The Pinal County Board of Supervisors has entered into an inter-governmental agreement to provide animal care and control services to the Town of Superior on an as needed basis. Pinal County Animal Care & Control leaders met with various leaders of the perspective cities in an effort to improve services and develop recommendations to foster a community-wide collaboration in order to deliver the highest quality, cost-effective animal care and control services.
The primary function of Pinal County Animal Care & Control is to develop a rabies control program, this program is especially important to the rural areas of Pinal County due to the ever present wildlife living in the area. The Arizona Department of Health Services reported 70 lab confirmed rabies positive animals in the year of 2013, peaking in May and June. Rabies is a preventable viral disease that is fatal once symptoms appear.
Rabies is preventable through vaccination of pets and preventing your pets from free roaming. It is illegal to own or house an unvaccinated dog over the age of three months in the State of Arizona; it is also illegal to allow dogs to roam freely. In addition to the potential health threat, free roaming dogs create a road hazard that may result in injuries to your community members and pets.
Your perspective city has agreed to launch a pro-active approach to ensure your community is pet friendly, safe, and disease free. Through coordination with Pinal County Animal Care and Control the city hopes to bring a mobile spay and neuter clinic, vaccination / license clinic, and continued education for citizens and local law enforcement to the city.
It is the community’s responsibility to do the right thing, if you locate a roaming dog in your neighborhood notify the owner. If the dog is repeatedly loose, behaving aggressively, when a dog injures a human, another dog or is in contact with wild life notify your local law enforcement agency.
The results of responsible pet ownership are a safer neighborhood and healthier life for the dog. Roaming dogs cause driving hazards, even on the most isolated roads, there are infectious diseases that are easily spread through direct and in-direct contact (some of these diseased cannot be cured), parasites, injury to or from other animals, and legal consequences.
As much as your dog may love to roam, you are doing the dog and your community a disservice by allowing this. Instead, exercise with your dog by walking on a leash; take your dog to an enclosed field or large back yard to play.
Before enforcement, we are asking for community members to step-up and become responsible pet owners.
Respectfully,
/s/ Kaye Dickson, CPM
Director, Pinal County Animal Care and Control