Jan. 16, 2018 Meeting of the Baltimore County Animal Svcs. Advisory Commission

Here's what happened at the Commission's latest meeting:

                      AGENDA FOR  JANUARY, 2018
          Baltimore County Animal Services Advisory
                                       Commission
   
1) Call to Order
2) Roll Call-Determination of a quorum
In attendance were Deborah Stone-Hess, Joy Freedman, Julianne Zimmer, Roy Plummer, and Jon Christiana and Janice Vincent by phone
3) Approval of minutes-Here are the minutes as approved:
BALTIMORE COUNTY ANIMAL SERVICES
ADVISORY COMMISSION
October 18, 2017

The twenty-fourth regular meeting of the Baltimore County Animal Services Advisory Commission was held on Tuesday, October 18, 2017 in the Main Conference Room of the Drumcastle Government Center. This meeting was called to order at 6:41 pm.
By the Chair Deborah Stone-Hess. Members in attendance were: Deborah Stone-Hess, Maryanne Bailey (by phone), Jon Christiana (by phone), Jamie DeRita Rodriguez (by phone), Joy Freedman and Julianne Zimmer.

Minutes

Minutes from the September 26, 2017 meeting were motioned and approved as submitted.

Motion –

Motioned by:  Joy Freeman
Second by:  Julianne Zimmer
Decision: Approved

Commission Member Resignation

Lavinia Ringgold has resigned. There is no news on her replacement at this time.

New business

Commission Report Submitted

The Commission Report has been submitted to the County Council and the County Executive.

Third Quarter Statistics

Third Quarter Statistics were shared as well as the comparison of third quarter statistics of 2016 and 2017. Here are the statistics of 2017:

Dogs Cats
Intake 498 1097
Euthanized 40 127
Went to Rescue 140 199
Adopted 104 392



Bathroom Issue

At BCAS there are major problems with pipes and as a result bathrooms have been non-operational. On some days, the public rest room has been non-operational while the administrative bathrooms were working. On other days, all bathrooms were not working. On days when only public restroom was not working, volunteers were told that they could not use the administrative bathroom and would have to drive to a public restroom. A portable bathroom is now onsite while construction is completed on the property. Commission members agreed that this is insulting to volunteers and could damage the goodwill that has been built through the volunteer program. Deborah Stone has drafted a letter to send to the County Attorney to ask about the legality of refusing volunteers and the public bathroom access when there is a working bathroom onsite. She has also drafted a letter to BCAS Administration, Baltimore County Health Officer and Baltimore County Administrator, expressing concerns over this issue.

Motion to send the letter:

Motion by Joy Freedman
Second by Julianne Zimmer
Motion approved.

When November 21st was mentioned as the next meeting date, Julianne and Deborah suggested moving the November meeting of the Commission to Tuesday, November 14th, so that it does not conflict with the Thanksgiving Holiday. Deborah will send emails to Commission members and scribe will check for room availability.

Liaison Committee Meeting Summary

The summary was presented but not discussed. Please see the summary below:

Baltimore County Animal Services Advisory Commission
Liaison Committee Meeting Summary
   
1. We talked about the emergency preparedness issue and the fact that Joy and Maryanne want to put together a one page sheet that could be in veterinarians’ offices about issues concerning BCAS and storm preparedness. The County Administrator is putting Joy in touch with Mark Hubbard who is the County Emergency Preparedness Director.
2. TNR Update – The County has performed 951 TNRs since it began its program in October of 2016. The County is still having a lot of difficulty getting people to agree to let cats back onto their property after they have been altered and vaccinated.
3. West side spay/neuter clinic – This is another area where the County continues to encounter difficulty. People on the west side seem disinterested in getting their pets spayed and neutered and efforts to encourage them to do so are proving unsuccessful. That includes the gift card program where people would receive a twenty dollar gift card in exchange for utilizing the clinic. The County is considering its options to determine whether the facility could be better used for other purposes, including TNR.
4. Mobile Adoption Vehicle – The new target date for getting the new vehicle is the end of November.
5. Vehicle to Libraries – Anne Gearhart expressed interest in having the vehicle come to county libraries. The shelter will consider that, although if Saturdays are the preferred time for this and other bigger events are taking place on Saturdays (as they often do) the County wants to go where they can reach the most people. So we don’t know if libraries will prove a viable option. Heidi is going to create an event calendar for the vehicle. Ann, contact her to discuss.
6. TNR of Friendly Cats – Deborah received a message on Facebook from someone concerned about friendly cats being returned after being altered. This is indeed part of the program as there is not enough room at the shelter to take in friendly cats through the TNR program. Kitten season continues and the adoption room is consistently running full. As long as cats appear to be healthy and have a reliable food source, they will be returned to their colonies whether they are feral or friendly. This offers the greatest likelihood of a live outcome for as many cats as possible.



Announcement of Next Meeting Date and Location
November 21, 2017 at Drumcastle Government Center, 6401 York Road, 3rd floor, Main Conference Room

Adjournment
Motion to adjourn
Motion by Julianne Zimmer
Second by Joy Freeman
Motion approved.

Adjourned at 7:25 p.m.

4) Old Business
a) Cuddle Shuttle-The shelter's new mobile adoption van, the Cuddle Shuttle is up and running and looks amazing.

b) Bathroom issue-The plumbing problems at thew shelter appear to be resolved.

5) New Business
a) BCAS Statistics for 4th quarter-Here are the stats:

MARYLAND ANIMAL CONTROL SHELTER SURVEY

Activity for Reporting Quarter: October-December, 2017
DOGS CATS

A. Live Animal Count at Beginning of Qtr	54	153
LIVE INTAKE DURING QTR:
B. Stray/At Large	300	464
C. Relinquished by Owner	113	140
D. Owner Requested Euthanasia	73	60
E. Transferred in from another Agency	0	0
F. Other Live Intakes (impounds, births, animals placed in foster care, brought in for TNR, etc)	0	379
G. TOTAL LIVE INTAKE DURING QTR (B+C+D+E+F)	486	1043

DISPOSITION DURING QTR:

H. Adoption	121	292
I. Returned to Owner	159	27
J. Transferred to another Agency	128	257
K. Other Live Outcome (includes TNRs released)	0	424
L. Died/Lost in Care	3	6
M. Euthanasia- at Owner’s Request	59	40
N. Euthanasia-All other than owner request	42	107
O. TOTAL DISPOSITION DURING QTR	512	1153
P. Live Animal Count at End of QTR (includes Fosters). (A+G - O)	28	43
In order to better understand to what degree unowned cats are a source of intake and euthanasia, we need your help. To the best of your abilities, please indicate what percent and/or how much of CAT intake would you consider unowned (i.e. feral, or community cats) animals: How many of the euthanized cats would you guess are unowned:

1/Pursuant to section 2-1602(H) of the Agriculture Article which states: “Beginning January 14,2014, each county and municipal animal control shelter and each organization that contracts with a county or municipality for animal control shall report quarterly to the Department on a form prescribed by the Department describing for the previous 3 months: (1) The number of cats and dogs taken in; (2) The number of cats and dogs disposed of, broken down by method of disposal, including euthanasia; and (3) Any other relevant data the Department requires.”Please return completed survey by email attachment to mda.spayandneuter@maryland.gov or by mail to Maryland Department of Agriculture, Marketing Department (Spay and Neuter Program), 50 Harry S Truman Parkway, Annapolis, MD 21401. Questions call Jane Mallory 410-481-5766 email: Jane.Mallory@maryland.gov .

Here's a summary of the stats as compared with 4th quarter 2016:
                   4TH QTR. 2017 VS. 4TH QTR. 2016

                                      INTAKE
              2017                                                         2016
Dogs     486                                                             509
Cats      1043         846

                                      ADOPTION
Dogs     121 (24.8%)                                            160 (31.4%)
Cats      292 (27.9%)                                             377 (44.5%)


                             TRANSFERRED TO RESCUE
Dogs     128  (26.3%)                                           156 (30.6%)
Cats      257   (24.6%)                                           220 (26%)

                                              TNR
Cats          424                                                            177

                                       EUTHANASIA
                   (OTHER THAN OWNER REQUESTED)

Dogs        42 (8.6%)                                                47 (9.2%)
Cats        107(10%)                                                152 (17.9%)


b) Oscar’s Death-There was an extensive discussion of the death of Oscar. This matter is being investigated by the Baltimore County States Attorneys office. The Commission approved wording of an email to be sent to Fred Homan requesting information. It
s not up to the Commission to investigate the facts of the case. The issue of concern for the Commission is whether Animal Control responded appropriately, whether protocols were followed, etc.
6) Announcement of next meeting location and time-The next Commission meeting will take place on Feb. 20, 2017on the 3rd floor of the Drumcastle Building.
7) Adjournment