City leaders got a look this week at what Auburn Animal Control has been up to ever since its launching in January.
Seems the animal shelter on A Street Southeast is crawling with kitties, owing in large part to the large population of feral cats in the area.
“If you need a cat, they have some cats,” said City Financial Director Shelley Coleman told members of the Municipal Services Committee Monday.
“Oh, man, do you have cats,” Committee Chairman Bill Peloza said, eyeballing some numbers. At present more than 100 cats reside at the shelter.
Dogs, not so many. Thing is, there just aren’t as many feral dogs out there.
“They have such a tremendous turnover in dogs … People want to adopt the dogs,” Coleman said. Staff, Coleman added, have even fetched dogs from far away shelters in California for the sake of variety to answer the heavy demand.
One telling number: at the end of September, only four dogs were available at the shelter.
All of that has kept Auburn’s Animal Control Officer busy, catching critters on the loose, enforcing animal control ordinances, assuring proper licensing of applicable animals and teaching people about animal care and control.
Here is what the report has to say about animal control-related calls for service, comparing the first and third quarters of 2013:
• 911 dispatched calls for service: 192, up 156 percent from the first to the third quarter.
• Calls residents make directly to the ACO: 112, -0.9 percent decrease from the first to the third quarter.
• Calls self-initiated by the ACO as he is driving around: 92, up 338.1 percent.
• Wildlife-related calls: 92, -50 percent.
• Calls for service by other police officers to the ACO: 0, down 100 percent
• Deceased domestic animal calls: 12, up 20 percent.
• Total percentage of decrease or increase between the first and third quarters: increase of 76.4 percent
The report also details the number of animal control reports, citations and infractions issued, as follows:
• Contacts with residents in person, by phone or via e-mail: up 12 percent from the first to the third quarter.
• Police reports written: up 50 percent
• Animals impounded: up 54.2 percent
• Criminal citations issued to Auburn residents: up 66.7 percent
• Number of infractions issued to Auburn residents: up 91.6 percent
• Written warnings: up 46.3 percent.
