during the visit for rabies vaccination so there would be no additional cost to the owner.  To make it easier to have licensing coincide with rabies vaccination, license options were expanded to 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, or 3 years.  This is the first time licenses will be required for cats.  

The fee for licenses for unaltered dogs and unaltered cats will include a small surcharge which will be used to fund educational outreach programs and activities on responsible pet ownership including spaying/neutering.

Posted via email from cdocdogtalk

PUPPY (People Understand Pet Population in Yucaipa)

This is looking out for dogs at the local level. There is an election in November for the Yucaipa City Council (there are two openings) and Dr. Allen Drusys is running for re-election along with some current members and some new faces. The two candidates receiving the highest number of votes will take seats on the Council. The candidates being endorsed by PUPPY are current council member Tom Masner and Tom Bogh.
To provide a refresher on Allan Drusys, he came to the Los Angeles City Council in 2007 and worked hand-in-hand with Judie Mancuso to get MSN pushed through in Los Angeles. In fact, when he was asked about all the places where MSN had been unsuccessful, he told the City Council it had never been implemented in those places. And that was just a starting place for this ambitious politician.

Drusys testified for AB1634 in Sacramento, lobbied for SB250, drove through MSN in Riverside and is active as an advocate in other places. Because Drusys is an "elected" official, other electeds tend to pay attention. The community in Yucaipa has joined together so that Drysus cannot continue raising kill rates and costs around the state.

The PUPPY website is here - https://sites.google.com/site/250puppy/. To find out how you can contribute to PUPPY contact terraglo@aol.com. PUPPY will also be contacting Yucaipa voters. Please be sure to see the story of Hannah. It was only through CDOC bringing pressure from Sacramento and through Hannah's Supervisor that her owner was able to avoid charges by Drusys. Please pass this along so dog people across California realize Yucaipa is taking action. A politician who loses a local election is less likely to end up in Sacramento and that is where Drusys aims to go.

Posted via email from cdocdogtalk

LOS ANGELES CONSIDERS REVISING PET LIMITS

The first of two Town Hall Meetings was held on Thursday, September 16th to consider raising pet limits. The sense of the crowd was overwhelmingly in favor of raising the limits. The audience was divided between rescue people and, for want of a better work, dog activity people - those who compete and sometimes breed, with the rescue people being in a majority. Everyone makes the case that if it were possible to have more animals, there would be more adoptions from the shelter and more income for the City of Los Angeles.
Opposition for the plan was led by Phyllis Dougherty who has been working hard to drum up support to defeat this idea. In her press interview Dougherty called the plan a disaster for the animals and said it would result in Los Angeles being called the "barking city". She also sniped at General Manager Brenda Barnette for her past association with purebred dogs. Dougherty led a local campaign against the hiring of Barnette. Also lukewarm was Laura Beth Heisen who was not only Judie Mancuso's hand-picked candidate for the Spay/Neuter Advisory Board but who was also gunning for the job Barnette has.

The meeting, which was described by someone as a "love fest" showed great unanimity among those attending. And it was quite clear that the community embraces Ms. Barnette and welcomes her openness and attention.
The next meeting will be Wednesday, September 22nd at 6:30 pm at the West Los Angeles Animal Care Center, 11361 W. Pico Boulevard. With more time for Ms. Dougherty and Ms. Heisen will be able to drum up opposition it will be interesting to hear the tenor of that meeting. This change in limits was sponsored by Los Angeles City Council Member Bill Rosendahl and seconded by Council Member Paul Koretz

Posted via email from cdocdogtalk

IF YOU CARE ABOUT DOGS, GET INVOLVED

This is the time to get to know who is running in your local district. Unfortunately, this is often tied into making political contributions - California does run on money. But Toni Atkins is doing this a little differently, she is having a Friend Raiser, no need to make a contribution.

Anyone who lives in her district and does not attend and get to know her and express their views will have no ability to complain. We say we want them to listen. They can't listen if we are not there to talk.

---

Reminder:

Ruth Rollins

and the

Point Loma Democratic Club

Invite You to a

Friend-Raiser

For

Toni Atkins

For

State Assembly

Sunday, September 12, 2010

10:00 am - 12:00 pm

At the Rollins Home in Point Loma

1268 Savoy Street

San Diego, CA 92107

For more information, contact Ruth at (619) 222-9344.

Come enjoy a continental breakfast and join Toni Atkins, former San Diego City Councilmember and candidate for the 76th Assembly District, for a conversation about California's future.