Oakland Co. Animal Control to expand services – December 12, 2010

Oakland County Animal Control prepares for expanded services as communities tighten budgets
December 12, 2010

By KAREN WORKMAN
Of The Oakland Press

With more and more communities nixing their animal control services in an effort to reduce costs, Oakland County’s Animal Control will be left holding the bag.

“We’re probably servicing over 600,000 residents and the area that we’re looking at taking over is 530,000 residents. That’s almost doubling it — not in area, but in population,” said Joanie Toole, administrative supervisor for Oakland County Animal Control and Pet Adoption Services.

To prepare for the expansion of its services, animal control is hopeful the county’s Board of Commissioners will approve a $600,000 increase to the previous $2.4 million budget in the beginning of 2011.


(from left) Latrice Hollins and dog Remy in the backyard of their Pontiac home as Animal Care Network’s Ariana Toth and Pam Porteous move a doghouse they attached to a pallet into a new position. (Oakland Press Photo: Vaughn Gurganian)

With more and more communities nixing their animal control services in an effort to reduce costs, Oakland County’s Animal Control will be left holding the bag.

“We’re probably servicing over 600,000 residents and the area that we’re looking at taking over is 530,000 residents. That’s almost doubling it — not in area, but in population,” said Joanie Toole, administrative supervisor for Oakland County Animal Control and Pet Adoption Services.

To prepare for the expansion of its services, animal control is hopeful the county’s Board of Commissioners will approve a $600,000 increase to the previous $2.4 million budget in the beginning of 2011.

Most of the communities Oakland County is preparing to cover are in the southeast corner of the county, Toole said.

One of those will likely be Pontiac, which recently nixed its lone animal control officer.

‘There will be service’

With the animal control officer gone in the city of Pontiac, Oakland County is providing assistance to the city’s police department as needed.

“We serve as a backup,” said Mike Zehnder, director of public services for Oakland County. Zehnder said a plan detailing the county’s intentions to service Pontiac has been drafted. It’ll be presented to the county commission in January, along with the rest of the changes needed to service a larger population.

Before the county can formally take over animal control services in the city, the county commission will have to approve the plan and the city of Pontiac will have to rescind its current ordinances detailing its own animal control services.

“I’ll guarantee you there will be service,” Zehnder said. “I’ll have two people in there, hardworking deputies. The plan is to staff it with two individuals.”

Animal control throughout the county

How animal control services in Oakland County are provided depends on the individual community.

“If they provide their own animal control, then they’re on their own,” Toole said.

In the case of Pontiac, the city provided the services but still brought the dogs to the county’s pet adoption center to be held or turned over to the county.

Communities like Oxford Township, which has never had its own animal control division, has always relied on Oakland County for services.

The services are provided free of charge to the communities.

People wanting to know who to call for animal control services should first check with their local community to make sure the community isn’t providing its own services and dog licenses. If not, Oakland County can be contacted for both assistance and dog licenses.

Dog licenses can be obtained by going online to www.oakgov.com/petadoption.

Funding for Oakland County Animal Control comes from the county’s general fund, which gets revenue from property taxes paid by residents and businesses in the county.

Toole said that while some communities still provide their own animal control services, many recently cut them or are “looking at their options.”

“I hate to say it, and it’s not that animal control is not an important function, but when you’re looking at a cop or a firefighter or an animal control officer, which one are you going to choose?” Toole said.

Helping Pontiac pets

Members of the Animal Care Network have long been going into Pontiac neighborhoods and helping pet owners in need.

“We pick up animals running the streets, we pick up cats on a regular basis, we provide food, straw, dog houses, we do two big vaccine clinics every year, we do low cost spay and neuters,” said Pam Porteous, manager for Animal Care Network. “We are here as a community service to help the city of Pontiac’s residents and pets.”

With winter temperatures now here, Porteous and her crew were out in the neighborhoods on Thursday — fixing up a doghouse for a pit bull on Chamberlain and providing him straw, food and even a pig’s ear for a treat. They visited several other houses too.

“Recently, we’ve been accused of impersonating police officers and that accusation is completely untrue,” Porteous said.

One of the network’s trustees, Sharie Scott, pointed out that the group of well-bundled women don’t look much like police officers either.

“Just the mere fact of how we look when we go out delivering straw,” Scott said.

The Pontiac Police Department did not return calls seeking more information.

While on Chamberlain Street, Pontiac resident Robert Ivory walked up and asked if they could stop by his house and give straw for his dogs.

Ivory said he wouldn’t be surprised if someone was impersonating a police officer in the city, especially if it were to steal a dog, but he didn’t think Porteous or her group would do something like that.

“Everybody knows her, everybody,” Ivory said. “If (they) wasn’t around, there’d be a lot of animals that wouldn’t eat, would be starving or people would be fighting them or whatever. It’s a good thing that (they’re) around.”

Hopeful for more help

Scott said she’s hopeful that having Oakland County Animal Control in the city will improve the overall situation for pets in it.

“As it was, there was only one animal control officer anyways and on the weekends when he didn’t work, we were called,” Scott said. “With Oakland County, perhaps we can have a little bit more patrols.”

“It can’t get any worse.”

The group has found dogs dead in previous winters, frozen to the ground.

Zehnder said that and other animal abuse and neglect situations won’t be tolerated if the county begins providing services to Pontiac.

“This will come to a screeching halt once we get in there,” Zehnder said.

FYI

Contact Oakland County Animal Control and Pet Adoption by calling 248-391-4102. The Animal Care Network can be reached at 248-678-2756.

Contact staff writer Karen Workman at 248-745-4643 or karen@oakpress.com. You can also find her on Facebook and @KarenWorkman on Twitter.

See VIDEO http://theoaklandpress.com/articles/2010/12/12/news/local_news/doc4d05876ac699c301146820.txt

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