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FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Friday, January 10, 2003
| Contact: |
Don Krupp, Chief Administrative Officer, 360-786-5440. |
|
Dotty Tryk, Assistant Chief Administrative Officer,
360-709-3063 |
Animal
Services Cut in Unincorporated Thurston County
OLYMPIA – Residents of rural Thurston County may have to wait a bit
longer for response when they have an animal related complaint.
Due to budget reductions, Thurston County has cut back its contract
with Animal Services as one way to reduce expenditures.
The change means only one Animal Control Officer will be covering calls
in the unincorporated areas and there will be no service at all after hours.
Shelter services at Animal Control, pet adoption, licensing and
retrieval of confined stray animals will not be affected by the change.
Thurston County Chief Administrative Officer Don Krupp says the cutback
is unfortunate but necessary. “Thurston
County Commissioners had to cut about $3.6M from the 2003 budget and that has
meant some difficult decisions including elimination of 21 employee positions.
The reduction at Animal Services is just one of many, many cuts that
have been made due to revenue reductions caused by citizen approved
referendums and initiatives. We
will have to make more cuts in coming years as our revenue situation continues
to worsen.”
Because of the service reductions there will be no Animal Control
response for dogs barking or stray dogs in the unincorporated area.
Residents are urged to call 9-1-1 for serious incidents such as-
§
Imminent
danger to humans or livestock.
§
Serious
dog bites where hospitalization may be necessary.
§
Animal
neglect.
The changes went into effect on January 1st.
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