Tagged: animal control

Pages

Animal control

5:42 pm

Thu July 7, 2011

Mandatory spay-neuter clears committee; funds for Stray Rescue do not

Credit (Rachel Lippmann/St. Louis Public Radio)

A law that would require pets to be spayed/neutered and microchipped got committee approval today; funds to help Stray Rescue complete its shelter did not.

By Rachel Lippmann

What Ald. Stephen Conway called a comprehensive animal control strategy for St. Louis is somewhat in limbo tonight after an aldermanic committee passed one bill, rejected a second, and waited to take action on a third.

What passed:

Stray Rescue

6:35 am

Thu July 7, 2011

Stray Rescue reflects on a year as St. Louis' official dog shelter

Next image Previous image

Credit (Photo by Warren Nichols/St. Louis Department of Health)

The city’s pound on Gasconade once held most of the stray dogs the city would pick up in a day. Now, it houses just dangerous or bite dogs, and those that are part of the court system.

Credit (Rachel Lippmann/St. Louis Public Radio)

The transition to the city’s current animal control strategy started when Rodney McAllister was mauled to death 10 years ago by a pack of dogs in Ivory Perry Park, where this memorial tree now stands.

Credit (Rachel Lippmann/St. Louis Public Radio)

The city planned to raise enough money through donations and a tax check-off to build a new shelter at Arsenal-Ellendale Park on the city’s south side. But the effort failed.

Credit (Johanna Mayer/St. Louis Public Radio)

In July 2010, Mayor Francis Slay ordered the closure of the pound on Gasconade, and Stray Rescue became, for all intents and purposes, the city’s animal control agency.

Credit (Johanna Mayer/St. Louis Public Radio)

Stray Rescue does not allow owners to surrender their pets at the shelter. They offer food, veterinary care and counseling to encourage owners to keep their animals. That’s a tactic that’s brought criticism from other animal welfare agencies.

Credit (Johanna Mayer/St. Louis Public Radio)

Stray Rescue has 24 paid staffers, only half of whom work full-time. It depends on volunteers to do loads of laundry, clean the cages, and feed and exercise 200 dogs. Another 300 are fostered in the community.

Credit (Johanna Mayer/St. Louis Public Radio)

Stray Rescue is now responding to animal control calls from city residents. These calls came in over Father’s Day weekend.

Credit (Johanna Mayer/St. Louis Public Radio)

Donations keep the back of the rescue Jeep stocked with all the supplies necessary for a rescue.

Credit (Johanna Mayer/St. Louis Public Radio)

Stray Rescue executive director Randy Grim calls bologna and hot dogs a stray dog’s best friend.

Credit (Johanna Mayer/St. Louis Public Radio)

Grim’s priority this morning is a report of nine dogs and 15 cats in an abandoned home on Cottage Avenue.

Credit (Johanna Mayer/St. Louis Public Radio)

A police report said the doors would be open, but Randy and his fellow rescuer Donna Lochmann have to improvise when that turns out to be wrong.

Credit (Johanna Mayer/St. Louis Public Radio)

The initial report of nine dogs and 15 cats is also wrong. These skinny little pups are the only living animals found in the house. Randy and Donna will later find the carcass of another pup the survivors fed on.

Credit (Johanna Mayer/St. Louis Public Radio)

One of two pups rescued from the house on Cottage. Grim says the hair is deceiving – he could feel their hip bones.

Credit (Johanna Mayer/St. Louis Public Radio)

Neither dog had ever been outside or on a leash. This one needed some extra help getting to the transport van.

Credit (Johanna Mayer/St. Louis Public Radio)

Another Stray Rescue employee, Darrell Antalick, brings out the corpse of the dead puppy that had served as a food source for the two rescued animals.

Credit (Johanna Mayer/St. Louis Public Radio)

Grim’s second call of the day is to pick up a stray pit bull mix that kept wandering into a yard on Vera Avenue.

Credit (Rachel Lippmann/St. Louis Public Radio)

Grim estimates Stray Rescue has to raise $50,000 a week to keep up with demand. Most of the expense is veterinary care. Grim will not put a dog to sleep until all options are exhausted.

By Rachel Lippmann

Last year, 90 dogs left the St. Louis city pound for what Mayor Francis Slay hoped would be a better life. The move marked the end of an attempt by the city to replace its aging pound with a state-of-the-art shelter funded by donations.

From that day on, Stray Rescue - a non-profit with 24 employees and an army of volunteers - cared for all but a handful of dogs and answered the city's animal control calls: all without taking a dime of city money.

If you believe the city’s health department, there are fewer strays on the street, and more dogs are being adopted. But there are questions about how long the success will last.

Animal control

4:05 pm

Tue February 15, 2011

Animal House money now to go to Stray Rescue

Credit (Rachel Lippmann/St. Louis Public Radio)

Mayor Francis Slay and Stray Rescue founder Randy Grim with a four-legged friend in July 2010.

By Rachel Lippmann

In December, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote that money collected via tax bills for a planned new animal shelter in the city of St. Louis was sitting in a special fund with no place to be used.

Pages