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City of Salisbury Bites Back with effective animal management initiatives
Darren Hurst, Team Leader, General Inspectorate, City of Salisbury
Dog attacks are the one area of Animal Management that can have the largest impact on a community. They have the ability to leave emotional and physical scarring as well as the potential for causing death. Increasing dog attack statistics and wide spread media coverage of dog attacks prompted the City Of Salisbury to take this matter on and try to put the brakes on dog attacks.
The strategy used by the City of Salisbury included a combination of education, encouragement and enforcement. The first area of “attack” was the law. At the time the Dog and Cat Management Act did not have any leashing laws in place for public places and as a result Council passed a by law, requiring all dogs to be on leads in all public places.
In order to balance these controls with adequate community demand for off leash exercise, the first 5 of a total of 9 dog friendly parks were built. An active education and enforcement campaign was also implemented to ensure we had public support and compliance. This work had a clear result on dog attack numbers with a marked decline in our attacks.
Further work was then undertaken on the statistics and it was clear we needed to identify and further analyse the data to identify the location of the attacks. We determined if the attack occurred on private property, a public place or on a Council reserve and whether it was an attack or harassment. After the initial decline in dog attack numbers the greatest percentage of continuing attacks were occurring on “public” land. That is defined as footpaths and roads, and the main cause was dogs escaping from yards or houses. This lead to the development of our education campaign, “Don’t let your dog roam, secure your home.” Our results showed that a dog wandering at large was more likely to be involved in a dog attack.
Continued analysis of our data identified “Staffordshire bull terriers” and “Staffordshire bull terrier cross” type dogs as the highest number of dogs wandering at large and involved in attacks. As this data revealed a common factor we modified our brochure to target the owner of these particular breeds.
As Council has decided to take all dog attack investigations seriously we have issued 167 dog attack expiations in the last three years as well as 13 successful prosecutions.
Council’s strategy and the success of that strategy has been shown however the full impact will be seen over the next few years. Our program cannot be seen in isolation as there is also a lot of work being done by other agencies that are all helping reduce the overall impact of dog attacks. This includes, Delta dog safe, Pet pep, and the Dog and Cat Management Board’s “Good Dog Campaign” too name a few.
The only thing that we can be sure of is if we don’t all take active measures we will have more victims. So its time to “Bite Back” on dog attack statistics and make our communities a safer place.
Local Government Authorised Persons Professional Framework
Peter Graves (Strategon) & Linda Allery (City of Playford)
The project was conceived by the Local Government Authorised Persons’ Association in SA.
The Local Government Authorised Persons’ has for some time acknowledged the need to lift the profile of Authorised Persons’ and promote understanding in councils about role and skills required of an Authorised Person. One of the main aims of the project is to encourage employment of qualified and professional Authorised Persons’.
Whilst position descriptions exist for many Authorised Officers there is little understanding and acknowledgement within Local Government of the skills, knowledge and requirements of the field. The Local Government Authorised Persons’ Association recognised the need to develop a framework that outlines the attributes, knowledge, skills and education required at the varying levels of authorised person – from trainee through to manager.
This Project was funded by the Local Government Research & Development Scheme in SA.
Project Description
The project developed and published a Local Government Authorised Persons Professional Framework that:
· Describe the role and scope of an Authorised Person
· Assist Local Government Managers and Authorised Persons’ with professional
development
· Encourage membership to professional bodies and networks
The product resulting from this project is a manual encompassing a series of templates that applied the professional standards against various human resource processes including:
· Development of job descriptions
· Recruitment and selection
· Induction
· Performance development and management
· Training and development
· Career development and career transition
Benefits of the Project to Local Government
Councils have benefited from this project via:
· Improved human resource practices (from selection onwards) through the use of
benchmarks (professional standards & qualification)
· Improved compliance / administration of various pieces of legislation.
· Improved perception of compliance function in the community
· Professional officers fostering good working / community relationships
· Promotes and encourages professional development for Authorised Persons
Authorised persons have benefited from this project via:
· Access to professional development through a nationally recognised qualification
· Improved perception of Local Government Authorised Persons as a profession
· Increased access to knowledge related to compliance function through web & mentors
· A benchmark that specifies what it takes to be effective in the role (professional
standards & qualification)
· Improved career paths & skill transferability
· Increased confidence
The Conference presentation will provide an overview of the framework, highlighting the attributes etc. that have been identified that make authorised persons highly effective in their role, the range of applications of the associated professional standards including the new training arrangements in SA.
Animal hoarding from a local government perspective
Anne-Marie Boyd, Coordinator Compliance and Regional Management, Moreton Bay Regional Council (incorporating Pine Rivers Shire Council)
Animal hoarding occurs in a number of guises, many of which go undetected and unaddressed for many years. Hoarding may involve the collection and breeding of any species, with dogs, cats and birds most commonly involved. Animal hoarding is more than “just” the keeping and collecting of more animals than is considered reasonable. It is usually accompanied by failure of the hoarder to provide minimum standards of care and hygiene for themselves and their animals, along with obsessive attempts to accumulate more animals. Animal hoarders may be in denial about their situation and will actively oppose any attempts made to remove their animals. Local Governments must deal with animal hoarding as breaches of their local laws and/or town planning schemes. However, the issues are very complex and not easily solved without the long term involvement, cooperation and support of agencies outside of local government.
“Vet-Evac-ing”, saving lives by moving animals to where they can find homes
Dr Mark Lawrie 1, Dr Robert Dixon 2, Ms Megan Pendergrast 2, Ms Louise Kiddell 3, Dr Magdalene Croker 3
1 Australian Veterinary Association, 2 University of Sydney, Faculty of Veterinary Science, 3 RSPCA, NSW
Transport of puppies and kittens from rural shelters with excess animals to urban areas is a proven method of decreasing euthanasia rates in animal shelters. Rural shelters often have large numbers of animals but an insufficient number of purchasers, whereas the market for puppies and kittens in urban areas is strong only there are not enough animals to supply it.
In America, moving animals from one area to another in “rescue” operations is becoming common. Animals are transported across the country in private vehicles, large trucks and caravans. Rescue transport operations such as the Canine Underground Railroad and the Puppies Across America Program have been established specifically for this purpose. Animals are also flown in from foreign countries on private and commercial aircraft. The removal of animals from war-affected countries is an increasing trend.
There are a number of concerns associated with transporting unknown animals from foreign countries and regions. Most importantly, transporting large numbers of animals together is a biosecurity hazard, particularly when the health status of the animals is unknown and when there has been limited veterinary intervention and quarantine. Under such conditions (which are often the case in “rescue” operations), there is a risk of spreading infectious diseases between animals and introducing exotic disease from foreign countries.
We do not want to encourage extreme rescue operations that will pose a biosecurity risk in Australia. However, transporting animals from rural to urban shelters should be investigated as a means of reducing euthanasia rates in rural shelters and increasing adoption rates in urban shelters. The American operations should not be used as a model, but ideas could be taken from these systems in order to develop transport infrastructure in Australia. The AAWSome secret – animal management and National policy
Dr Michael Hayward, AVA Centre For Companion Animals In The Community
Animal Management - the forgotten cousins. More than half of all Australian households own dogs or cats, and even more keep other companion animals. Complaints regarding animals plague Council switchboards; Council Pounds teem with animals, and AMOs are busy from dawn to dusk. While battling the daily job sheet, you act pre-emptively and are actively rewarding ratepayers, running dog classes, visiting schools. You understand how important pets are to your ratepayers, and you work hard to maintain that bond. You are sickened by abandoned dogs and abused cats.
But who cares? Does Government recognise the importance of animals in people’s lives, the risks and nuisances they can cause? Until recently, there has been very little evidence at a National level because, after all, all domestic animal (and animal welfare) legislation is at a State level.
In 2005 the Australian Government committed $6 million to the Australian Animal Welfare Strategy (AAWS), and AAWS hasn’t forgotten you! This paper will explain how new structural arrangements at a Federal level will ensure that animal management is considered at a National level, and what the implications of the AAWS may be for you.
Paving the Path for Tomorrow’s Animal Management in Australia: Investigating roles, goals, definitions and directions as we move forward
Dr Dick Murray, Western Suburbs Vet Clinic
Animals have a major impact on community quality of life, community environment and community economy. Companion (pet) animals are a significant part of this “balance of benefit” story. But the impact is not always good – pet animals can create problems just as they can provide benefits. The net outcome in this “balance of benefit” depends on how well these animals are managed, both at home and in public and Urban Animal Management (UAM) is the balancing act that holds it all together. In 2006, the Australian Institute of Animal Management (AIAM) assumed the role of convenor for what had previously been the Australian Veterinary Association’s annual Urban Animal Management (UAM) conferences. This paper in October, 2008 at the second AIAM conference in Darwin, is a review of the past fifteen years and reflection on what has been achieved, what it all means and where we might want to set our sights in pushing ahead from here. Animal Control/Animal Welfare – The Australian Context
Peter Chandler, Regulatory Services Manager, City of Palmerston
There are two very distinct areas of urban companion animal management that in Australia we manage by devolving key responsibilities to different jurisdictions and different levels of government. Are the key responsibilities so distinct though? The answer is not always as there are many grey areas involved, cross overs and of course, the often thought about but never spoken process of buck passing, that make up today’s complex industry of managing companion animals in Australia.
The current Australian process lends itself to a number of issues including conflicting priorities and resources, inconsistent legislation, frustration and less than ideal training methods and career structure for people working within the industry. These issues within the industry are further compounded when you consider the general public is more often confused with where the responsibility of each agency starts and finishes.
In the US, Canada and the UK many jurisdictions have bridged this gap working in both a control and welfare environment. Many U.S. Animal Control agencies’ mandate includes basic cruelty code enforcement for many reasons. Laura Maloney, Ex CEO for the Louisiana SPCA said “It’s akin to local police being able to respond to all aspects of the law and not just some.” In this context cruelty should not be confused with animal welfare and it is now my opinion after a comprehensive evaluation of international processes cruelty should be managed along with animal control. Let me explain;
Observing the process of animal care and control first hand delivers increased efficiency and a far more complete urban companion animal management package. In fact I now fail to see why in Australia we add complexity to the industry by polarising these two key elements of companion animal management, control and cruelty. It is common knowledge that in Australia we make local government responsible for urban animal control and leave either state governments or non-profit organisations to deal with animal welfare and cruelty. Welfare is a separate issue and works well with non-profit organisations like the RSPCA. Cruelty however needs to be linked with animal control. It can be done; it has been done and works extremely well and provides demonstrated efficiencies, not to mention improvements in the living standards for many affected animals, within regions that have linked the two.
The process will take resources however; it will require training and legislative changes. Are these possible? Yes they certainly are, but it will take the support and collective drive of the entire industry to influence this major sea change.
So is this the direction urban animal management should be heading in Australia? And will this deliver the quantum leap so many people are searching for? And if so, how do we make it happen?
Considering animals and the management of animals in emergency situations
Mrs Claire Gick, Benotto Animal Management
When natural disasters strike, animal owners are often unprepared to deal with the needs of their pets or livestock. Fire, storm, flooding and other natural occurring events can severely impact communities and the animals that live in them. Additionally, exotic disease is a considerable threat to livestock industries in Australia.
Emergency Management planning has typically focused on protecting human life, property, community services and individual assets. Recognising the positive contribution animals make to communities and economies, it is important to include their protection, welfare and management in Emergency Management planning.
Codes of Practice for the private keeping of cats and dogs
Ms Cathy Pawsey, Bureau Of Animal Welfare, Victorian DPI
In 2007 Victoria introduced two new welfare codes of practice relating to the private keeping of both cats and dogs. These codes were developed utilising current expertise, research and practices to set some minimum standards in relation to the keeping, husbandry, housing, training and care of cats and dogs. They are an excellent example of how the management aspects of domestic animal management underpin ensuring the welfare of domestic animals.
We are family: A guide to nurturing the child/pet relationship from pregnancy to preschool
Mr Rob Morrice and Ms Virginia Soderstrom, Dept Of Primary Industries, Victoria
The Victorian Government’s Responsible Pet Ownership Education Program has taken the innovative step of targeting expectant parents, in relation to pet safety and management, during their antenatal education programs. The Program primarily aims to
- Reduce the number of dog attack injuries in the 0-4 age bracket
- Reduce the number of pets, in particular cats, being surrendered due to the arrival of a baby
With approximately 90 per cent of first time parents attending antenatal classes, the Program will educate parents on the need to -
- Adequately prepare their cats and dogs for the baby’s arrival.
- Actively supervise all interaction between their baby and pets.
- Securely separate baby and pet if they are not in a position to actively supervise.
The Program has been trialled at Northern Hospital for the past 12 months. We are now in the process of expanding the Program into and a number of the key maternity and regional hospitals.
“We Are Family” is all about promoting the benefits of pet ownership for both the two and four legged members of the family and ensuring a happy and safe relationship for all.
Getting it Right the First Time – Interviewing Made Easy
Mr Phillip Walsh, Em Four
Animal management officers work in a variety of conditions with a wide range of responsibilities. Employer and community demands are just as variable. Duties range from a limited degree of contact with clients to carrying out investigations into complex matters that may or may not require police intervention. No matter what the work areas, the type of duties covered or the clients encountered – humans or those with feathers, fur or fins – discovering information remains critically important. Whether it is taking calls for assistance in a call centre, following up on registration inquiries or investigating a serious attack, the ability to quickly obtain reliable, detailed, accurate information is skill that is essential for anyone working in an animal management role.
This presentation will outline some simple processes that can be quickly learned and put into practice by anyone working in an animal management role or any other position that requires gathering information from others. Development of these basic interviewing skills will make the work of the AMO easier and will enhance the quality of their work and subsequent preparation of material for court.
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