Many animal control programs are under police department’s management. in the current efforts to defund police departments, many cities will make token efforts to support taking funds away from their police departments. Police departments will begin eliminating or reducing staffing in noncritical areas.
Most police departments consider their animal control program as a noncritical area. It is a strongly held belief that protecting people is more important than protecting pets. Who can disagree?
As police struggle to meet new funding challenges, they will be force to reassess funding for noncritical services. Police departments may find it necessary to stop responding to calls relating to animals and only respond to calls that are an immanent threat to people.
When calls are received about vicious dogs, Police officers may be forced to respond because their trained animal control officers have been fired in the forced reduction in force (RIF). The untrained police officers will not have the skillset to capture the dog(s) alive.
The reductions to our police departments are going to change the safety of our communities and change the way communities deal with animal welfare issues. Many communities will lose the buffer that protects them from the elements that would cause them harm.
I have to admit that I have encountered many folks who could not resolve their own problems. It disturbed me that we have become far removed from our pioneer ancestors. Many in our communities have become helpless. If any good comes out of eliminating services, maybe these people will be force to start to start taking care of themselves and not depend on others to do it for them.