Hamilton City Council votes to keep pet adoption program going

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Published December 11, 2019 at 9:07 pm

A motion to refer a city-run Animal Adoption Program to the 2020 budget deliberation process was passed at City Council.

A motion to refer a city-run Animal Adoption Program to the 2020 budget deliberation process was passed at City Council.

The Hamilton Animal Services adoption program started in 2018 as a pilot project and the motion in front of council on Wednesday (Dec. 11) asked for the enhancement of the program by hiring a full-time adoption co-ordinator which would be fully funded by adoption revenue.

Despite facing some backlash from members of the community, who pointed out that an adoption program operated through Hamilton Animal Services (HAS) would be in direct competition with local animal welfare agencies, council voted in favour of the motion.

The Planning Committee was presented with a report last week that found the adoption program was able to put 745 pets into permanent homes and transferred more than 800 pets into the care of city rescue partners.

The report noted that the program generated $103,048 in new revenue through the collection of adoption fees.

On Wednesday, Ward 6 Councillor Tom Jackson was the first to speak against the motion which he felt would have an impact on the Hamilton-Burlington SPCA (HBSPCA).

“[The pilot program] is the best of intentions. It’s just the wrong move,” he said. “I feel that this will impact them (HBSPCA) in a negative way.

“They need our support now more than ever.”

Ward 4 Councillor, Sam Merulla, took exception to the implication that animal adoption and welfare services are competing against one another.

He said that the pilot was launched in response to the rising number of animal euthanizations that the city was carrying out.

“This isn’t about protecting agencies,” he said. “It’s about the damn animals. And we’re killing less of them now.”

The numbers reflect Merulla’s assertion.

According to HAS project manager, Sue Russell, the number of euthanizations has seen a steady decline since 2016 — from 679 in 2016, 526 in 2017, 458 in 2018, and 363 in 2019.

“We should be celebrating this success,” Merulla said.

Ward 2 Councillor Jason Farr agreed, suggesting that the perception of competitiveness among agencies dedicated to animal welfare is disingenuous and he supports the continuation of the HAS project.

“The project pays for itself,” he said. “There are items [in the committee report] that need to be celebrated.

Ward 9 Councillor Brad Clark introduced a motion to invite the HBSPCA to speak with council when budget deliberations commence in 2020, which council voted unanimously to support.

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