An ordinance requiring pet owners to fix their animals or pay to keep them intact passed Waco City Council on first reading by a 6-0 vote Tuesday.

But while council members were united on the “spay or pay” measure, animal lovers who spoke at Tuesday’s meeting were divided.

Proponents from the Waco Humane Society shelter and the city’s Animal Control Advisory Board argued that requiring a yearly permit for intact animals would stem the tide of unwanted animals in streets and shelters.

They said the city-subsidized shelter is overwhelmed not only with stray animals but also with unwanted puppies and kittens that owners bring in.

“Our current system of dealing with pet overpopulation is broken,” said Stacie Virden, chairwoman of the advisory board. “To do nothing allows the problem to multiply.”

The ordinance is set to take effect Jan. 1, 2011, but council members said they might postpone the effective date. They also deferred a decision on the permit fee.

The advisory board and Waco Police Department had recommended the fee be set at $50 a year.

The council is expected to vote on the second and final reading of the ordinance at its next meeting.

City officials said the ordinance would not be enforced unless there was a problem, such as a dog running loose.

Breeders and owners belonging to the Cen-Tex Kennel Club told the council that irresponsible pet owners simply would dodge the fee.

“This has been tried all over the country and it just doesn’t work,” said David Boehner, who raises show dogs. “Irresponsible people who let their dogs out are the same irresponsible people who aren’t going to buy the license. You’re after the wrong people.”

Carole Spencer, who said she owns a $2,500 show cat and a $3,000 dog, said owners who are registered with the American Kennel Club are already following strict rules.

“We’re not the people who should be targeted,” she said. “I feel like we’re being lumped in with the people who let their animals loose to breed with anything.”

But Humane Society operations manager Sandy Wittliff said breeders often bring excess purebred animals to the shelter to dispose of them.

“Part of my job is to walk through the kennels and decide who lives and who dies,” she said. Of the euthanized animals, “close to 50 percent are purebred,” she said.

Karen Froelich, executive director of the Humane Society, said about half of the shelter’s dogs and cats “come in through the front door,” brought in by owners and breeders who don’t want them.

“One day last week, we had 120 animals dropped off,” she said. “There just aren’t that many homes to place that many animals. We can’t adopt our way out of the problem.”

According to statistics that Waco police officials presented Tuesday, the shelter received 10,020 animals in 2009 from the Greater Waco area.

Of those, 495 were returned to their owners, 1,974 were adopted, 202 were transferred to rescue programs and 6,300 were euthanized.

Those numbers hit home with Councilman Randy Riggs.

“What I try to do is keep in mind that 17 animals are killed a day,” he said.

Riggs said he knows there’s a risk the ordinance won’t be effective, but it’s best to try it and see if it works.

Waco City Council listened to design plans for converting Hillcrest Tower into the new police department headquarters.
Jerry Larson/Waco Tribune-Herald

In other business Tuesday, the council heard a presentation from the Wallace Group, which is designing the new $13 million police headquarters at the old Hillcrest Tower.

Officials with the engineering firm and the police department said the project has been a design challenge, but it should be finished on budget.

The project is expected to be bid late this year, with construction starting next year.

The 10-story building has more than enough space for the department, with nearly 10,000 square feet per floor. But the bottom floor will have to be expanded to create a public space separated from the secure area.

Also, the department’s property room would not fit on a single floor, and would be too heavy for an office building.

Waco Police Chief Brent Stroman is recommending keeping the property room at the current headquarters at Waco Drive and North Fourth Street.

At the Hillcrest Tower station, three floors would initially be vacant, but Stroman said they should fill up within 10 to 15 years.

jbsmith@wacotrib.com

757-5752

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