Friday, January 26, 2007

Abandoned animals cost time, money

Abandoned animals cost time, money
FLINT JOURNAL LETTER TO THE EDITOR
GAINES TOWNSHIP
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Thursday, January 25, 2007
JOURNAL READER

On Jan. 14, I was walking my dog along a country road. In the field to my left I saw a tiny black kitten crouched on the carcass of a dead deer. There were no houses along this stretch. When I returned with a crate, I found that there were three tiny kittens huddled in the hollowed out rib cage of that deer carcass. They were soaked, matted, freezing and weak. If they were 4 weeks old, I'd be surprised.
To those individuals who feel compelled to get rid of their problems/annoyances by tossing them into a field to die, please consider this the next time you acquire an animal. Though the out-of-sight, out-of-mind mentality may work for an individual without a conscience, there are plenty of us whose conscience and moral upbringing demand that we deal with your irresponsible actions. You cost us time and money, and you caused a lot of grief.
Whether you care to believe it or not, every decision we make impacts the lives of others. If it is beyond your emotional ability to consider the animal that you are abusing, at least attempt to consider the human population that you mistreat and burden.
And to those who would say no one twisted my arm to deal with those kittens, please consider the difference between what is the easiest thing to do and what is the right thing to do. Looking the other way and walking on by those three kittens would be the easiest thing to do. Is it the right thing to do? No. The right thing to do is often the more difficult thing to do, but that's no excuse for not doing it.
Linda A. Yanta
Gaines Township
Great letter......................the same applies to dogs and there are plenty of them dumped off
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Tuesday, January 23, 2007

OUTLAWS

INDEX TO BLOG
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I have located dog/kennel license fee information on the websites of 67 of Michigan's 83 counties.
While many cities, townships, villages and counties may have adopted their own dog/animal control ordinances which are reasonable and/or at least close to complying with the Dog Law of 1919, these are some of the counties that more blatantly contravene the State of Michigan's Dog Law of 1919 by charging excessive fees for individual dog licenses and/or kennel license fees other than what the law mandates, and/or have written their own ordinance that does contravene the Dog Law of 1919. I have not addressed the cities, villages and townships that have adopted outlaw ordinances, but I am stumbling across more and more of them. I may have to address those later. Here I am only addressing county ordinances.
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I call them OUTLAWS. At the very worst they are arrogant and ignorant county commissioners that believe they have the authority to "write any ordinance they want". At best they are just simply confused and perhaps misguided, following the lead of other outlaw county governments. MCL 46.11(j) spells out exactly that a county cannot adopt an ordinance that contravenes a law of the State of Michigan. NO, they can't write any ordinance they want.
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However, there is no provision in the Dog law of 1919 for accounting for the cost of administering the Dog Law of 1919 and so far I have found no county that can even come close to accounting for their costs. It isn't just that they won't, they can't. They do not keep their records sufficiently to be able to separate the cost. It wouldn't be that difficult to do so, they just don't do it.
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This has led to individual dog license fees from $5 to $40 (now $50) per year. A rather wild difference. Only one county charges $50. That is Muskegon County's "Vector Control" under their health department. How ridiculous!
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It is important to note that "Animal Control" is generally tasked with enforcing ALL animal related laws. But the dog license fee may only be set "sufficient to cover the costs of administering the dog law of 1919".
Michigan Laws and Regulations that the Department of Agriculture says an Animal Control Officer would be charged with enforcing. It's quite a list.
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These four counties have the highest individual dog license fees that I have identified out of the 67 counties with website information.
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7 other counties are over $20
12 counties are $20
21 counties are above $10 but less than $20
14 counties are $10
9 counties are less than $10
the average of these 67 counties being is $15.96 with the extreme high ones included in the calculation
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There are some that while their individual dog license fee is not so bad, they have gone just plain wild with their kennel license fee and "inspection fee".
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These do contravene the Dog Law of 1919. Which does provide that the Dept of Agriculture may set reasonable rules with regards to kennels, that would be Admin Rule 285 129 1
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There were quite a few that did not have kennel information on their website, but these are some that did and they do not comply with the Dog Law of 1919, which grants no authority for a local municipality to promulgate rules regarding kennels.
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Keep in mind the Michigan Dog Law of 1919 mandates

$10 for up to 10 dogs and $25 for over 10 dogs .
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There was kennel license info available on 31 county websites in December of 2008
The basics is in the spreadsheet posted.
I also identified what I have decided to call "WildnWacky" animal control ordinances on the websites of 17 counties.
Only 16 counties do not have any information available online. One of those is Wayne County and I'm thinking maybe their townships and cities take care of it.
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The Good Guys - and yes there are some
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Genesee County seems to be right up there with righteousness
But this isn't so good for Genessee County
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I'm going to wild guess that most of the counties I have not mentioned are at least acting fairly reasonable. They have reasonable fees for both individual dog licenses and kennel licenses.
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Its a shame these few are so far out of line, while the majority seem to be able to function within the law.
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This came up during a search.. I thought it was interesting. Another example of having it both ways???
County.
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The 2007 amendment to the Dog Law of 1919 addresses providng microchipping info to dog owners. Amendment to the Dog Law of 1919
Posted by at 3 comments:

St. Joseph County Michigan

St. Joseph County Michigan - OUTLAWS
503 square miles population 63,000

now these guys don’t seem so bad.

Individual Dog Licenses are $5 & $10

$40 for delinquent seems a bit much.

I don’t know where they came up with their kennel license fees:

Less than 10 dogs $40

10-24 dogs $70

25 + dogs $110

these do violate the Dog Law of 1919

Keep in mind the law only allows $10 for up to 10 dogs
and $25 for over 10 dogs

St. Joseph County Animal Control website

http://www.stjosephcountymi.org/animalcon.htm

Posted by at 1 comment:

Muskegon County Michigan Individual Dog License

Muskegon County Michigan - OUTLAWS


Vector (Animal) Control Under the control of the Health Department. According to the U.S. Census Bureau 2004 estimate, Muskegon County has a population of 174,401 in 559 square miles.


They seem quite impressed with themselves.

This is pretty cute, they even provide a link to Michigan Dog Law of 1919.

They should try reading it themselves, especially MCL 287.289a and MCL287.266 Dog licenses; application; resolution; provisions; proof of vaccination.Sec. 6.(5) ………... The county board of commissioners may set license fees in the county budget at a level sufficient to pay all the county's expenses of administering this act as it pertains to dogs. ...........

From their website.
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"In accordance with state law, Vector Control conducts the annual sale of dog licenses which must be purchased between December 1 and March 1.

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omg that wasn't enough for them:


License Fees* ---As of 10/01/07-Beginning 12/01/07
Regular dog --------------$40--------------$50
Regular dog owned by a senior citizen (> 62 years)

--------------------------$20---------------$25
Altered (neutered) dog --$10----------------$5
Puppy under 7 months --$10---------------$5

,Late dog license (After March 1)

--------------------------$80---------------$85

, *Fees subject to change



( They also set the dog licenses at $40 a year for non-sterilized dogs. I don’t know when that rate went into effect. $10 for altered animals with a senior rate of $20 for unaltered.


They had a budget of $599,514.01 for 2006. That is quite an amazing budget.


Their shelter report for 2004 lists 2087 canines, 272 felines and 1 ferret taken in. That would be right around $254 per animal based on the 2006 budget.

Their shelter report for 2005 lists 1953 canines, 236 felines and 2 ferrets taken in. That would be right around $274 per animal based on the 2006 budget.


There certainly could be some variation there, as of 2/6/07 their 2006 shelter report had not been sent in. I think it is due at the end of March. But the numbers seem to run pretty close to the same in the counties I have researched. This is a reasonable guestimate.



License/permit revenue was $437,980 making that 73% of their budget. I feel compelled to always remind that these ‘shelters’ generally take in as many or more cats as they take in dogs. That is not the case with this shelter. There are significantly fewer cats taken in. So far, nobody has separated the cost of taking care of the dogs and taking care of the cats.

The Michigan Dog Law of 1919 certainly does not allow for outrageous fees like that “at a level sufficient to pay all the county's expenses of administering this act as it pertains to dogs.”



It is 'interesting' to note:

Vector Control no longer provides dog adoption service. Any dog that is impounded and not claimed during the impound period will be made available at no charge to Lifeline for Pound Buddies, a non-profit animal rescue organizations that provides adoption services to the community.


Which means all county residents pay for these animals. While those people who actually receive such an animal pays nothing for it?)

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Muskegon County Animal/Vector Control dog licensing

OTHER USEFUL INFORMATION (from their website)
Legal Requirements of Owning a Dog

Muskegon County Animal & Vector Control Ordinance(this is an Acrobat file, 20 pages……and it takes a while to download – OUTLAW ORDINANCE way over the legal limits)

Healthy Pets Healthy People (Centers for Disease Control & Prevention)

National Association of State Public Health Veterinarians (NASPHV)

Muskegon County's “Vector Control” does work out of the Health Department and they sure want you to know they are looking out for your health.

They gonna protect you from all those diseases dogs carry.


Maybe the most useful is a private website:


http://www.balancedcaninetraining.com/


Very nicely done, lots of info about Muskegon County.






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Ingham County Michigan Individual Dog Licenses

Ingham County Michigan Individual Dog Licenses - OUTLAWS
population 279,000 with 559 square miles

Located in the south central portion of Michigan's lower peninsula, Ingham County, the capital county of Michigan, is committed to assuring the identification and provision of services most important to its 279,000 citizens. ( their website January 2007).

Licensing Fees Effective January 1, 2007 Dog License Information (maybe that link works on a high speed line, didn't seem to on my dialup)

$40 a year for non-sterilized dogs.

The highest license fee in the state that I have found so far. Only two counties have that high a fee, Muskegan County is equal.
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For kennel licenses, there is another page for that.
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I sent a FOIA for their Budget and Shelter Reports. Wow, they are amazing. For 2006 they had a budget of $1.3 million. What on earth are they doing over there?

Department Generated Revenue was $435,000. They sold 21,894 dog licenses. That averages out to $19.87 per license. (But there could be other than dog license revenue in that figure.) I think the $40 per unaltered dog only went into effect in 2007. Previously it was $12 for altered dogs and $20 for unaltered.

Housing and care was $480,351. They took in 4902 animals, 2347 canines, 2553 felines and 2 ferrets. That means they spend $97.99 per animal. So why are they giving such great deals on their adoption fees?
Ingham County Animal Control
Sometimes these people just boggle my mind.

Enforcement was $892,080, for an ‘estimated’ 7000 complaints, or $127.44 per complaint and 19 complaints per day, 365 days of the year. Well, I guess if they want to complain all that much, they have to pay for it, right? Seems to be excessive to me.

Then they have a $1,083,539 for ‘Personnel Services’. How many people is that? Is that ALL personnel? Enforcement and care?

These figures really don’t make very good sense. But that is what they provided me with.

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Their Animal Control Ordinance goes way beyond what the Dog Law of 1919 allows.
It has also been used as the model for several other counties, thus "perpetuating the lie".
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Ingham County Animal Control Ordinance

http://www.ingham.org/AC/ordinanc.htm
But that wasn't enough for them. They had to try this:
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Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Genesee=Otisville couple could lose dogs, livelihood




Zoning ordinance may force closure of kennel
By Taryn Asher





FOREST TOWNSHIP (WJRT) - (01/16/07)--Any day now, an Otisville couple could lose their dog kennel and livelihood because of a long running dispute with Genesee County's Forest Township (Michigan).
The Burnetts bought their home and kennel back in 1993. But it wasn't until a couple of years ago they say the township told them about changes to a zoning ordinance -- changes they cannot afford to make.
Right now the Burnetts say they are running out of time and options.
"(I'm) very upset. These are basically my children. I raised them from babies," said Marilyn Burnett.
Marilyn Burnett and her husband Bud Burnett have been breeding, training and boarding German Shepherds for 40 years. They own Sandig Ufer Shepherds and have about a dozen dogs of their own.
Some dogs they show, others are certified therapy dogs the Burnetts take to schools and hospitals. But the couple recently learned they could lose their dogs.
"There goes my life," Marilyn Burnett said. "They'll be gone because that's what we do it for."
The Burnetts suspect Forest Township wants their property to support surrounding subdivision growth.
That's why they believe the township two years ago informed them about a 1996 change in the zoning ordinance and recently revoked their kennel license.
"They want us out of here," Marilyn Burnett said.
In fact, they've been been cited several times for not having a conditional use permit that would allow them to keep their kennel. But the Burnetts claim they can't get one.
According to documents from Forest Township, they would have to moved the kennel 50 feet from the property line and 150 feet from the road.
"We can't afford to," Marilyn Burnett said. "We already used up all of our resources."
"I don't know," Bud Burnett said. "It's tough because we put everything we had into the house there."
Now they say it's just a matter of time before Genesee County Animal Control will take and likely euthanize their dogs they have worked so hard to raise.
A sergeant at animal control says there's a good chance they won't have to take the dogs if they can find a place for them to go.
The Burnetts would like to appeal if they can get a lawyer to offer services for free.
We couldn't get comment from Forest Township because the township hall was closed for business Tuesday because of maintenance.
story available online with video for 7 days at
Posted by at 6 comments:

Genesee County's - Forest Township - Kennel grab

Just on the 5 o'clock news

Genesee County's - Forest Township - Kennel grab

"Burnette" family with a kennel for 40 years and the township is going to confiscate their dogs

I don't have all the details, yet.

These people have showdogs and therapy dogs. There isn't anything wrong with them.

Forest Township says there was a change in the zoning law in 1996 and they have to have a conditional use permit.

I think these people are, at the very least, grandfathered in as far as any changes in the zoning law goes.

Just another "OUTLAW" government at work.
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