Animal Services Advisory Board

Animal Control Advisory Board Minutes May 17, 2017 www.wichita.gov The Animal Control Advisory Board meeting was held at 4 p.m. at 3313 N. Hillside, Wichita, KS 67219. Eight Board members and two City staff were present; nine citizens attended. Members Present Staff Present Teresa Burks Lt. Joe Schroeder, WPD Judy Handley Janet Johnson, City Manager’s Office Judy Hill Stephanie McCurdy Melodee Myers Christy Rafferty John Stevens Members Absent Guests Chris Hagman Listed on last page ORDER OF BUSINESS Chair Stephanie McCurdy called the meeting to order. Minutes from the April 19 meeting were approved 7-0 with one change regarding bats made by Teresa Burks. STAFF REPORTS Lt. Joe Schroeder provided Shelter statistics for April. Total number of intakes for the month was 683. April reclaims (animals picked up by their owner) - Dogs – 164 – 41% of total intakes - Cats – 7 – 3% of total intakes - Other – 2– 10% of total intakes - Total reclaims 173 - 25% April transfers (animals taken by KHS or other rescues) - Dogs – 220 - 55% of total intakes - Cats – 205 – 77% of total intakes - Other – 3 – 15% of total intakes - Total – 428 – 63% of total intakes April euthanasia - Dogs – 13- 3% of total intakes - Cats – 54 – 20% of total intakes - Other – 15– 75% of total intakes - Total – 82 – 12% of total intakes Euthanasia breakdown was: Dogs = 13 Cats = 54 Other = 15 4 for medical 0 for fearfulness 11 for medical 3 for rabies specimen testing 21 for medical 3 for rabies specimen testing 0 found dead in kennel 0 for aggressiveness 1 DOA 3 for aggressiveness 5 for rabies specimen testing 0 for age 0 DOA 2 DOA 0 found dead in cage 1 dangerous dog 23 feral 5 age Page 1 of 6  Animal Control Advisory Board Minutes May 17, 2017 www.wichita.gov April dog bites totaled 49 - District 1 – 6 - District 2 – 3 - District 3 – 13 - District 4 – 10 - District 5 – 3 - District 6 – 14 April dogs deemed dangerous totaled 2 - District 1 – 0 - District 2 – 0 - District 3 – 0 - District 4 – 0 - District 5 – 0 - District 6 – 2 Lt. Schroeder reported most of the month was spent just dealing with the typical call load. There was a significant attack that occurred yesterday where a one-year-old child was attacked by a pit mix. He said the child was literally yanked through the storm door by the dog and she received 45 stitches in her shoulder and groin area. He said the dog has been deemed dangerous level 3 and they are asking that it be put down. He said he spent most of the day playing “hide the dog” with the family as they didn’t want to produce the dog. He said the dog belonged to the family involved, but the child wasn’t theirs, they were babysitting. He said the owner who intervened in the attack was also bit by the dog. He also reported they retrieved an alligator from Planeview and it has been placed at Tanganyika. Action Taken: Receive and file. COMMITTEE REPORTS Spay-Neuter Committee Teresa Burks, committee chair, reported the committee didn’t meet this month due to busy schedules. Dangerous Dog Committee John Stevens, committee chair, shared the report on the Municipal Court data and said Sarah did a great job putting it together. He said they met with the City Manager and he had a report in front of him that looked like it came from the legal department. He pointed out the dismissal of owning an unaltered pit bull charges and said he felt like the increase from 43% to 97% was unbelievable. He said they aren’t going to get any satisfaction from the legal department until they are brought to task. He said they asked for Robin Bradley to study the legal aspect. Stevens announced that this would be his last meeting as he will be out of town next month and doesn’t want to be re-appointed. He asked what the Board would like to do regarding the Dangerous Dog Committee since he would be stepping down as the chair. Judy Hill asked if Stevens knew how many of the charges were dismissed by the prosecutor and how many were dismissed by the Judge. He said he didn’t have that information. Janet Johnson, staff, had some additional information regarding the Animal Services spay/neuter vouchers. She said typically a when an Animal Services Officer issues a citation, they address all the violations which could include multiple things such as being unaltered, no City license, no current vaccinations, etc. Often, the person receiving the citations will come into compliance with all of the Page 2 of 6  Animal Control Advisory Board Minutes May 17, 2017 www.wichita.gov offenses before coming to court, so once they get there, in order to move the case along, the prosecutor will dismiss some of the charges and allow the defendant to enter a guilty plea on only one charge. Johnson said because there are challenges in collecting Municipal Court fines, the City often focuses on compliance which is a bigger win than a fine that isn’t collectable. She said in 2010, only 67 of the vouchers that were issued requiring pets to be spayed/neutered, were returned completed; in 2016, 206 were returned completed. Johnson said since compliance is going up, it makes sense that the dismissal rate on this charge would also go up. A Board member asked if we have the number of vouchers that were issued; Johnson said staff are still in the process of collecting that data. McCurdy thanked Stevens for his commitment to the Board and the dangerous dog committee. Trap, Neuter, Release (TNR) Committee Judy Handley, committee chair, reported the committee met last Wednesday and are still trying to determine which colonies they want to use for their study and exactly what data they want to collect. McCurdy called for public comment. Ellen Querner, Director of Spay Neuter Kansas, said a lot of pit bull owners come into the Spay Neuter clinic with their vouchers and the only reason they are getting their dog fixed is because they have been in trouble with Animal Control. She said probably half of the pits that come in have a City voucher. She said a lot of the pit owners who come in are either new to town or are young or uninformed and don’t know what the City’s rules are regarding pit bulls. She said they don’t have a lot of money and she doesn’t think they should be heavily fined just because they weren’t aware of the requirement. She said whenever they check dogs out from surgery, as a part of the post-op instructions they also go over the City ordinance requirements for pit bulls. Another citizen said there is still a problem in Wichita with spaying and neutering pit bulls. She wanted to know if anyone is working on that. She said Spay Neuter Kansas is only open two days a week (Querner said they do 60 surgeries a week) and that KHS is refusing to take appointments (Mark Eby said they aren’t refusing, they are just booked out until July). She made some suggestions for addressing the issue. John Stevens said told Johnson that 90 percent of the time he agrees with her, but he disagreed with her information on why unaltered animal charges are dismissed. He used a DUI analogy to make his point and said that dismissing three charges down to one is too light. Lt. Schroder said in every criminal proceeding in the City, including DUI, they will dismiss charges such as reckless driving and speeding, no seat belt, just to get the one charge that they want, the DUI. Johnson said in a criminal case, the defendant can be kept on probation until they pay all of their court fines; with charges such as unaltered animal, the City can’t do that. Stevens said he still felt like there should be mandatory fines that the Judge can’t dismiss. Johnson said she didn’t believe the Board would ever be successful in implementing an ordinance that eliminates judicial discretion. Christy Rafferty asked if it’s typical of all cities to dismiss several charges and keep the one they want. Lt. Schroeder said yes, that is how it works nationwide. He pointed out if you have three Judges and 800 cases a day, they would never be able to get through them if they didn’t have the ability to negotiate pleas. Stevens said if that’s the case, then each charge needs to be $500. He said it’s ridiculous that a Judge can dismiss the charges. Page 3 of 6  Animal Control Advisory Board Minutes May 17, 2017 www.wichita.gov Judy Handley said we could get more Judges by raising taxes. Stevens disagreed and said they don’t need to raise taxes, just increase the fines and make people pay. Christy Rafferty suggested better communication between Animal Control and the prosecutor and also increasing education so people know that pit bulls need to be spayed or neutered and where they can get it done. Teresa Burks said the committee was working on an education campaign, but it has stalled. Action Taken: Receive and file. NEW BUSINESS Review of City Code Sec. 6.04.040 The Board reviewed the portion of the City Code that relates to owning reptiles; specifically: Sec. 6.04.010. - Definitions. Exotic animal means those animals not normally occurring in North America and animals of any species the majority of whose populations are wild. Sec. 6.04.040. - Control and protection of animals in general. (e) It is unlawful for any person to: (11) Own, keep, or harbor, sell or offer for sale, barter or give away any animal whose possession is prohibited by federal or state law; or any exotic animal as defined in by this title. This section shall not apply to: tropical or other fishes; birds, except those prohibited by federal or state law; animals such as gerbils, rats, mice, hamsters, guinea pigs, and ferrets; small mammals raised for harvesting of fur salable into an existing market, such as chinchillas, nutria and mink; nonpoisonous amphibians and reptiles, not including pythons, anacondas, boa constrictors, monitor lizards, iguanas, alligators, caiman, crocodiles and turtles. This section shall not apply to exhibitions authorized by and conducted in accordance with Chapter 6.08. Lt. Schroder said they were contacted by a group that wants to be able to sell reptiles and would like the Ordinance restrictions lifted. He said the reason the City doesn’t allow things like pythons, anacondas and boa constrictors is because they get too big, people decide they don’t want them anymore, and then they release them. He pointed out obviously things like monitor lizards and alligators are dangerous. Teresa Burks shared her background which included much knowledge and many years of experience in the herpetology field. She said the word “nonpoisonous” in the ordinance is incorrect and should be changed to “nonvenomous” and that tegus should also be added to the prohibited list. She said a tegu is a relative of monitors and wouldn’t survive a harsh winter, but they could survive a mild one and they are taking over in Florida. She said they tend to be very aggressive. She said the only thing that she would consider lifting the ban on would be the ball python (Python regius) because they make excellent pets. She said they are nonaggressive, more docile and don’t get big. She also pointed out tortoises are okay to own, but turtles are not because they live in water. She said irresponsible owners don’t keep the cages properly cleaned and that can create a huge salmonella problem. Lt. Schroeder said the Animal Services discussion followed along those same lines. Teresa Burks/Handley moved to recommend three changes to Sec. 6.04.040. 1. To change the word nonpoisonous to nonvenomous 2. To allow ball pythons (Python regius) and 3. To exclude tegus. Page 4 of 6  Animal Control Advisory Board Minutes May 17, 2017 www.wichita.gov Judy Hill said she thinks we have enough problems without allowing anything new and wasn’t supportive of adding ball pythons. Motion passed 6-1 Dangerous dog ordinance changes The Board was presented with two draft ordinances and was asked to select the one they felt is the most appropriate for Wichita. One option was the ordinance that was drafted based on feedback from the Board and the Dangerous Dog Committee, the other was what the City of Lawrence uses. The primary difference between the two is the dangerous dog level system utilized. McCurdy said unless there is something in the Lawrence one the Board really likes and thinks should be included, she is inclined to go with the one the committee and Board has already worked on. Burks said she liked the one the committee worked on better due to the additional levels. She said her concern is if any bite is considered dangerous, she’s afraid people will stop reporting dog bites. Stevens questioned the appeals process that goes to the Municipal Court Judge instead of the Police Chief. He said the way the Judge just gives things away, he has a real problem with it going to the Judge. Stevens said he thinks it should be the Chief of Police or his designee; he said he doesn’t think Judges know about animals. Judy Handley noted Animal Control needs to be changed to Animal Services throughout the document. Teresa Burks said it doesn’t make a lot of sense for Animal Services to deem a dog dangerous and the appeal then just goes to a supervisor from Animal Services. Stevens agreed, but said he doesn’t trust the judicial system in the process. Lt. Schroeder said currently he and the two supervisors review the case independently; they then get together and discuss what the determination should be and the majority rules. If the person wants to contest it, then they have a hearing in front of the Chief’s designee, which is Capt. Allred. After he listens to the witnesses and reviews the documents, he makes a determination and if the person doesn’t agree with it then they can appeal it to the City Council. Lt. Schroeder said during the time he has been at the Animal Services, they have discussed the benefits of codifying the process, whereby any appeal goes directly to the Judge. If the person doesn’t like the Judge’s ruling, then they can appeal it to District Court. George Theoharis said basically the way the Lawrence ordinance is written, if there’s not a good reason for the dog bite such as protecting property, injured, etc,, then it’s either in the pen or dead. That’s what they did in Lawrence. He said the first year dog bites went down 33%. He said the Board will probably have to go with the other ordinance because he doesn’t think the people in Wichita will go for “in the pen or dead.” Burks said her concern with “in the pen or dead” is that people just won’t report the bites. One citizen said she likes checks and balances and during the initial determination, couldn’t they bring in a behaviorist? Lt. Schroeder said no; a behaviorist will come in and tell how the dog behaves, while Schroeder looks at what happened. For example, did a child grab the dog by the tail and get bit? Or did the dog come up and grab the child through the storm door, take it out in the yard and start eating it? He Page 5 of 6  Animal Control Advisory Board Minutes May 17, 2017 www.wichita.gov explained that it is two different things – a behaviorist will come in and say the dog did it because it’s abused. Schroeder said that’s irrelevant to him because he has to make a determination on what occurred. Stevens asked Lt. Schroeder how he thought the ordinance should be. Schroeder said he likes it where Animal Services makes the initial determination, having more level options, and the Judge hearing any appeal. Christy Rafferty/Handley made a motion to recommend approval of the version the committee and Board worked on with the only change being altering the wording from Animal Control to Animal Services. Motion passed 7-0. BOARD AGENDA Judy Hill reported a neighborhood complaint she received regarding a residence that has pit bulls that have bitten twice and they also have too many dogs on the property. She wanted to know how to find out what action has been taken. Lt. Schroeder said if she would provide him the address that he would check and let her know. Hill asked why the City doesn’t seize litters of pit bulls since they are illegal. Lt. Schroeder said they are looking at setting up a procedure for the forfeiture of illegal dogs. Christy Rafferty said she had been asked to provide a statement to KHS regarding bedbugs living on cats after some cats came in that had been living in an environment infested with bedbugs. She said the statement basically says that bedbugs don’t live on people or pets, they live in the environment. They feed on people and pets, but typically only two to five minutes and then they go back into hiding. She said cats are fastidious groomers and won’t be bedbug carriers. PUBLIC AGENDA Off Agenda items George Theoharis announced that he is going to be on the Sedgwick County Animal Care Board starting next month. He would like to see the County adopt the City’s pit bull ordinance. Guests George Theoharis Arlene Piatkowski Donna Wirth Page 6 of 6