{"id":12539,"date":"2014-05-07T12:10:19","date_gmt":"2014-05-07T18:10:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flovalleynews.com\/?p=12539"},"modified":"2014-05-07T12:10:19","modified_gmt":"2014-05-07T18:10:19","slug":"saint-louis-countys-animal-care-and-control-program-outlines-improvements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flovalleynews.com\/?p=12539","title":{"rendered":"Saint Louis County\u2019s Animal Care and  Control Program Outlines Improvements"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<h1><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-size: 14px; font-weight: normal;\">Dr. Dolores J. Gunn, the director of the Saint Louis County Department of Health, wants to raise awareness of the program\u2019s performance and the recognition it has received from other animal welfare organizations in recent years.<\/span><\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>\u201cSeveral news stories have raised questions about our Animal Care and Control Program,\u201d said Dr. Gunn, \u201cbut by any indicator you use, we are operating one of the finest animal care organizations in the area.\u00a0 We are also part of a large regional coalition of animal welfare organizations that includes the Humane Society of Missouri and the Animal Protective Association of Missouri and work with over 90 local rescue groups to promote animal adoption.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In 2012, the Missouri Animal Control Association recognized St. Louis County\u2019s Animal Care and Control Program for being the \u201cOutstanding Animal Welfare Agency\u201d of the year.\u00a0 Also in 2012, Purina accepted the county program into its \u201cPurina Shelter Program\u201d \u2013 the only government-run shelter in the nation to be so honored \u2013 and cited its programmatic improvements as the reason for its inclusion.<\/p>\n<p>These improvements began in 2007 when County Executive Dooley proposed and the St. Louis County Council approved a strategic plan to improve the county\u2019s animal care and control program.\u00a0 Included in that strategic plan were four goals: 1) to increase the number of adoptions; 2) to reduce the number of unnecessary euthanasias; 3) to increase the number of animals the program can handle; and 4) to improve the conditions for animals held in the program\u2019s facilities.<\/p>\n<p>Seven years later all four goals have been realized, said Dr. Gunn.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cWhen we started this improvement process,\u201d said Dr. Gunn, \u201cwe had no formal partnerships with any animal welfare organizations and we worked, at best, with only about 10 local rescue groups.\u00a0 Today the facts demonstrate that things have clearly changed: this program is now one of the very best there is \u2013 not only in the region, but in the entire Midwest.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The program puts a priority on reuniting lost pets with their owners and on finding \u201cforever homes\u201d for the animals in their care without owners.\u00a0 Within two hours of arriving at the county\u2019s facility at 10521 Baur Blvd. in Olivette, lost pets are added to the website STLLostPets.org.<\/p>\n<p>Stray animals that are picked up are evaluated for their adoptability and then observed for the state-required amount of time before being put up for adoption (if suitable).\u00a0 Adoptable pets are put on several different websites, including PetHarbor.com, PetFinder.com, and AdoptAPet.com.\u00a0 In addition, they are featured on the program\u2019s Facebook page and are recognized each Thursday morning on Channel 5\u2019s Sammy\u2019s Stars program.<\/p>\n<p>St. Louis County\u2019s Animal Care and Control Program also boasts the cheapest adoption fee in the region.\u00a0 For just $40, qualified people can adopt a pet suitable to their needs.\u00a0 That $40 includes spaying or neutering, all the required vaccinations, and a microchip.<\/p>\n<p>For more information about St. Louis County\u2019s Animal Care and Control Program or to learn more about how to adopt an animal, please visit: www.stlouisco.com\/HealthandWellness\/AnimalandMosquitoControl<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dr. Dolores J. Gunn, the director of the Saint Louis County Department of Health, wants to raise awareness of the program\u2019s performance and the recognition it has received from other animal welfare organizations in recent years. \u201cSeveral news stories have raised questions about our Animal Care and Control Program,\u201d said Dr. Gunn, \u201cbut by any [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Saint Louis County\u2019s Animal Care and Control Program Outlines Improvements - flovalleynews.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/flovalleynews.com\/?p=12539\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Saint Louis County\u2019s Animal Care and Control Program Outlines Improvements - flovalleynews.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dr. Dolores J. Gunn, the director of the Saint Louis County Department of Health, wants to raise awareness of the program\u2019s performance and the recognition it has received from other animal welfare organizations in recent years. \u201cSeveral news stories have raised questions about our Animal Care and Control Program,\u201d said Dr. Gunn, \u201cbut by any [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/flovalleynews.com\/?p=12539\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"flovalleynews.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-05-07T18:10:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"independentnws\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"independentnws\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/flovalleynews.com\\\/?p=12539#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/flovalleynews.com\\\/?p=12539\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"independentnws\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/flovalleynews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7bede6d4517a6be3345b47415b09cebd\"},\"headline\":\"Saint Louis County\u2019s Animal Care and Control Program Outlines Improvements\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-05-07T18:10:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/flovalleynews.com\\\/?p=12539\"},\"wordCount\":515,\"commentCount\":0,\"articleSection\":[\"Features\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/flovalleynews.com\\\/?p=12539#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/flovalleynews.com\\\/?p=12539\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/flovalleynews.com\\\/?p=12539\",\"name\":\"Saint Louis County\u2019s Animal Care and Control Program Outlines Improvements - flovalleynews.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/flovalleynews.com\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-05-07T18:10:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/flovalleynews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7bede6d4517a6be3345b47415b09cebd\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/flovalleynews.com\\\/?p=12539#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/flovalleynews.com\\\/?p=12539\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/flovalleynews.com\\\/?p=12539#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/flovalleynews.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Saint Louis County\u2019s Animal Care and Control Program Outlines Improvements\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/flovalleynews.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/flovalleynews.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"flovalleynews.com\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/flovalleynews.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/flovalleynews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7bede6d4517a6be3345b47415b09cebd\",\"name\":\"independentnws\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f76505b4d7bc95b432faea9b79d00a6abc40ba8a96aef3a5fbd567ecb14b19a0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f76505b4d7bc95b432faea9b79d00a6abc40ba8a96aef3a5fbd567ecb14b19a0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f76505b4d7bc95b432faea9b79d00a6abc40ba8a96aef3a5fbd567ecb14b19a0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"independentnws\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/flovalleynews.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Saint Louis County\u2019s Animal Care and Control Program Outlines Improvements - flovalleynews.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/flovalleynews.com\/?p=12539","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Saint Louis County\u2019s Animal Care and Control Program Outlines Improvements - flovalleynews.com","og_description":"Dr. Dolores J. 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