OKLAHOMA CITY — A rogue Chihuahua with a penchant for ankle biting was the catalyst for a Sept. 11 interim study on the state’s overpopulation of stray cats and dogs.
Rep. Ellyn Hefner, D-Oklahoma City, said she “still can’t feel a part of my leg from that bite,” which occurred while she was “on the campaign trail” in July. After the incident, she said she became concerned about loose dogs and their potential to inflict injuries on children. So, she requested the study.
Hefner said the problem of both cat and dog overpopulation poses a public health risk, as well as straining cities’ budgets, and needs to be addressed by the Legislature.
“By hearing from some of those on the front lines, we can better understand the challenges and identify solutions,” she said. “The goal [of the study] is to iden tify actual cost-effective strategies that can be implemented statewide.”
Organized by the Oklahoma Animal Coalition, an organization advocating for the humane treatment of animals in Oklahoma, the study brought presenters to the Capitol that included shelter directors and leaders of nonprofits focused on animal welfare.
Kelly Burley, an Oklahoma spokesperson for the Best Friends Animal Society, explained that the sheer number of animals sheltering in Oklahoma they are trying to help every year is astonishing.
“If you took the volume of cats and dogs that enter our shelter system in Oklahoma every year and put them in Boone Pickens Stadium, you would fill every single seat in that 54,000-seat football arena and still have more than 25,000 animals roaming the field or tailgating outside the stadium,” Burley said.
Presenters underscored that shelters are overflowing with pets. With the increased risk of disease spreading through the overcrowded facilities, workers oftentimes are forced to make difficult decisions about euthanasia.
Sherri Carrier, the director of the City of Tulsa Animal Services, said her shelter staff is dedicated but overwhelmed.
“They’ll take animals home to save their lives,” Carrier said. “They foster them, they come right back to work the next day. Even if they're bottle- feeding kittens in the middle of the night three or four times, they're still there when they're supposed to.”
Tulsa Animal Services has one veterinarian to perform all spay and neuter surgeries on the animals they take in, Carrier said. They average anywhere from 25 to 30 surgeries a day but are unable to keep up with the number of animals that need to be spayed or neutered.
Oklahoma Statute Title 4, Section 43, specifically allows counties to operate a countywide animal shelter if the county has a population of more than 200,000 people.
Cynthia Armstrong, the Oklahoma State Director for Humane World for Animals, a global nonprofit focusing on improving animal welfare, says this law specifically affects rural areas in Oklahoma and leads to public safety concerns. Armstrong noted there have been two recent deaths in Oklahoma due to stray dog attacks.
The solution, according to Armstrong and the other presenters, is more funding and support for shelters and other organizations to offer lowcost spay and neuter services.
“The key to solving the problem and the cheapest way to do it is through preventative measures,” Armstrong said. “You want to do it before it has spirals out of control.”
Kay Stout, a former executive director of the Peaceful Animal Adoption Center in Vinita, shared the impact that grant money for a spay neuter program had in her town with a population of just more than 5,000 people.
“This is what it [the grant] meant for a rural town in Oklahoma,” Stout said. “We could fix every dog and cat in that town, no questions asked. And we could pay the veterinarians what they were charging that they thought was reasonable.”
Kim Schlittler, founder and former executive director of Best Friends of Pets Oklahoma, also shared about the enormous demand in Oklahoma for low-cost spay and neuter programs.
The Oklahoma Veterinary Medical Association’s sterilization program for low-income pet owners ran out of assistance dollars soon after it resumed taking applications in July. Established in 2005, the program, which is funded by the Oklahoma Pet Overpopulation Fund, receives funding through tax checkoffs and a license plate fund.
Presenters suggested that the program could be expanded if given more funding to address the demand. The Oklahoma Animal Coalition recommended pet food or pet registration surcharges. Oklahoma City Animal Welfare Superintendent Ronnie Schlabs suggested implementing fees for breeders who sell animals that have not been spayed or neutered.
Brendan Hoover, a coordinator with Kirkpatrick Policy Group, an Oklahoma City-based 501(c)(4) nonpartisan advocacy organization, noted that Texas created a two-year spay and neuter program with a $13 million investment during their last legislative session. He said Oklahoma lawmakers should consider a similar investment.
Hoover also emphasized that investment in spay and neuter programs saves money in the long run. According to the Oklahoma Animal Coalition, every dollar spent on prevention saves more than three dollars in backend costs.