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Feb 2016City of Winnipeg Animal Services Agency – A Dog’s Best Friend!
Posted by Windog / in Features, INFORMATION / 1 comment
City of Winnipeg Animal Services Agency – A Dog’s Best Friend!
Over the past month WINDOG has received a few complaints from dog owners who failed to renew their licenses. As a result of Winnipeg Animal Services’ “Spot” checks, these dog owners received a hand-delivered $231.25 fine.
Some observers mistakenly view the fine as cash grab, however none of the revenue from fines goes to Animal Services. The fine is paid to directly to the Provincial Department of Finance to cover court costs and the city’s legal fees.
For the record, WINDOG and its member organizations fully support Animal Services’ Zero Tolerance licensing policy. Funds raised through the sale of licenses have allowed Animal Services to transform Winnipeg’s former dog pound into a virtually no-kill facility where lost and abandoned dogs are fed and sheltered.
Nine-week-old Mandy cuddles with an Animal Services Officer after the puppy was thrown from a moving vehicle.
Photo credit: City of Winnipeg
Ninety-five per cent of the dogs that are picked up and taken to the shelter are either reunited with their owners, adopted, or sent to a local animal rescue. Only animals considered too aggressive or terminally ill are euthanized. Since the Zero Tolerance policy was introduced the number of dogs euthanized has dropped dramatically. In 2008, 359 dogs were euthanized. By 2014, that number dropped to 52.
Animal Services estimates there are over 112,000 pet dogs in Winnipeg. About 50,000 are currently licensed.
Animal Services COO, Leland Gordon, makes it clear that license fees generate the revenue the City of Winnipeg needs to deliver services to pets and pet owners. “When you pay your $32 for a dog license you’re protecting your dog – but you’re also paying for a system that provides the services the community needs.” Animal Services depends on license fees to run its operations.
• Animal Services houses and cares for lost and abandoned pets.
Most pets never get loose and go missing. No one plans to have a break-in, house fire, or car accident; no one expects a gate left open or a freshly dug escape tunnel under the backyard fence. Licensing your pet is about providing it with protection in the rare event it does get lost. Licenses are $32 for spayed/neutered dogs and $68 for intact ones; $15 for spayed/neutered cats and $50 for intact ones.
The City of Winnipeg has Animal Services in place to be the facility where Winnipeggers can take stray dogs and the Winnipeg Humane Society through a service agreement as the facility where Winnipeggers can take stray cats.
Adorable adoptables Noah and Eva were found near the corner of Ellice and Wall
Photo credit: City of Winnipeg
• Animal Services re-unite lost pets with their owners.
The agency receives more than 12,000 calls for service a year. In 2014, thanks to mandatory dog licensing and the agency’s “Free Ride Home” program, Animal Services returned 671 dogs to their owners. 646 more were reunited with their owners by 311 operators without setting foot in the Animal Services facility.
• Animal Services’ Adoption Program allows dogs to be adopted into new families instead of being euthanized.
Animal Services Adoption/Volunteer Coordinator Lorna Verschoore with adoptive family
Photo credit: City of Winnipeg
• Animal Services funds emergency veterinary care for injured lost and abandoned animals and provides transportation to a veterinary facility.
• Animal Services funds spay and neuter programming, including the FIXIT grant program designed to encourage non-profit community organizations, veterinary clinics, animal hospitals and educational institutions to undertake quality programs to spay and neuter high volumes of cats at a low cost to the community.
• Animal Services provides a 24/7 emergency response service to police and fire fighters, attending house fires, car accidents, and police assists to remove and care for animals.
A matted cat pulled from the ashes by firefighters is transferred to Animal Services.
Photo credit: Winnipeg Free Press
Animal Services also uses revenue from the sale of pet licenses to:
• educate the public about responsible pet ownership
• pick up stray animals, including dogs that have attacked people.
• resolve neighbourhood disputes regarding animals
Visit www.winnipeg.ca/animalservices to license, adopt, or volunteer
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Lorraine Young
I totally agree with licensing dogs not only for the return guarantee but the benefits for strays. I’ve never lost my own dogs but have had occasionally returned a wanderer. My only complaint is the lack of reminders in the last 2 years! Over the 40 years that we’ve had dogs we’ve always gotten a notice to re-license, but then when I thought I still had another year on the 2 year plan a friend let me know that there was no longer a 2 year plan and we were about 6months overdue. I got up to date immediately. Apparently they told me there had been a problem the renewal warning system. This year I got a license for my new dog at the approximate time we used to license our dog that died. It was just guess work and it turned out I was 1 day away from being overdue. It angers me that with no warning you can be fined a large sum of money when ordinarily you would pay on time. It used to happen that billing coincided with my old dogs annual checkup and the vet would provide anew license every 2 years but since the new dog was got in summer and has a summer checkup I can’t rely on that for a reminder. I would really really appreciate an annual reminder at least 2 weeks in advance to allow for mail delivery as I may only turn on the computer a couple of times a month as it is a great nuisance.