Animal services director deflects critics
Animal services director deflects critics
By Sian Perry, News-Leader
Just shy of four months on the job Nassau County Director of Animal Services Deborah Biggs, criticized at a recent county commission meeting, says “I certainly haven’t lied about the facts” and that she is working overtime to sort out the many challenges the shelter faces.”The challenge is to prioritize and to make some sense of order of everybody’s wishes. but first and foremost is the care of the animals at our facility on a daily basis,” Biggs said during an interview last week.Critics have questioned the shelter’s adoption efforts, euthanasia rates and response to complaints, bringing their concerns to the county commission meeting Jan. 11. Biggs said she never asked anyone not to address the commission, as was alleged, but did ask that they not go to the commission and throw one of her staff members “under the bus.”Biggs said interviews for an adoption/volunteer coordinator were well under way prior to that meeting, and a full-time person was hired Jan. 14. Carol Kerr began working for Nassau County in 2009 as a shelter attendant and during her tenure with the Humane Society of Tampa Bay served as adoption supervisor, office supervisor, assistant shelter manager and finally as humane educator.Biggs said she and Kerr “share a lot of the same philosophies – first and foremost, it is not everybody’s right to own an animal. Some people think that because we’re a county agency, everybody who comes in with money has a right to own an animal. … I am not concerned about quantity, but quality adoptions.” She said Animal Services also is at Petco in Yulee each Sunday and will attend a Valentine’s weekend event hosted by Petsmart.as for euthanasia rates, “We will keep animals as long as we can – and as long as we can house them humanely,” said Biggs. “But we will not go back to stacking them on top of each other,” which can lead to disease outbreaks and serious behavioral issues.The average staying time in October was 39 days for dogs, she said – far better than the five days she said she has heard rumored – and on a tour of the shelter Biggs took pains to point out numerous animals that have been there for months.And while Biggs said she is happy to work with local rescue agencies to move animals to shelters such as Tampa and Broward where they have a better chance at adoption, “one of the challenges is – in order for the receiving agency to take some of your big dogs, you have to give up some of your adoptable small dogs, and then we don’t have any to adopt.”
That stance has generated criticism among some rescues that have reported feeling blocked in their efforts. but, said Biggs, “I want to give our residents a chance first, so a lot of the animals we do on the transports have been here the longest.”Aiding all the shelter’s endeavors is new software, called PetPoint, a first for Nassau County Animal Services.”It’s a big management tool for both the animals and the people,” said Biggs, from mailing reminders to county pet owners about license renewals, to managing intake and adoptions and electronically transferring records to other shelters when animals are transported, to keeping track of officers on the road.However, until all Nassau County veterinarians give their rabies vaccination information to Animal Services each month as required by law, Biggs and her staff cannot track – or the county receive income from – residents whose pets should be licensed. So far only three vets are complying, said Biggs, but she is hopeful an e-mail memo and the new software will make participation easier.Biggs also has been busy bringing the shelter up to disease control standards and working to fix shortfalls in a new “adoption center” and stable constructed behind the main building before she took the helm last October. Dr. Kim Carter – an outspoken critic of the county’s old animal control regime – has been named the veterinarian of record, and Biggs is looking for a shelter attendant to replace Kerr as well as another animal control officer, boosting the staff to 16.The budget this fiscal year is $1.042 million, which Biggs says for now “appears to be adequate. … but there’s a lot of things I know we need.” for example, “We have dog hunting cages and not proper animal control cages (on the trucks). those are issues too that I think are really important because how we transport animals and do our jobs has to be as humane as anything else,” said Biggs.as for enforcing animal control laws, “Every ordinance has a challenge,” she said, noting she wants one prohibiting giving away puppies and kittens, for instance, and to do away with one on the books in Nassau County that says animals must be housed in an ambient temperature of 45-65 degrees. it is based on a federal law regulating animal laboratory facilities, said Biggs. “There is no way we can enforce that in a community whose temperatures are outside those ranges.”
Some have suggested an anti-tethering ordinance, but Biggs isn’t sure whether that will fly in Nassau County, or even if it is a good idea. “I don’t know,” she said. “Is it something we can look into? Sure we can. There’s always room for improvement.”Dog shootingAnimal Services Director Deborah Biggs said her department has not closed its investigation into the shooting death of a dog in October.”We have not closed the case on this. We took it to the State Attorney’s Office and they turned us down,” said Biggs.The case involves a beagle mix named Pepper, allegedly shot on Nassau Oaks Drive in Callahan Oct. 7 by a neighbor who had called Animal Services to complain it was in her yard.
According to a report by Animal Control Officer Nicholas Hartley, the neighbor called about 12:45 p.m. to say Pepper had climbed through a hole in her fence and was trying to mate with her dog that was in heat.”She then said that if her dog was pregnant that she would throw the puppies into the neighbor’s yard after they were born. She further stated that if Animal Control was not there by 5 p.m. that she was going to get her gun and shoot the dog in the yard and bring the dog back to her neighbor’s house,” Hartley wrote.Hartley said he told the woman to leave the dog alone and Animal Control would send an officer. At 4:30 p.m. resident Tanya Lanning called Animal Services to say a woman was dragging a dog across the street and that it looked like it had been shot.a Nassau County Sheriff’s deputy and Animal Control Officer Frank Stiles responded and collected evidence, including the dog, which was placed in the freezer at Animal Services. According to reports, Pepper’s owner later told authorities her neighbor “said she had shot my dog … she said she had meant to get the BB gun to scare him … but picked up the .22 instead.”sperry@fbnewsleader.com
Story created Feb 01, 2010 – 13:43:47 PST.
Animal services director deflects critics
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