Animal control is one of the most incendiary things to try to manage this side of terrorism and some people would say that it IS trying to manage terrorism. Steve Aronson, author of “Animal Control Management: A New Look at a Public Responsibility,” is not inclined to hyperbole and approaches the subject calmly. The cover claims he’s an administrator and troubleshooter with “many years of service” and that is immediately apparent. For anyone charged with designing or reforming a new animal control service or for someone simply starting up a sub-component like an animal licensing program, this will amount to a map and handbook. I suggest these rules should guide you.
Rule number one is keep your cool. Mike Burgwin, the best manager I’ve ever worked for and the first one to give Multnomah County an effective animal control organization, once looked me in the eye and said, “Mary, you’re smart enough to be groomed for management, but you’re too damned emotional.” He was quite right. Aronson (whom I do not know) would sincerely agree with that criterion and demonstrates with his patient, balanced, clear prose. (I regret that the print is so small, but I understand that it’s meant to save paper and thus expense. Get a magnifying glass.)
Rule number two is analyze the situation carefully. This was my strong suit. In those pre-computer days I used raw statistics to design charts with graph paper and a ruler. As animal control people learn, what we “think” we know about the interactions of people and domestic animals is often quite wrong, generalized from our own neighborhood or culture or the interpretations of young reporters in a hurry. At that time the now editor of the Purdue University Press series, Alan M. Beck, had written the only book that provided any useful categories and definitions. “The Ecology of Stray Dogs: A Study of Free-ranging Urban Animals.” (1973) is still in print and still relevant. Aronson continues and expands this work by concentrating on the human side of it, what we might call “the ecology of animal control management, for -- as he suggests -- animal control has two constituencies: the protection and regulation of the non-human animals as well as the human animals. We all know which is more difficult to manage. Records, staffing, qualifications, communication are all human issues that affect everything else.
Rule Three is to generate as many possible solutions as possible. So you don’t have to start from scratch, this absolutely indispensable book will get you off to a head start with checklists and ideas. Aronson has surveyed the field from small one-officer towns to the major urban centers and noted their strategies: contracting, delegating, fund-raising, and coping with totally unprecedented and probably expensive emergencies. He offers cautionary tales and examples of contracts.
I particularly liked his concept of “cost centers” which groups together goals and services separately under the larger umbrella. Examples might be field services, public education, in-house veterinary services (especially spay/neuter), records. This is not an exhaustive list, but it raises consciousness just to think this way. Too often, particularly when humane societies have contracted to provide animal control, all attention is focussed on the easier-to-see animal shelter where expenses seem given, so that the officers in the street are shorted. (People are often angry with them anyway.) And yet the best way to keep the shelter population manageable is good field enforcement that cuts down on high stray populations.
You know Steve is talking about something he knows when he says that animal control is always unique, where ever you are and no matter what the general principles might be, because animals are part of communities, which are unique. You never can predict what might happen next: a couple of dozen fighting roosters might be brought to you to be held for evidence for a court case six months in the future. Do you know how to care for them? Have you got premises where you could confine them? Or maybe an animal hoarder is arrested or dies on his premises, and a hundred assorted animals in distress need immediate care, possibly euthanasia. Perhaps an exotic animal (ostriches, elephants) is endangering people at this very moment and the police request help even though animal control specifically excludes exotics and wild animals. One does not refuse an emergency, even if nothing is budgeted.
In 1978 when I left, the professionalization of animal control was just beginning. Aronson constantly reminds modern managers that vital resources are only a phone call or email away. The American Humane Association (established in 1915), the Humane Society of the United States (a breakaway group from AHA established in 1954), National Animal Control Association (formed in 1978), and The Society of Animal Welfare Administrators (formed in 1970) are only four of the many coalitions and partnerships that support each other even as they compete in some ways. Smaller organizations exist and Aronson lists many. Managing animal control is not an occupation it is wise or pleasant to undertake alone. One needs a long list of contacts ranging from bee keepers to animal research laboratories. These days a good local attorney is necessary for any manager and it pays to be on good terms with the relevant labor union. Be sure to budget for training at the several “academies” that move around the country.
Arguably, the most important chapter in the book is the one on reviewing and auditing Animal Control Programs. Although one’s first reaction to evaluations is to cringe, any rational person can understand they are a huge benefit, supplying the rationale and data for a healthy future. Aronson de-mystifies the process. First he recommends that this be a “performance audit” of two sorts: management/efficiency audits and program audits. In other words, not just “how well are we doing this” but also “is this what we ought to be doing.” Such an audit might be performed by an outsider. Aronson’s list of reasons for an audit range from a transition between managers to a grand jury inquiry. Myself, I would want an annual mandated internal audit.
Plenty of scope remains for future books, but this one provides a sound foundation for someone trying to figure out how to manage a literally life-and-death function of government that demands both transparency and tolerable results. Save your own neck by carefully reading and rereading this book.
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