Animal control works with humane society to solve problem of stray cats and dogs
November 24th, 2009 Posted in OpinionBy Kara Kawakami
LOGAN–Animal control officers keep the streets of Logan safe from biting dogs and feral cats. Any given day on the Logan City Police Department’s blotter, there is at least one report of a stray animal or some kind of animal incident.
Animal control is normally call-oriented, said Capt. Tyson Budge. “We’re pretty responsive. They [police officers] don’t usually just drive and pick up cats unless somebody calls us and complains about it, and we’ll come and give them a trap and we’ll try to trap it,” he said.
Handling stray dogs is a different story.
“People are usually more apt to call if they see a dog running across the street than if a cat runs across the street. Dogs are not necessarily just call-based. If we see dogs running loose, animal control is going to take some action there because they pose a greater risk for bites,” Budge said.
If the animal has no identification then it will be taken to the Cache Valley Humane Society, located in Logan at 2370 W. 200 North.
“If they [animal control] are unable to reach the person or the animal has no identification, then it is brought down here and what we do is take a photo of the animal and do a physical identification of the animal, and enter it into our database,” said Michael Bishop, director of the Humane Society.
“Our emphasis is to try to reconnect that lost animal with its owner,” Bishop said. “We do have some animal control officers in the valley that are truly exceptional.”
“We have to hold it for 72 hours; we normally hold it for about 4 days,” Budge said. “If we’re not able to prove that it was ever owned by somebody, if it’s just a stray it will most likely be euthanized, unless the humane society finds it to be adoptable.”
The Logan Municipal Council recently passed a trap, neuter, and release program in which they capture, spay or neuter, and then release the strays. “That’s supposedly a way that they think they can control the population of stray cats,” Budge said.
The calls about stray animals slow during the winter months, Budge said. However, “As soon as the spring picks up again, and people are out and about and they don’t want other people’s animals ruining their picnics, they will start calling again,” he said.
While the Cache Valley Humane Society has only been in operation through one holiday season, Bishop is optimistic of the numbers. “As we become more established and as we become better as what we do, our adoption rates will go up,” he said.
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Tags: animal control, Cache Valley Humane Society, stray dogs and cats
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