Summary of Proposal
County-Wide Spay/Neuter ProgramProblem:
Almost 15,000 homeless animals are killed each year in Volusia County Humane Society Animal Shelters
In 2000, Volusia County governments spent more than $468,000 to impound & kill animals
Impoundment costs expected to increase to over $500,000 in 2002
While all but one Volusia County municipality requires animals to be licensed, fewer than 13,000 tags were sold in 2000
Solution:
Establish a county-wide Universal License Tag for all dogs & cats in place of the current system where each government issues its own license tags
Require veterinarians to submit a copy of each rabies certificate issued to a central agency-veterinarians estimate that about 100,000 rabies vaccines are given each year county-wide
Use monies collected from sale of Universal Tag-an estimated $600,000 per year -to fund a county-wide spay/neuter subsidy program
How It Would Work:
All city & county residents would be eligilble to receive subsidies for spaying & neutering their pets
Experience proves that lowered costs encourages more spays & neuters, see Success Stories
An aggressive spay/neuter program will reduce the numbers of animals born resulting in fewer animals impounded, lowring costs to municipalities
Benefits:
A ten percent reduction each year in the number of animals impounded will save over $650,000 ove a five-year period
Reduced numbers of impoundments will result in less time spent by animal control officers picking up strays & transporting them to the Humane Societies
The Universal Tag will allow animal control officers throughout the county to immediately find an owner when a stray is found or an animal is injured
Animal control staff will have more time to deal with animal abuse & cruelty cases
Animal control staff will be able to increase education & public awareness programs, teaching more people about the benefits of spaying & neutering their pets
