Animal Welfare Oversight Committee Meeting

Animal Welfare Oversight Committee January 9th, 2023 The Norman Animal Welfare Oversight Committee of the City of Norman, Cleveland County, State of Oklahoma, met in the multi purpose room at the Norman Animal Welfare Building on the 9th day of January 2023 at 6:00 PM. The notice and agenda of the meeting was posted at the City of Norman Municipal Building on 201 West Gray Street on January 6th, 2022. The meeting was also posted on the City of Norman website at www.normanok.gov. I. ROLL CALL Co-chair Mark Howery called the meeting to order at 6:05PM. Present Co-chair Rebecca Bean Co-Chair Mark Howery Kim Fairbanks Rod Hall, D.V.M Sandy Moore- Furneaux Kristy Wicker II. APPROVAL OF THE NOVEMBER MINUTES Rod Hall motioned to accept the minutes as presented, Kristy Wicker seconded. The motion passed. III. MONTHLY STATISTICS AND UPDATES Ashley Battiest went over the shelter statistics for November and December. The shelter continued to be a max capacity for dogs specifically, although room did open up on the cat side of the shelter and allowed for more owner surrender cats to come into the shelter. There were 40 puppies that came into the shelter in December, a significant amount of puppies for the time of year, and most of those puppies stayed at the shelter until being adopted instead of in foster homes. The shelter also TNR’d 42 cats reflected in the statistics for November and December.  The Live release rate for shelter animals in November was 93.4% and for December it was 94.8%, however there were more animals euthanized for other behavioral reasons during that time because the shelter was over capacity. There was a conversation about adding a statistics column to cover the animals that were saved by bringing them to the shelter. Ashley Battiest also handed out the annual shelter statistics for 2022. There was a brief discussion about the general trends from the previous year. Kellee Robertson discussed the new hire for the kennel technician position and she said that she should be starting next month. The adoption coordinator position is still open, and it had originally been opened with the original pay rate from years ago which would have that person starting at less than a kennel tech position. When the pay rate is adjusted the job listing will stay open for an additional two weeks and then will be closed. The adoption event at the Well was very successful with seven adoptions including some of the longer stay dogs from the shelter. People enjoyed coming by to see the dogs and the trailer. IV. DISCUSSION ITEMS Animal Welfare Issues at Norman Homeless Camps Rebecca Bean spoke about the growing puppy population within the homeless camps in Norman with the colder weather, and that puppies in the area are being exposed to parvovirus. Norman Animal Welfare conducted a vaccine outreach the previous week and had vaccinated 17 dogs including puppies in the area. There was a conversation about continuing to build the relationship within the community about vaccines and spay/neuter outreach. V. ACTION ITEMS Discussion of Supply Needs for Spay/Neuter Clinic Kim Fairbanks is still working on ongoing fundraising, and the amazon wish list gets updated daily as well. There are other items that are needed that are not available through Amazon. Bill Scanlon has written an article for the transcript about the event. The goal for the event will be 300 animals spayed/neutered for low income Norman residents. Clients will be Best Friends of Pets applicants, section 8 housing residents, and targeted Norman areas. Scheduling online will start February 15. Cut off for appointments will be March 18 to give them a time to assemble supplies and to get administrative duties completed. Event volunteers will need to sign waivers and will be preapproved ahead of time. Kim currently has six vets volunteering for the event.