LTTE: Please tag your dogs

In the past few weeks, attention has been brought to the Kimball stray dog issue. Statements regarding fees and animal care were published. Allow me to clarify the situation.

First, let me say that an effort to identify all stray dogs begins as soon as they are brought to us. If they are wearing our rabies tag or a city dog tag, the identification is simple. If not, our employees know many customers’ dogs by sight. All impounded dogs are scanned for a microchip. We also have a database on all our clients’ dogs that we can search by breed, sex, age, color, name, owners name, microchip, and rabies tag. Therefore, have your dog wear tags!

As most citizens of Kimball know, Prairie Animal Hospital is contracted to board the stray and vicious or rabies quarantined dogs for the City of Kimball starting in about 1996. The annual Animal Control Facility License fee of $150 is paid to the State of Nebraska by the City of Kimball. When a pound dog is placed at Prairie Animal Hospital, we receive $17 per day per dog, for which we provide food, water, shelter (including air conditioning or heating), bedding, runs/cages, and feces and urine cleanup. The facilities are inspected at least once yearly by the State of Nebraska, and have never been disapproved.

According to the contract, we keep pound dogs for three work days or a maximum of six days (holidays or weekends), to allow time for the owners to claim them. If the dog is claimed by the owner, the city typically charges $60 for the first day, on the first offense, and $40 each additional day, plus the owner must purchase a city dog license if appropriate. If the dog remains unclaimed, the city has the option to adopt or euthanize. Funds from a couple benefactors wasn’t enough for adoption advertising and extra boarding, even at half price. Working with a no kill rescue in Wyoming, we have been able to save the City of Kimball all potential euthanasia fees and additional boarding days.

I hope this information dispels any unclear statements recently made that may be circulating. If you have any more questions or concerns please call me at the Prairie Animal Hospital telephone number.

Sincerely

Miriam S. Shaw, D.V.M.