Live blogging – Bill Bruce

This morning I will be live blogging the Bill Bruce seminar in Southern River, WA…

Building responsible pet ownership communities – the Calgary Model

Wow – there’s a really good crowd here! Probably 100 people? Excellent :)

 

Zoe Ferris – the incoming President of the AVA WA

The AVA’s position is that all dogs have the potential to bite and BSL is not the way forward.

BSL research shows it doesn’t reduce the incidents of aggression and attacks.

We need to be looking at responsible pet ownership programs and from a vets and breeders perspective, what we can be doing to reduce attacks.

 

Graeme Mc – Barristers Animal Welfare Panel

Bill & G have toured Sydney and Melbourne and have done media in WA (6PR).

Looking to bring a more enlightened view to legislators.

Ayen Chol saw the amnesty on pitbulls brought forward by 12 months. A pitbull that is born after Sept 2010, cannot be registered and must be killed.

If an owner fails to register a dog, not believing it to be a ‘pit bull’ – they have the right to challenge. But legal challenges are intimidating to most people.

Council rangers training is a 3hr seminar.

85% of the dogs who’s owners challenge a declaration, go home.

Rangers feel they have to declare dogs.

Media is starting to turn against the laws, as they are not working.

A 2010 survey by the RSPCA VIC – 110 large breed dogs involved in attackes – 2 were ‘pit bulls’.

The notion that ‘pit bulls’ are a particular source of danger to the community is nonsense.

A meeting with the local WA minister has been refused.

The WA Dog Bill is not as bad as Victoria. What do we do with the reality of the dog bill? (It won’t be overturned). We should try and get at least one or two councils to implement the Calgary model, so we have some examples of a working model. Focus on prevention. It will be the pathway forward to reduce the risk to public safety.

Focus on a preventative model. Focus on good owners, not bad dogs.

Rangers have been given carte-blanch to declare dogs as ‘restricted breed’. There is no standard in WA (21 point plan?). Implementation remains to be seen.

WA legislators claim to have implemented elements of the Calgary model. This is false. They never talked to Bruce. Calgary focuses on prevention and WA dogs laws are about punishment after the fact.

 

Bill Bruce

We wanted to create something special, that people actually wanted.

It’s not a plug and play model, but you can take the process, and develop a program which will address the issues in Perth.

Evolving – things change. People change. We have to allow for that.

We do not have a problem with pet overpopulation, stray animals, or nusiance – we have a problem with responsible pet ownership.

Virtually every pet ends up in a shelter because the human relationship failed them.

We need to educate/support people to be better pet owners.

Shifting from traditional animal control model – to responsible pet ownership. We have to change if we want to see change.

Social media is changing the discussions. Government has ‘rational ignorance’ – they work with low feedback, low information, and misaligned incentives. Society is complex and high-feedback.

Animal services

– encourage responsible pet ownership through licencing

– public education and enforcement.

– protect people from animals

– return pets to owners

– care for impounded animals

– Subsidise desexing

– obtain compliance to responsible pet ownership bylaws

 

Vision

– create a department that people want to work with, not hide from (transparent stats. All animals on website so rescues can take pets)

– collaborate with community groups

– eliminate euthanasia as an animal management strategy (most pounds use euthanasia as an animal population management strategy)

— euthanasia is about ending suffering. Anything else is killing

– a ‘no more homeless pets’ philosophy

— return to owner

— no healthy adoptable animal euthanised

— use vets, behaviour to make pets adoptable (modify and correct behaviour)

— programs to teach and support responsible pet ownership

— rescues can take pets no charge

– reduce aggressive animals incidents

– be self-supporting without tax dollars. Have responsible pet owners ‘pay’.

 

From vision to action

– Identify issues

– what are the issues

– what is the desired outcome

– what is stopping us? (Laws can change)

– Engage stakeholders

– Build processes that works

– Educate people to use it

— 95% compliance. People will support laws they believe in and support.

– Back it up

— 5% enforcement

– Measure

— if you’re not measuring, how do you know if you’re getting better or worse?

— stats readily available on website

 

BSL

– is the issue particular breeds, or aggressive canine behaviour?

– If you identify a particular breed as an issue, then you’ve polarised the community. People will reject your position. You will spend a lot of money, but will not have improved public safety.

Pet limits

– is the issue the number of pets, or the care given to those pets?

– Don’t make good owners criminals when they’re taking good care of their pets.

Educating stakeholders

– Educate the public on the issues. How will the proposal solve the issues?

– Good, credible information. Get their opinions on the issues.

– Measure support or opposition to the proposal?

– Who will be effected? Get them onside. What are their interests? What will their positions be?

– Move discussion to issues. Mediation 101.

Processes that work

– SMART process (standard project processes)

– Gather data

– What facts are available – what facts do you need?

– Engage stakeholders

– How will you measure and report on progress?

– Be realistic – how long will it take – what are our milestones?

– Regulation on its own is not the solution – what needs to be done to support it?

– Build knowledge – why do we have these rules – give people good information so they can make good choices.

 

Four principals of responsible pet ownership

– Licences and provide permanent identification for pets.

— get pets home. empty shelters fast.

– Desex pets

– Provide training, physical care, socialisation and medical attention for pets

– Do not allow pets to be a threat or nuisance in the community.

 

If people do these things, we have no need for government to be ‘in your life’

 

Principal five – Euthical procurement of companion animals

– think before you get a pet

– do your research

– get from credible rescue/breeder

Enforcement

– final step if all else fails

– needs to be effective – perception of getting caught (low cost for licence – high cost of non-compliance)

– needs to provide deterrent value – cost of non-compliance

– perception of fairness

 

Measurement

– confirms if bylaw is effective

 

Partnerships (3 key stakeholders)

– regulatory

– humane

– medical/service providers (breeders, trainers, pet stores)

Find ways to work together to give pet owners the correct information, the same information.

Message needs to be heard multiple times for adults to ‘learn’ it.

Understanding collaboration

– find the things we all agree on – work on that

– we agreed BSL is bad

– we agreed euthanasia was not an appropriate tool to manage animals

– talk to them directly. Listen. Tell them to ‘prove it’

 

Bruce was ‘against’ colony cats. Other groups have convinced him otherwise. Now have colonies and it works. Less and less cats over time.

 

Shifting from Animal Control to Responsible Pet Ownership

– Regulate the right end of the leash

– Change human behaviours – pet issues resolve themselves

– Create services people actually want

– Being more preventative to reduce the responsive, penalising approach. Work with owners to solve issues

 

The importance of laws

– Serve two roles

— set a minimum standard of acceptable behaviour

— achieve compliance to that standard

– Help us live together, based on a an agreed set of rules

 

Performance indicators

– Impounded animals should be going down

– Return to owner rates, should be going up

– Aggressive animal incidents, down

– Euthanaisa rate, down

– Percent of animals licenced

– Number of infractions, down

– Income, up

Operations

– Have the ability to scan and check a pets details on the road. Will drive pets straight home.

– Try to keep stress on the office and the pet low

– Respond and investigate (Responsible Pet Ownership Bylaw// Dangerous Dog Act//The Animal Protection Act//The Stray Animal Act)

Good programs remove barriers

– Licencing market sensitive/affordable/convenient

– No restrictions on breed/number of pets

– Provide desexing

Cat licencing

– Cats with permanent ID are not required to wear a tag (choking risk, no point)

– 9,000 cats a year entering shelters (17% save rate)

– good marketing – give them for free for the first 12 months. Media release on the benefits of licences and ID.

– Huge demand for licences to protect cats

Dog licencing

– Formally a business licencing admin function. Low compliance, no follow up on non-renewal.

– Dedicated officers to compliance. Every time a licence was sold from door-to-door action, the department lost money.

– Licencing campaign – sold the benefits. Extensive media. ‘My licence is my ticket home’. Move away from negative messaging.

– ‘I heart my pet’ program. Rewards programs with local businesses. More benefits than cost of licence. IKEA, local restaurants, car servicing.

– Make it easy – 24/7 access. Pay online. At bank. At post office.

– Follow up on non-renewals (do not use lifetime registration)

– Look for economies.

– Park patrols

– 6 months free licencing for adopted pets

– Licencing advantages

— enables quick returns

— identifies lost animals have a caregiver

— a licenced pet is one phone call away from going home.

 

LOTS and LOTS of off-leash parks

– good socialisation

– exercise reduces behavioural issues

– self-regulating

– not multi-purpose (don’t have jogging/bike paths in off-leash areas. A recipe for disaster)

– fenced & huge

– Rules

– on leash everywhere else

– dogs must be licenced

– under control

– owners must pick up after their dogs

– must not chase or threaten

 

Officer training

– Officer field training

– Dog handling//Canine behaviour

– Lifting, loading and transporting

– Leash techniques

– Capture tools

– Breeds and behaviour

– Aggressive incident investigations

– Negotiation and confidence building

Dogs being made available for adoption

– Open adoption

– Adopt with conditons (experienced home, extra training)

– Hold for training (foster?) & retest

– Not suitable (very few, sometimes health issues)

Role of education

– Corrects myths or misconceptions

– Supports knowledgable citizens

– Transforms misunderstandings

– Changes behaviour (what to do if you see a stray dog)

– Key to voluntary compliance (people will generally do the right thing)

School program

– PAWS dog bite prevention//Urban coyotes//Dogs in society//Humane animal care//Dog safety

– Grade appropriate

– Interactive

– No cost (out of registrations income)

– Don’t take dogs into the classroom (kids stop listening)

The lethal method for coyotes didn’t work (if you have resources for 100 coyotes, you will have 100 coyotes). Have a role in rodent control.

 

Everything we do is with public engagement. Nothing is done behind closed doors.

 

Performance indicators

– 1.2 million people

– 122,325 dogs (90% compliance rate for dog licences, 87% return to owner, 95% live release)

– 91,551 cats (Live release 82%)

– 97% of dogs don’t enter the shelter at all.

– No BSL & no pet limits

– $5.9 million generated through licence and penalty revenue, not tax dollars

– Built a new $3.9 million shelter (84 dogs, 88 cats) NEVER OVER CAPACITY.

– Good ventilation. No disease outbreaks. Doesn’t smell. Quiet.

– Public desexing program

– Cat licencing pays for a desexing program – built free desexing clinic

 Questions

– Both questions so far have been about data collection. Obviously there is a real feeling that WA Councils aren’t being transparent or thorough enough with collecting and providing statistics.

– Average length of stay? Bill ~ 3 days for dogs, 12 days for dogs.  (Four days holding, 10 days for chipped)

 

– Bill ~ how many people have their pets chipped (everyone puts up their hand). I’ve done seminars of 1,000 people and all people will put up their hands. So how many people know how to change their details? The trail goes cold when pets come into the shelter. We link licencing to microchipping so details stay current

 

– Misogynist rescuer ~ are some of your adopters horrible? OH DEAR GOD SOMEONE SLAP HER.

– Bill ~ most pets are surrendered for behaviour issues – we want to make sure that pets stay in the home, by providing support. We offer a full returns policy.

 

– Secrets to successful implementation of the model?

– Bill ~ I’m a certified mediator. I know about engaging people, working on solutions, and with stakeholders. In getting a desexing clinic, we engaged vets first and showed them that low income earners were never going to be clients. They sit on the board. We could demonstrate it would not effect their businesses.

– Graeme ~ According to the RSPCA, compliance rate of dog registrations around Australia is around 30%. Increasing compliance increases revenue – ear mark it for proactive, proven programs. Councils will like it because it is cost neutral.

– Bill ~ for people to support registration, they have to know that every nickle is being spent on saving lives and protecting pets. Not fixing potholes, but grants to humane societies and desexing.

 

– How to get rescue groups into pounds?

– Bill ~ All partnerships start with a relationship. When I started the council had a policy of not adopting pitties. Working with breed rescue meant we could ‘prove’ adopting these animals was a safe policy. Then we could work to make the policy to just adopt them out like regular dogs.

Don’t be adversarial. Be solutions focused – what would I have to do, to make this happen. Start with one and build on it.

– Ranger ~ put together an operational plan. Show what resources you have behind you. We aren’t driving the laws, we’ve just been told what we have to do. It all depends on the individual group being able to demonstrate that they are a good group to work with.

 

– How do you ‘educate’ owners about responsible pet ownership

– Bill ~ Get out into the media. It is the most effective tool. We had a lot of puppies come in with parvo – we immediately get into the media and talk about the incident and how parvo can be prevented. I used other ‘experts’ to come along and lend their credible professional opinion.

 

– Do you have a problem with lot of people giving dogs away free on ‘gumtree’? When they do, does the licence stay with the dog?

– Bill ~ Yes we do. The licencing number stays with the dog. The history of the dog stays with the dog. I don’t care if people are rehoming dogs, they’re not my concern (as long as they’re going to a safe home).

We use a flat plate tag, with a split ring. If it gets lost we just send you a new one.

 

 

 

 See also: Bill Bruce, City of Calgary – Effective Animal Control (video)

Bill Bruce speaks to Neil Mitchell 3AW (video 2013)

More solutions from Calgary (blog – 2010)

What a difference a pound makes #2 (blog – 2009)

Fear mongering and failed ideas (blog – 2009)