Animals: Public Meeting 2

For those who have pets, I'm sure their like family. I personally have two cats and I love them dearly. But if you asked me if I spent $60 a year per cat to get them rabies vaccination and another $20per cat to buy them a name tag that says they got their vaccination, I'd tell you NO. I don't see a point in spending extra money to keep them vaccinated from outside diseases when I have inside cats. In fact, the only time my cats venture outside is if their on a leash and with me. I'm not running the risk of them getting hit by a car or eaten by an alligator (which roam freely in my condos).

Tonight, I attended the Hillsborough County Animal Services public meeting. I have to admit I learned a great deal about their services, what they do for the community, and where some of the money spent at the vet actually goes. The HCAS is in need of financial support or the whole department may be in jeopardy of going under. We all know the economy is affecting almost every human being in form or fashion in the United States. I never thought about how much the economy affected animals. HSCA uses money earned from adoptions, tags sales (once rabies vaccines are administered), and county budgets to fund the feral cat program, animal cruelty investigators, and pay for veterinarians who take care of the animals at the shelter.
But the program is losing money and if they don't come up with $1.3 million for the  FY12 (budget moving into 2012) they will have to cut over 14 jobs.

Director Bill Armstrong headed tonight's meeting. His job is difficult to say the least. He is not only in charge of keeping the department a float during these tough times, but he also has to make the tough decision of deciding who should get to keep their jobs, if the department can't raise the $1.3 million by the middle of next year. Currently, the state requires animals who goes to any clinic to be vaccinated for rabies at the owners expense. With that the county reimburses vet offices 10% of sales to offset the cost of labor used to file update vaccination information with the state.  Armstrong talked about possibly eliminating the10% reimbursements to vets to save jobs although vets account for over 80% of the sale of tag and licenses for the estimate six hundred thousand pets in the state. Veterinarian Dr. Arthur Simon, who owns a private practice, attended the meeting and spoke of his concern to continue reimbursement to vet offices. Dr. Simon also explained that vets too are losing money and struggling to stay open as well. He's had to cut back on hours for staff because he says he would rather cut hours than cut jobs. With the economy the way it is I often ask myself, do I put gas in my car, pay my rent, utility bills or do I spend what little I have on something I feel unneccesary for my cats?

However, if we don't band together as a community we may lose the benefits of Animal Services forever. I want to take a look at some of the benefits of having animal services. Animal Serivce implemented the feral cat program. This program provides spay and nutures for free and at a very discounted rate if you found a or recued a cat or dog. Also if a stray cat or dog is found in the street they are often brought to the Humane Society of other paticipating clinics to be spayed and nutured. Animal services is trying to reduce the over population of stray cats and dogs by catching them and sterilizing them. Also if there's a scary looking, big tough dog roaming around your neighborhood with out an owner, who would you call to pick it up? The answer, animal services. If someone is being cruel to an animal or the neighbors house next door smell of strong ammonia. One phone call and animal services shows up to rescue 20 cats or dogs living in filthy unmanageable conditions. Those animals are taken to the shelter to be check out by a vetrenarian and for those that can be nursed back to health, are treated and put up for adoption. All of this cost money and is in need of state funding. So I've learned that donating a bag of food here and there isn't enough.

I've decided that I can make the sacrifice. Save a little money and take my cats to the vet, maybe one at a time. I can pay for the vaccine (which they should have just in case they ever get outside) and buy a tag and license for them. Not because I think its necessary but because it helps fund a well needed program. If we don't band together for these animals, which can't tell us if something is wrong, then who will?