The homeless man, who I confronted at the time of finding this dog tied to a pole, told me that he found the dog about 2 days ago. I believed him considering the fact that he told me that he lives under the bridge with his friend and the dog look like it was just recently groomed not to mention the fact that the dog was also neutered. So I offer him a $25 finder fee as a reward if he wants to turn the dog over to the animal pound in which he did based on his own choice. He told me that he needs the money more than the dog.

It just goes to show that if you feel bad about the predicament a homeless person is in and you try to make them feel good about what they did for a stray dog (by caring for it for 2-days), just don?t do it; it really doesn?t pay to care.

Dave;

First of all I am not a director of animal control, but thanks anyway. What makes you think that I was hiding? Just because I decided to use a screen name as oppose to my real name means that I?m hiding. If you feel that I am using another screen name based on the wording of that person who is posting against you than there must be a lot of Davies out there that belong to HAA because there?s a lot of people who are in the animal advocacy world that thinks and speaks the same way you do. I think it would be in our best interest if I just contact the state regarding this matter about an an animal pound, etc.

Right now I do not want to get into it with you about the economy, LHS ACO on weekends, etc. because there is a lot of work that is going on at the shelter and people are doing their best to get the facility up and running the right way this time around. I would like to congratulate all of the workers, volunteers, etc. for a great job that they are doing and wish them the best of luck in getting the job done. Secondly As far as the cat goes that was dumped in the park at least that cat had a happy ending; not so much of what the animals went through at the shelter nor like my cat Koko that was killed by a speeding car. And the litigation that you are so intrigued about I guess is the one where a former shelter worker brought a lawsuit against the City of Jersey City as well as against me for doing my job; yes, that is the same one that was throwing out of court and it is being appeal.

Thanks for making me laugh when you mentioned about me being in charge of an animal pound over ten years ago. It all had to do in response to an emergency situation where as the HCSPCA were wall to wall with animals that the city had no other choice but to immediately erect this rundown garage as a temporarily animal pound. In doing so since it does fall under my job description as an animal control officer I had no other choice in this matter but to take on the additional duties and responsibilities of running and operating a city animal pound. I had to do what was in the best interest of the city as well as for the animals at the time. It?s kind of what just happen here with the interim board stepping in to save LHS and the animals. The only deference here is that LHS has a lot of supporters now not like when I was task with doing it. I had to juggle between doing animal control services as well as animal pound duties with limited part time staff workers that was unreliable as well as limited ACOs since 1-guy was out on sick leave and the city took forever to finally hire a 2nd ACO to help me out but by that time the city finally hire a shelter manager. It is strange when you think about it that the same volunteers/organization group back than very seldom showed up when you really needed them to help but instead of them making the most of it they didn?t but they were very good in accusing me of a lot of untrue stuffs including not running the animal pound according to state code but that was never proven. I did what I had to do for a period of about 6 months with limited to no staff workers at times, not like LHS who been at it for over 7 years with plenty of staff workers and volunteers, etc.

I am glad to hear about all of the improvements and good work that is being done at the shelter and I do hope that everyone hear learned a lesson from this as well.

Joe.

Quote:

New Jersey Statutes Annotated 4:15.1. Definition of;

An animal ?Pound? shall mean an establishment for the confinement of dogs or other animals seized either under the provisions of this act or otherwise.

An animal ?Shelter? shall mean any establishment where dogs or other animals are received, housed and distributed.

One of the main purposes of an animal pound is to hold a stray animal for at least 7-days in order to give the owner the opportunity to reclaim their pet from the facility. If the animal goes unclaimed after the 7-day holding period than legally the animal could be put up adoption, rescue, etc. Could you just imagine what would be happening right now if this law wasn?t in effect to protect the pet owner?s rights in getting their lost pet back from the facility?

Nowhere is it written, not even in the state law or local ordinance unless of course HAA could point it out to me in black and white that an animal ?Pound? cannot do the same functions as an animal ?Shelter?.

Joe Frank

http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/

Quote:

That is true the primary goal of an impoundment facility is to allow owners to reclaim their lost pet or if an animal is confiscated as a result of a law enforcement action, but the same holds true to LHS since they are running and operating a city animal pound, they must also abide by the law unless of course they are planning not to accept any more stray animals from the city or animals that are confiscated as a result of a law enforcement action; we both know that isn?t going to happen anytime soon.

Yes you are right, there is a difference between an animal pound and an animal shelter but it is not what you are saying because that is what LHS have been doing along for the past 6 years at the shelter. The real difference between an animal pound and an animal shelter (besides an animal shelter accepting unwanted animals surrendered by residents for humane placement) is the cost of operation. The cost of running an animal shelter for a city of this size is like the cost of running and operating Medical Center compare to a private doctor?s office cost with limited patients. An animal pound keeps the cost of operation down because it is only dealing with limited amount of animals that are being brought into the facility strictly by the city's law enforcement. The less animals you have coming into the facility the less you have to deal with such as the overhead cost, the size of the facility, overcrowding, etc. Another similar comparison to that is like a police car pound as oppose to a large size car dealer.

What you are probably getting confused about is that LHS is actually doing both operations; they are running and operating an animal pound as well as an animal shelter. There?s nothing wrong with that is just that the size of the facility can?t handle the demands nor the cost of running both operations.

[quote]
HAAMember:

Fact 1 - Yes, Harry M. knows that Diana Jeffrey is back on the Board. He has in fact been working closely with her on the current issues and been very helpful. He is particularly thankful of the fact that Diana's quick thinking the night the Board resigned is what saved him from having to take it over and run it as a pound.[quote]

You are missing leading the readers in thinking and believing that if the city took over the shelter operation it would be run like a pound. Well for your information LHS was hired by the city to run and operate the city animal pound. And that?s exactly what they are doing, they are running and operating a City Animal Pound where animals are impounded by the city and held for the 7-day holding period as mandated by State and local law. One of the main reasons why animals must be held for the 7-day holding period is to give an opportunity for the animal owners to reclaim their pet and if they fail to do so within that time period than the animal could legally be put up for adoption or it could be foster out.

The real problem started back in 2004/2005 when LHS took over the facility. Instead of them extending out from the back entrance of the building to create about 100 indoor/outdoor runs, someone at the facility decided that it would be much better to create about 10 outdoor dog pens. That was foolish and inexperience thing to do at the time especially when you have the space you could have easily expand the capacity of the facility years ago saving a lot of dogs life. Too bad that no one took my suggestion years ago, but anyway, here I am again suggesting that LHS should just knock down those worthless set of outdoor runs and extend out with 100 indoor/outdoor runs just like the old spca on Johnston Avenue; use the old spca structure as a blue print for LHS indoor/outdoor runs. This way everyone could work happily together with more room to work with, the animals don?t have to be killed because it gives LHS more time to place them, plus it makes it much easier to upkeep facility since there will be less dogs in cages, in general it will be much easier for everyone even for the animals. If everyone pulls together it could be done; do it for the animals. Good luck.

It?s amazing how cats could survive in frigid weather conditions. Thank God that this little critter had a happy ending as well as Daisy.

Annie, a 13-year-old tuxedo cat, disappeared near Norfolk, Mass., during a snowstorm in early December on the day her family was moving.

Five weeks later there was still no sign of the cat and her family feared the worst.

They put up missing pet fliers and contacted Animal Control for help.

And this past weekend, their prayers were answered.

A report came into animal control about a cat rescued from a snow bank.

"Basically, when I picked her up, she had no signs of life. She was stiff, she was unconscious, cold to the touch and not responding to anything," said Hilary Cohen, a Norfolk Animal Control officer.

Despite the ordeal, Annie is expected to make a full recovery.


http://content.usatoday.com/communiti ... vives-after-thawing-out/1

An animal pound deals with stray animals, abandoned animals, and animals that are impounded as a result of law enforcement action. An animal pound is similar to the same principles that applies to a police car pound which deals with abandoned vehicles, stolen vehicles, and vehicles impounded as a result of law enforcement action; it is limited to its use, so therefore the overhead cost of running and operating a police car pound or an animal pound is far less costly than the cost of running and operating a dealership or an animal shelter.

The animals that are impounded at an animal pound are treated the same way as they are treated in an animal shelter. If the animals are good for adoption they are adopted out or sent out to a rescue group. However, if the animals are like those 2 dogs in Hoboken that attacked and mauled the owners, than they would be humanely destroyed. I hope that this sheds some light on the article.

Quote:

You needed to know the fact that those municipalities that pays $4-$6 per capita for animal welfare services doesn't have an animal pound facility and must pay the price to contract with an animal shelter in order to provide such services as mandated by state law. Since there are very few animal shelters around that can provide municipalities with such (impoundment) services for stray animals, those municipalities are at their mercy and must pay the high price to do so. As time goes on so does the cost of running an animal shelter along with animal pound services. Look how much it is now costing the city to support such operation. The city is now paying for the cost of two (animal shelter and for an animal pound) operations which is very costly to operate. The state only mandates a city to provide only an animal pound not an animal shelter in order to do animal impoundment services for their municipality.

Jersey City is fortunate that they have and own their own animal pound facility but for some reason they decided to contract it out and spend all of that kind of money rather than doing it in house which could have save the city hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.