Vocal point : Put animal-control cost where it belongs

I usually applaud the close scrutiny our elected officials apply to the budget, but the statements made regarding the perceived excessive costs of animal control leave me shaking my head.

Anyone spending time at either of our government-contracted animal shelters would have a hard time identifying any fat in their operating expenses.

I am even more dumbfounded that the only suggested solution is to raise the licensing fees. That is shortsighted and shallow.

I believe there is a better approach.

Every Saturday morning, I help support a small but dedicated group of volunteers down at Spokane County Regional Animal Protective Services who work with the dogs that have been relinquished there.

On a recent Saturday, after leaving the shelter, I had to go to shopping. In the mall parking lot were three vans parked side by side, selling puppies.

One of the vans had purebred Doberman pinschers, and the other two had litters of mixed-breed puppies. The owners of all three vans were busy with the crowds that had gathered.

I found it heartbreaking, after leaving the shelter and being with people working very hard to save the lives of dogs, that three miles down the road people unaware of the scope of the homeless pet problem were gleefully selling 15 puppies to people who like most animals lovers found the puppies irresistible.

That sight alone crystallized for me the approach we need to take to meet the expense of our animal-control services. As a community we need to insist on enforceable, nonnegotiable standards for the care of our pet population.

A pet bought in a parking lot is an impulse purchase. Too often the adopters bring them to a shelter when they are overwhelmed or bored with the commitment it takes.

We need to develop a system that requires people to think and plan before taking on the lifetime responsibility of a pet and create policies that pass the costs of caring for the animals in our shelters on to those people who carelessly put them there.

If you are not a licensed breeder and you allow your pet to have a litter either intentionally or by accident, you pay a fee. About $200 covers the cost of housing a dog for the two-week window it is given to find a new home.

That fee also would cover the cost of euthanasia if it is not adopted or transferred out, which is 30 percent of the time.

If you don’t license your pet, you should pay a fine comparable to the cost of the officers who have picked up your pet and of the shelter staff who have tried to locate the owners, and the cost of housing, feeding and caring for it until you come and get it. And the cost of the euthanasia if you decide not to bother.

If they get loose from your yard, fix the problem. If they get loose again, you will pay a fine.

If you don’t provide adequate food and shelter for them, you pay a penalty. If you leave these highly social animals alone in the back yard and they bark out of boredom or frustration until your neighbors start relying on prescription drugs to get to sleep, you need to pay.

Animal shelter staff and volunteers have worked some incredible miracles in getting many of the lost, abandoned and relinquished dogs and cats into new homes. The support from the community in regards to adopting pets from shelters and donating money, food and other supplies is truly amazing, but it is not enough.

Despite the effort, in 2005 an average of 125 healthy dogs and more than 300 healthy cats each month were euthanized in Spokane County because the animals ran out of time and we ran out of space. This year isn’t tracking much better.

We need to place that cost squarely on the shoulders of the people who created it. We need to do it for our sake and the sake of the animals.