Animal Control: What Are We Paying For?

Animal Control is a failed agency that we keep throwing more and more money at.

One of the primary responsibilities of animal control is to license animals. The fact is about 20 percent of animals are currently licensed. This number is down since mandatory spay/neuter laws have been enacted.

They will tell you licensing is so that your animal can be identified and returned to you if it should get lost. Good luck with that.

First off, if your animal is picked up, even in your front yard, the first thing that happens is that animal is hauled off to the shelter. You will then receive a call, hopefully, that your animal is with them and you will need to go to the shelter to retrieve it. At that time you will have to figure out when you will be able to take time off of work to go get it as the shelter hours coincide with most people's work schedule. If I am paying for a license so my animal can be returned, what's  up with that?

If you don't receive a call and you call them, they will tell you come on down and look around because even if you have a micro-chip they don't have a record of it because it's not asked for on the license application. Only a government agency can ask for more money and responsibility when they can't even do their primary function properly.

As for adopting an animal, be ready for the indoctrination. You must submit to an analysis of your living conditions. If you have any weeds or a fence that is not deemed acceptable to the powers that be, forget it. They want you to adopt, but only after they can educate you to their way.

When did it become the taxpayer's responsibility to warehouse people's unwanted pets in a building that cost three times per square foot what it cost to build a house, or a building that when you first walk in you see this enormous lobby with private offices along one side?

It's time to take a step back and ask is my tax money being spent wisely, not.