via 225 Magazine
Change priorities
Saturday, January 1, 2011
It’s time for East Baton Rouge Parish to change its priorities when it comes to animal control practices.
Without costing taxpayers a single additional penny in taxes, the Metro Council could shift how it allocates its animal control budget in a way that would save hundreds, if not thousands, of lives of doomed animals, not to mention vastly improve the quality of their lives.
Gandhi said, “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” It’s a disgrace that eight out of every 10 animals our animal control officers pick up and bring to the parish pound are killed. Indeed, more than three fourths of the animal control budget is spent on enforcement, with mere leftovers going to fund sheltering and adoption.
The city-parish was doing such a poor job of sheltering last year that the non-profit Companion Animal Alliance was formed and proposed spinning off sheltering operations with $700,000 of animal control’s total budget to do it. The administration countered by offering $530,000, which represents only 25% of the animal control budget.
We say the city-parish should allocate more than the CAA is asking. Put bluntly, the priorities are backwards—especially when compared to other communities with more successful efforts.
Charlottesville, Va., is one example of a community that effectively cooperates with local non-profits. That city devotes 87% of its animal control budget to sheltering and kills far fewer animals in the process.
Baton Rouge’s animal control officers respond to some 23,000 calls per year, so we’re not saying the job is not important. But more robust shelter and adoption activities would go a long way to improving animal welfare locally.
There’s growing proof right here that small changes that cost virtually nothing in tax dollars can yield big improvements.
Committed volunteers with Yelp!, Project Purr and Friends of Animals should be commended for stepping up to intervene in our failing animal control system. By growing aggressive fostering programs for animals awaiting adoption, and by taking shelter animals out into the community at pet adoption events where the public can see and interact with them, these groups are saving more animals’ lives.
All indications are that 2010 will reveal a significant drop in the number of animals the parish killed, which should be more than ample proof that our animal control department was not doing all that it could have done to save more animals from suffering and death.
We’re not suggesting an increase in spending; we’re simply saying change the priorities and re-allocate how the money is spent.
Our animal advocacy groups and communities such as Charlottesville are all the proof and inspiration our Metro Council and Mayor Kip Holden should need.
It’s time for them to sit down with CAA and work out an agreement that starts moving Baton Rouge in the right direction when it comes to animal control.
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