AS-22-0008

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TranscriptWhat was said at each appearance is below it. Machine transcription, with speaker names inferred from voice matching. 77% of 35 lines carry a name. It shows what was said, not what was decided, and both the words and the names can be wrong.

1. 1Feb 22, 2022
   Board of County CommissionersR58Regular businessApproved

   Approved minutes

   Approved Staff’s recommendation.

   Open this item →▶ Play from 1:54:52
   ▶ 1:54:5210m

   Mike Moore

   1:54:52Thank you, Commissioner. Mike Schumach, Director of Animal Services. R58 is uh presentation with a recommendation from animal services on the retail sale of rabbits.

   Kathryn StarkeyChair

   1:55:03And um j before you begin, um R fifty nine is being pulled to the afternoon. So we'll be done with that after this.

   Mike Moore

   1:55:11So uh the primary complaints that you've heard from uh most of the advocates and and citizens uh pet rabbits uh being abandoned in large numbers. Um uh throughout the county and throughout the area. Uh there's a ninety percent mortality rate for rabbits being abandoned because they can't care for themselves in the wild. Um most animal uh Pasco animals or uh shelters do not routinely take in rabbits, that's true. Uh rabbits uh are the third most surrendered pet at shelters. Uh

   1:55:42retail purchase of rabbits is an impulse buy with little knowledge and true ownership of cost or veterinary care. Honestly, that's true for most pets, even for shelter pets. Uh Pasco Retail uh pet stores and Pasco Sell, well we've calculated with what they've told us, uh we estimate they're selling about 732 a year. Um The um Next slide is just basically a lot of facts on rabbits. I think by now you've heard most of these, so I won't go into into that. I

   1:56:12thought

   Kathryn StarkeyChair

   1:56:13they were called bunnies, but you're calling them kittens.

   Mike Moore

   1:56:16Oh the babies.

   Kathryn StarkeyChair

   1:56:17Yeah.

   Mike Moore

   1:56:17Yes, kittens. Who knew

   Kathryn StarkeyChair

   1:56:18they were kittens?

   Mike Moore

   1:56:19Yeah. Didn't know. Interesting.

   Kathryn StarkeyChair

   1:56:21Yeah.

   Mike Moore

   1:56:22Um It it there is an estimate that uh I came across that I wanted to share with you that um uh is kinda Interesting. It says um eighty percent of rabbits sold uh either die, they're surrendered, or abandoned in their first year of ownership. So, uh the number one reason that most of the rabbits uh are being abandoned or turned into shelters is the fact that there's too many rabbits in the household. They did not spay and neuter their rabbits and rabbits quickly pr reproduce.

   1:56:54Rabbits are raised for pleasure, show, meat, fur, and resource purposes. Some considerations uh for the board is that um The chains pet uh pet stores uh source rabbits from out of state. Uh we've been told by a regional manager that they bring them in at six weeks old, which is against Florida law. Um but uh the district uh where the corporate office says that's not true, they they only bring him in at eight weeks. Um unknown number of rabbits uh loc from local

   1:57:24breeders, online pet sales. um and those sold at um outdoor venues. Uh only one rabbits rescue in in Pasco and you've met them. That's the Sun Coast House Rabbit Rescue. They average one to two rabbits from Pasco surrenders. Uh now they did more recently have one with about twelve rabbits in it. Um Only one nonprofit shelter in Pasco takes in pet rabbits. Um Other counties around us uh they are considering uh

   1:57:54bans. Hillsboro uh opted for education first. Uh uh they looked at a possible moratorium for the Easter season. Uh And they have asked their uh animal services to come back with a recommendation on a ban later. But they did opt for education at this time. Um Most of the shelters that do take in rabbits north of us Uh they take in agricultural uh uh animals as well. Um They do take in that

   1:58:25many. The most I think Marion County maybe takes in thirty a year. Pasco only takes in ten annually and those are from involuntary abandonments. We do have one nonprofit rescue in Pasco that takes in rabbits. They took in twenty rabbits last year. However, if you looked at the right-of-way, South of us just a little bit into Hillsboro, uh they took in two hundred and fifty rabbits at the Tampa Bay Humane Society last year. So our recommendation to the Board this time is basically to direct Animal Services to initiate an ordinance amendment

   1:58:55that would strictly uh focus on the prohibition of selling public places, such as the flea markets and stuff, and require uh the retail stores to uh have certificates of source. We are concerned about rabbits that come in from out of state, which we know uh one of our retail uh suppliers or They have three stores. Uh they do bring them from Georgia. Um The rest of the recommendation is

   1:59:26that the department will provide public education programming on rabbit ownership. public information on rehoming assistance, and resource support for the animal welfare organizations to help remedy the abandonment of pet rabbits. And some of that resource could be to help them with the spay and neuter of of the rabbits that come into their rescues.

   1:59:48That's it.

   Kathryn StarkeyChair

   1:59:49Okay. Board members. Yeah.

   Unidentified speakerVoice A

   1:59:53I and no we I know we have and I appreciate ev each and every one of you that that have come and and spoken and stuff. Now I've had these cuss conversations before on here. My file commissioners know we're we're a rescue home. I have two um rescue dogs, both disabled. Um so obviously you know how the challenges those those can be. We also have a rabbit in my house. Which was I don't need to get into detail details or anything, but it was you can say we fostered and adopted the rabbit. So

   2:00:24I'm very familiar with rabbits. Ours is chipped and neutered, for example. And our rabbit has its own bedroom.

   2:00:33Very, very large area in a in a in our bedroom that when we took it in, we realized that's what that needed. And I even built a Um Gosh, I I became a carpenter when I'm not a carpenter. A very large um decking area above the carpet so I wouldn't be able to chew the carpet and choke on carpet and it's oh it's got it oh it's pretty amazing. It's pretty elaborate. It's pretty elaborate. And um And our and I I will say our rabbit is like part of the family and it loves our

   2:01:03little dogs and they play together and they have a great time and play outside and all those types of things. So again, I've said it before, we have a special place in our hearts and in my family for for animals, especially rescues. And I go all the way back to rescuing a a a dog that we that uh we weren't told was pregnant. Um and we resc and we fostered the dog and it had nine babies in our kitchen And her home. And we had to f no not only did we have to foster one, we had to find homes for

   2:01:34nine more puppies. And we found homes for each and every one of them, which was awesome. And then we ended up adopting the dog that we were fostering because we spent so much time with it. So I I can appreciate everything you you you guys are doing and understand w the the plight and the and the things what you're going forward with. Now I will say this at the same time. You know, usually you know it took a while for us to go through the the process when it came to dogs and and the adoption the adoption process. You know, this board I I think was before Commissioner Fitzpatrick

   2:02:04was here, but was probably right before we moved forward with that. Typically we do give a little bit of time like is being suggested from um Mr Shoemate from Animal Services, obviously the professional. Um you know, in his recommendations, the education side and and you saw what that is. Um you know, I I guess you could say I'm on the fence, but we have this conversation, so I'm gonna need to trust Mr. Shumay and his team to um you know, give this some time, see how it works.

   2:02:35And if not it needs to come back to us. And then when we do this When we amend this ordinance, is your thought I guess, you know, is this uh we're gonna look at it for six months, a year, what are your what are your thoughts?

   Mike Moore

   2:02:49I think we definitely need some time so that we can actually start looking um at the volume of rabbits we're talking about that are abandoned. We wanna we wanna hear that from the public, we wanna hear it from the rabbit rescue. uh the other folks that work with rabbits uh in the county. Yeah. We want to see what the numbers are. Yeah,

   Unidentified speakerVoice A

   2:03:06I I think and I and I would uh you know I think and I know you are, I think this is a ti perfect time too for our friends in the audience to be those stakeholders and work hand in hand and keep in constant contact with Mr. Shume and his team through this process as well. That's all I have.

   Kathryn StarkeyChair

   2:03:23All right. Well I I was just gonna say I was okay with the band. Um we had a couple rabbits And it didn't work out well for the rabbits. Um And our dog did not like our little my daughter's little bunny. Um and so that didn't work out well. When I was young we had a bunny in That bunny ended up folded up in the pull out sofa. We couldn't find it and then we found it. It didn't work out well for that bunny either. So I don't think they're great pets.

   2:03:53Um however, a friend of mine just showed me all the medals that th their child just won with their rabbits at from the fair. Um so I would have been okay with the ban. I'll would l go to your um leadership and bring it back to us please and and let's see if we think we need the ban. Did you wanna say something?

   Jack MarianoVice Chair

   2:04:14I just wanna appreciate you doing the research to it. Um I'm going to go with your recommendation just to move it forward and let's go to take a look at it. We can always revisit it down the road, but at least we'll take it a step. So I'll move approval.

   Kathryn StarkeyChair

   2:04:26Second. All right. Uh any more discussion? Okay. All in favor? Aye. Aye.

   Mike Moore

   2:04:31Thank you.