Please Speak Up for Animal Control
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Chicago Animal Care & Control (CACC) takes in over 17,000 animals annually. The good news is that there are increasingly many rescues and shelters that participate in pulling the animals, and compared to other cities, Chicago does quite well. Still, make no mistake – animals are being killed that can live.
There are many moving parts – but money matters, and the reality is that comparable cities in size and animal intake have more dollars to do their jobs, to keep animals healthier and maintain the facility itself.
I feel that while mistakes have certainly been made at CACC, overall it’s astounding they succeed with what resources they don’t have. You hear the occasional bad news that makes the press, but little miracles happen there every day which never make the press, and dedication of employees and volunteers to save lives.
For years, CACC has been under-funded, and I say ‘enough is enough.’ Insiders have suggested the only way to increase funding is to get the community on board and push Aldermen to do it. Aldermen can impact budget if they have the will.
New executive director Susan Russell has passion, and smarts – but money is a reality
In fact, it’s not only ethically the right thing to do – it may economically be the right thing to do as well. There’s a real dollars and cents cost associated with euthanizing any animal.
If you live in Chicago, there are three ways to help:
1 – Sign THIS PETITION.
2- Communicate that you care about this issue to your Alderman. All City Aldermen have “open days,” when citizens can make appointments to meet in person to discuss any topic. If you’re unable to do that, at least call your Aldermanic office and/or write an email (person to person, though, is always most effective).
3- Share this blog post, and/or tell your friends, relatives and neighbors to do numbers 1 and 2 above.
The petition wording is below but you’ll need to click on this link to sign it:
Advocates for Chicagoland Animals want to thank Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel for the thoughtful search and selection process recently conducted for a new Executive Director of Chicago Animal Care and Control (CACC). The new Executive Director is a true animal lover and we hope that under her leadership, great strides can be made moving Chicago toward a No Kill reality.
However, the new Executive Director has been given a huge task to complete while being hampered by an extremely limiting budget. We realize that the city is facing many budget constraints, but it is a travesty that CACC has a budget that is between one-fourth to one-half the amount budgeted for cities of comparable size. The City of Los Angeles, with a population of 4 million people, has a $23.98 million budget for FY 2016-17 to manage its animal services operations. LA Animal Services took in 45,608 cats and dogs in FY 2015-16, slightly less than double Chicago’s intake of 17,544 last year. (LAAS also took in 6,060 other animals.)
Houston, Texas, with 2.16 million people and the largest urban landmass in the U.S., has a $14.8M budget for its animal care and control operations; 27,179 animals were sheltered there in 2015. Another Texas city, San Antonio, is home to 1.38 million people; its animal care services operate with a $12.5M budget. The San Antonio shelter system took in 31,371 animals in its FY 2014-15.
By comparison, Chicago, a city of 2.719 million people, allocated just $5.7 million in FY 2016 to care for its stray and homeless animals.
We believe that Chicago can be a beacon for progressive sheltering in the country. Given the appropriate leadership and financial support, this can become a much-needed positive public relations story for the city. Please consider voting for a more appropriate and enhanced budget to support the life-saving efforts that are being made at CACC. As stated in our previous petition, moving to a No Kill model at the city shelter will eventually save money for the city. But to get there, a more reasonable appropriation needs to be made for this operation and facility.
This petition will be delivered to:
- City of Chicago Mayor and Aldermen
- Mayor
Mayor Rahm Emanuel - Alderman
Joe Moreno - Alderman
Brian Hopkins - Alderman
Pat Dowell - Alderman
Sophia King - Alderman
Leslie Hairston - Alderman
Roderick Sawyer - Alderman
Gregory Mitchell - Alderman
Michelle Harris - Alderman
Anthony Beale - Alderman
Susan Sadlowski Garza - Alderman
Patrick Thompson - Alderman
George A. Cardenas - Alderman
Marty Quinn - Alderman
Ed Burke - Alderman
Raymond Lopez - Alderman
Toni Foulkes - Alderman
David Moore - Alderman
Derrick Curtis - Alderman
Matthew O’Shea - Alderman
Willie B. Cochran - Alderman
Howard Brookins Jr. - Alderman
Ricardo Munoz - Alderman
Michael Zalewski - Alderman
Michael Scott Jr. - Alderman
Daniel Solis - Alderman
Roberto Maldonado - Alderman
Walter Burnett, Jr. - Alderman
Jason Ervin - Alderman
Chris Taliaferro - Alderman
Ariel E. Reboyras - Alderman
Milly Santiago - Alderman
Scott Waguespack - Alderman
Deborah Mell - Alderman
Carrie Austin - Alderman
Carlos Ramirez-Rosa - Alderman
Gilbert Villegas - Alderman
Emma Mitts - Alderman
Nicholas Sposato - Alderman
Margaret Laurino - Alderman
Patrick J. O’Connor - Alderman
Anthony Napolitano - Alderman
Brendan Reilly - Alderman
Michele Smith - Alderman
Thomas M. Tunney - Alderman
John Arena - Alderman
James Cappleman - Alderman
Ameya Pawar - Alderman
Harry Osterman - Alderman
Joseph A. Moore - Alderman
Debra Silverstein