Pets & Animals - City Wants to Shorten Animal Shelter Time

Talk Back: Post a comment on this article By Ashley Coleman First Coast News JACKSONVILLE, FL -- Connor Elsea always keeps his dog on a leash.

[Lisa G]

Please don't shorten the time. 3 days is not enough time! Can't we do another fund-raiser to help this situation rather than sacrifice some little girl's puppy? I experienced this situation a couple of years ago and it was heart-breaking!

[Lisa G]

To continue: Neighbors of mine had an older dog accidently get loose. It got lost and ended up in my backyard. I posted signs all over the neighborhood and kept it for a couple of days. I checked the lost and found in the paper. It wasn't well so I took it to the Humane Society to make sure it was given health care. They didn't even hold it one day! They euthanized it immediately - and didn't tell me. The very next day, the owners contacted me. I told them their dog was at the Humane Society They called back and said their little girl was devasted that her doggie wasn't coming home. 3 Days is NOT ENOUGH!

[Stoney Creek Voice]

Hey Lisa, are you the Lisa G. in Terri Clark's fan club? The lemondrop?

[History Repeats Itself]

According to FCN the city council approved the budget last night for a $350 million boondoggle court house and it looks like at the expense of child care and the pet population of the city.
Jax ACC buildings and organization are in shambles. Recognizing that there is so much criticism in this area - true to fashion - we are condescended to and placated by a promise to expand the Mandarin Adoption Center. Well aint that grand? In the emantime, ACC personnel go without ongoing training and professional leadership and are forced to once again continue working in outdated and failing facilities. ACC and the pet population of Jacksonville are once again pushed aside for pet projects that are pushed for the purposes of self grandizement and bigger bucks to play with among the fat cats.
TELL ME WHERE AND WHY I AM WRONG!!

[Pet Showcase TV- Producer]

Pet Showcase TV, Inc, a media company specializing in pet adoption and spay/neuter programs for animal shelters, has approached the Jacksonville Animal Care and Control division with it's pet adoption program since Year 2001. This pet adoption program comes with 80% funding from sponsors with the city/county funding the remaining 20%. In the Savannah, GA market, 1,099 pets were adopted within a three(3) month period. Trying to get an appointment with an individual within the "City of Jacksonville" was insulting, to say the least. Pet Showcase TV aires these PAID broadcast TV spots on network television affiliates such as NBC and ABC along with Cable Networks such as Animal Planet, FOOD, HGTV, Lifetime, FNN, CNN.
In closing, as the President/producer of Pet Showcase TV, I am concerned about the welfare of missing/lost neighborhood pets being put down in five days-- that time window is truly unreasonable. Is Jacksonville, Florida ready to be coined: "Save The City Money.... Kill a Family Pet."
I can be contacted via our web site address, www. petshowcasetv.com , whereby you can locate my email address. Thank you, Rebecca Kyros, president, Pet Showcase TV Productions.

[The Pen]

Pet Showcase TV- Producer wrote:

Pet Showcase TV, Inc, a media company specializing in pet adoption and spay/neuter programs for animal shelters, has approached the Jacksonville Animal Care and Control division with it's pet adoption program since Year 2001. This pet adoption program comes with 80% funding from sponsors with the city/county funding the remaining 20%. In the Savannah, GA market, 1,099 pets were adopted within a three(3) month period. Trying to get an appointment with an individual within the "City of Jacksonville" was insulting, to say the least. Pet Showcase TV aires these PAID broadcast TV spots on network television affiliates such as NBC and ABC along with Cable Networks such as Animal Planet, FOOD, HGTV, Lifetime, FNN, CNN.
In closing, as the President/producer of Pet Showcase TV, I am concerned about the welfare of missing/lost neighborhood pets being put down in five days-- that time window is truly unreasonable. Is Jacksonville, Florida ready to be coined: "Save The City Money.... Kill a Family Pet."
I can be contacted via our web site address, www. petshowcasetv.com , whereby you can locate my email address. Thank you, Rebecca Kyros, president, Pet Showcase TV Productions.

Rebecca, Jacksonville has a long history of not giving a continental damn about its pet population. It just seems so very strange that they can come up with money and projected plans to support a three and one-half million dollar court house and not be able to keep its promise to the citizens of Jacksonville for a new ACC complex that has been budgeted and approved year after year for several years. Today they want to throw a bone to us saying they will expand the Mandarin Adoption Center. That is an insult to my intelligence and yours. The shortened hold time for dogs and cats is absolutely more to do with the swinging door population of animals being taken in faster than they can kill em off or get them adopted than about saving money. When a pet owner redeems his dog the daily twelve dollars is added to whatever else he is required to pay to redeem his dog. To mislead the public in this fashion is more than an insult to your intelligence - it is in fact an out and out LIE!

[Squirt]

I was at ACC just yesterday aternoon delivering 4 ferrel kittens found in my yard. The gentleman taking in the kittens was very kind. However, I asked to see a dog that I saw on the website and he would not let me. It was a stray that had been there 3 days. 5 days is not enough time for a family to claim a beloved pet. The people might be on vacation got out of the yard or something!!

[any wonder]

They can't help it. They are under-staffed and overcrowded. They are placed in a position of rotating them in and rotating them out just as fast as they can by WHATEVER means they have to. It isn't ACC's fault. It is your city government that just doesn't care and will not do anything to improve that agency and where they have to work until everything else in the city has been modernized or replaced. LIKE THAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN

[Hey James]

READ all of these comments!

[X employee]

Though this is a small audience I feel the need to post. I agree with "any wonder" to a certain extent. But one major point keeps getting missed and I believe it is because those who post are those that care about their animals. No one is looking at anything other than the establishment. The City government, ACC and its employees. What about the negligent pet owners throughout the city who "throw away" or neglect their animals. These are the people creating the problem, the City is simply trying to solve it. Granted it is not a good solution and the motives (at least those given to "appease" the public) are not correct.

I used to work for AC&C for many years and though you see many nice, caring people legitimately looking for their animals, you also see the scum of the Earth. People wanting their animals back until they see the cost, kicking their animals in the lobby, teasing the animals as they walk the runs, the list goes on and on. I have heard too many stories of animals being thrown from moving cars and abandoned when the family leaves to say it is solely the governments fault. Many people do not care about each other and more don't care about animals. They are toys. "Opps, I lost it or killed it. Well, I'll just get another one." "Or, I won't fix my animal because its a symbol of power for me." Don't think about the animal's health.

The true solution is Spaying and Neutering and of course EDUCATION. AC&C tries but there is no funding to educate kids in schools and people are allowed to surrender their animals rather than pay fines. Their authority is a joke. Everyone working there knows it but they persist for their own reasons.

Placing a dollar amount on the stay of an animal was a misstep for the City's administration and I am sure they know now. The real problem is as someone stated before, too many are coming in and not enough are going out. This is harsh, but it is simple economics and an issue of quality of life. There are not enough cages or people to properly care for the animals. If you have been there, you know they often get packed 3 to 5 large dogs and 5 to 9 small to a cage. And their attendants have to constantly break up dog fights at their own risk. Furthermore, on the quality of life with so many in close proximity disease runs rampant no matter how well they clean. Thus, it is virtually inevitable for the animals to get sick and one a cat gets upper respiratory without proper treatment (which can't be provided to each individual) it is a slow and miserable death. Imagine seeing these animals daily going from healthy to on their death bed.

The point is (sorry it took so long to get there)AC&C's only solution for now is to make space for the new arrives as quickly as possible, which unfortunately relates to mass euthanasia. To do so you have to harden your heart and try not to break down. Telling yourself you are doing it for the good of the animals because the people are worthless. So it isn't about money, its about space and those who are naive enough to wonder why they want to shorten the hold time and why they can't keep the animals indefinitely should volunteer and ask to see it all for at least a week. You can't know what you are talking about unless you walk a mile in their shoes.

Lastly, if you care about your animals make sure their tags are always on them, get them microchipped, and have them spayed and neutered. No this isn't a public service announcement. Because until we can stop those who mistreat and neglect animals from having them we do what we have to to shelter the lost and surrendered.

View different perspectives before you speak or act.

[The Pen]

X employee wrote:

Though this is a small audience I feel the need to post. I agree with "any wonder" to a certain extent. But one major point keeps getting missed and I believe it is because those who post are those that care about their animals. No one is looking at anything other than the establishment. The City government, ACC and its employees. What about the negligent pet owners throughout the city who "throw away" or neglect their animals. of the Earth. The true solution is Spaying and Neutering and of course EDUCATION. AC&C tries but there is no funding to educate kids in schools and people are allowed to surrender their animals rather than pay fines. Their authority is a joke.

Placing a dollar amount on the stay of an animal was a misstep for the City's administration and I am sure they know now. The real problem is as someone stated before, too many are coming in and not enough are going out. there, you know they often get packed 3 to 5 large dogs and 5 to 9 small to a cage. Thus, it is virtually inevitable for the animals to get sick and one a cat gets upper respiratory without proper treatment (which can't be provided to each individual) it is a slow and miserable death. Imagine seeing these animals daily going from healthy to on their death bed.
The point is (sorry it took so long to get there)AC&C's only solution for now is to make space for the new arrives as quickly as possible, which unfortunately relates to mass euthanasia. To do so you have to harden your heart and try not to break down. Telling yourself you are doing it for the good of the animals because the people are worthless. So it isn't about money, its about space and those who are naive enough to wonder why they want to shorten the hold time and why they can't keep the animals indefinitely should volunteer and ask to see it all for at least a week. You can't know what you are talking about unless you walk a mile in their shoes.
Lastly, if you care about your animals make sure their tags are always on them, get them microchipped, and have them spayed and neutered. No this isn't a public service announcement. Because until we can stop those who mistreat and neglect animals from having them we do what we have to to shelter the lost and surrendered.
View different perspectives before you speak or act.

Can't deny your point X except your admonishment to look at all the perspectives before you speak almost sounds like an admonishment. You probably are not aware but the majority of posts are from former employees of animal control. The need to spay and neuter on the part of pet owners is important and does play a role in this mater. That in no way excuses or even mitigates the deploarble conditions that animal care and control must operate. THAT's the major point. Until there is better governmental support for this agency there will always be serious problems and our pets will be the ones that suffer. Don't bequite so sanctimonious!

[Kathy]

Mayor Peyton needs to regroup! Let's cut his salary to cover the extra days for the pets or use his water and sewer tax to cover the cost for the pets. He should enjoy being Mayor as it won't happen again.

[Mattie]

Kathy wrote:

Mayor Peyton needs to regroup! Let's cut his salary to cover the extra days for the pets or use his water and sewer tax to cover the cost for the pets. He should enjoy being Mayor as it won't happen again.

Kathy. it goes much further than the cost of the "pets". It is the whole AC&C program, policy and facility that is in dire need of revamping. They have been in a "get by" mode for way too long and Peyton just simply doesn't care. The don't care attitude goes way beyond the bricks and mortar of buildings, way beyond personnel and training, it extends to the welfare of every animal in the city and every pet owner in the city and every citizen of Jacksonville. It reaches far into the civil rights of individuals and constituents. Without some very drastic changes, you will soon begin to see some very drastic and costly failures.

[I care]

Well 1st all the land out here that's not in use could help with pets and they could make it were it's a no kill and let people bring food and anything that would help and so on,they let the guys that don't have a place to live and is able to work sleep there and do drugs so why not clean it up and put the pet's there and let the homeless find a job and get a place to live but they would rather stay in the woods and do there drugs,anyway you get the point! I could go on and on but I have my kids and dogs to get to. JUST LIKE i PICKED UP A PUPPY OFF THE STREET THE OTHER DAY THAT WAS BEATEN AND TOOK HIM TO THE VET AND NOW HE HAS TO HAVE A PEN PUT IN HIS LEG OR HAVE IT REMOVED SO PEOPLE STOP THE BEATENS AND KILLINGS AND LETS SAVE THE PETS BUT THE FEE'S ARE WAY TO HIGHT ON ALL OF THIS AND IT SHOULD BE MONEY DON'T MATTER A LIFE DOES!!! HATE TO SAY IT LIKE THAT BUT IT'S THE TRUTH!!

[scott t hill]

they need extend there time to two weeks.

[cats and dogs]

The ACC is poorly managed death hole for animals. The lazy employees don't even bother checking the owner's dog tags on the collar-- they just put the animal away and euthanize it a few days later. The majority of employees including the supervisors are the lowest life forms imaginable. The wonderful VET will leave an animal trapped in a pet carrier for 8 hours without food, water, or any way to revlieve itself. Some animals go with out food or water for days because the employees are lazy and the supervisors are even lazier. The employees steal the donations that people bring. THAT my friends is where your tax dollars are going. They need to get rid of the entire staff and start over with decent, professional, and dedicated staff and management.

[The Pen]

Pet Friend wrote:
<quoted text>
I'm afraid that the folks downtown won't understand the sarcasm. They will likely use the billboard as an excuse to further delay the new facility, thinking that we already have a state-of-the-art animal shelter. They have never visited the shelter, so they don’t know how bad the conditions are or how the shelter took a nosedive in the last six to eight months.
Perhaps not, but it wouldn't take too many visitors to see the "hellhole"firsthand at 2580 W 1st St to make the kind of stink that demands attention before something constructive would be done. Not only does ACC operate under budget to save money to build a court house, but also the city flooded the entire management team with transferees from other city divisions so the city could save dollars from not adding employees to the overall city payroll. The fact that they have no animal care or control experience was never a concern. You can see that there is reason for concern after the fact. I have said and continue to believe somewhere down the road, a major lawsuit or major public embarassment will be the only real solution.