by Ashley Villines, executive director, Northern Oklahoma Humane Society, and Jay Glowacki, supervisor, Animal Control, Ponca City Police Department
A new spirit of cooperation between city government and the private
sector has paid huge dividends for dogs and cats in Ponca City.
Volunteers planted the seed, and the decision to implement a no-kill program accelerated the partnership between the Northern Oklahoma Humane Society and the Ponca City Police Department. Almost overnight, Ponca City’s focus shifted from basic animal management to saving the lives of animals. As discussed in an article in the July-August issue of this magazine, we were initially overwhelmed with surrendered animals when we announced our nokill policy. Animal Control and Humane Society kennels filled up, and all our foster families were at capacity. That glut caused us to come together to save animals.
The effort began with impetus and direction from Ponca City’s chief of police, Don Bohon, took flight with aggressive advocacy from a local businessman, and was solidified by a dedicated group of volunteers. Now, government-operated Animal Control and the community-sponsored Humane Society operate as close partners to meet the goal of saving animal lives.
Communication Is Crucial
The key to such close cooperation is communication among leaders, staff members, and volunteers. No matter the problem, we reason that if we can talk through it, then we can handle it. If someone is stumped by a situation, we turn to others for ideas and help. We have occasional differences, but working through them has brought our organizations closer. We have stayed focused, and we never forget our mission to save animals. We realize we need each other to accomplish that.
We communicate where we stand on issues, what we need from each other, where we see bottlenecks, and where we need help. We call each other at home if necessary and will work around the clock to save an animal. Both organizations are on the same wavelength philosophically, but we have found that we need to keep open minds and be willing to do things differently on the spur of the moment.
We have swapped ideas about cleaning kennels more effectively, using better self-operating food and water bowls, saving money, allocating surplus supplies, directing donations, and funding unbudgeted needs.
Our chief of police serves as a liaison between the Humane Society and city government. He opens doors, provides legwork support, and sometimes mediates issues.
Diversionary Tactics
We have had a major focus on trying to divert animal intake. The Humane Society teaches owners how to rehome their pets themselves through networking. We sometimes offer food, vaccines, or other resources to buy time and to help keep people from surrendering pets.
Animal Control has followed dogs home and then mended fences and blocked other escape routes. Animal Control also has scanned animals for microchips and has photographed animals as soon as they are picked up on the streets. Often, we post a photo on the Internet within five minutes, and sometimes we have returned a dog to its home within 30 minutes of having been picked up. One dog who was scanned last month was registered in Georgia, but the owner had just moved to Ponca City, and we located him.
Shared Resources
We willingly share our often limited resources — volunteers, donations, equipment, and skills. Of the Humane Society’s 15 dependable volunteers, five also work with Animal Control. Surplus dog bowls, chew toys, and rawhide bones donated to the Humane Society are shared with Animal Control.
Because Animal Control officers are more experienced, we rely on them to capture loose animals. The Humane Society loans traps and crates to the public. Animal Control provides tethers
and advice (and sometimes labor) to keep animals in yards.
Through Animal Control, Ponca City will fund microchip implants for 250 animals this year. The Humane Society has completed construction of an in-house spay/neuter facility, and the Police Department has budgeted a $17,000 contribution to help offset veterinarian fees to operate the new clinic.
Public Support
We defend each other. Despite considerable evidence to the contrary, some people have a negative opinion of Animal Control, insisting on social media that every animal picked up by Animal Control is euthanized. But Humane Society staff members quickly challenge that information and post factual data to refute the misrepresentations.
Our good relationship seems to be contagious. Local veterinarians and groomers often provide lower-cost or sometimes gratuitous services to support our efforts.
More To Come
There is still much to do. Information on lost dogs is posted on too many social-media sites, so we hope to reduce animal intake by getting all postings on the same site.
We want to lower pet adoption fees. Both Animal Control and the Humane Society only pass on our costs for spaying/neutering, deworming, vaccines, and microchips. But most people will not pay $150 for a cat when they can get one for free almost any day.
Perhaps most important, we need to provide additional support for our volunteers. Every day, two volunteers take photos at the Humane Society and Animal Control
and post them to help locate owners. Both volunteers purchased vans with their own money to transport animals, and they do most of the networking. Another volunteer created and single-handedly manages our community cats program. She traps cats, has them spayed or neutered, and then releases them. We are applying for grants to fund a paid position to free our volunteers who do so much for us. We could not save the number of dogs we do without our volunteers.
We are pleased with our progress in establishing personal relationships and in saving animals’ lives. We’re not where we want to be yet, but we’ve had a successful beginning.
