Just four weeks after unhappy pet owners shared their stories at a January 28 city meeting, Wentzville has made progress with a promise for change in the city’s animal impoundment procedures. During a discussion at last week’s board of aldermen meeting, Wentzville Police Chief Lisa Harrison said that animal control issues in the city were greatly improved, thanks to the help of several pet rescue groups and an active Facebook campaign. “I believe we’ve reunited every lost dog with its owner within a couple of days,” Harrison said. She acknowledged that reuniting cats with owners was still a problem. City Administrator Robert Bartolotta said that when a pet went unclaimed, Dr. Mark Lucas at Animal Talk Medical Center–the city’s contracted shelter–would try to place it in an adoptive home. If the pet was not adopted after five days, volunteers at several rescue groups stepped in to help out. “In the last 30 days, only one (pet) was euthanized, and it was very ill,” Bartolotta said. Rescue volunteers worked together to form Shelter Pals and launched a Facebook page on January 31, with the specific purpose “to publicize the dogs and cats impounded at Animal Talk Medical Center, which serves as the holding facility for animal control of O’Fallon and Wentzville Missouri.” “We’re sharing back and forth to build some good will in the community,” Harrison said. When a picture of a lost pet goes out on Facebook, it gets 40,000-45,000 hits in four hours, she said. Rescue group staffers are pleased with the improvement while noting that much can still be done. Complete descriptions of pets and good photographs can make a world of difference to potential adopters. (Check out Shelter dogs benefit from the power of a photo on mnn.com) Shelter Pals emphasizes that it is not an actual animal control facility and is not affiliated with the Animal Talk shelter. Shelter Pals encourages people who have lost pets to visit the shelter at 12678 Veterans Memorial Parkway in person. Also during the meeting, the board of aldermen passed changes to the city’s animal neglect and abandonment ordinances, specifically identifying which code violations would necessitate a court appearance. Mayor Nick Guccione said that the changes were a good beginning but that he thought the fines were still a little too high. “I may want to bring this back to revisit,” he said. He added that the purpose of the fines for animals at large was “not about revenue, but about changing behavior.” Shelter Pals Facebook page The Shelter Pals Facebook page posts pictures of pets to help find owners or adoptive families.

By : Tamara Duncan

Just four weeks after unhappy pet owners shared their stories at a January 28 city meeting, Wentzville has made progress with a promise for change in the city’s animal impoundment procedures.

During a discussion at last week’s board of aldermen meeting, Wentzville Police Chief Lisa Harrison said that animal control issues in the city were greatly improved, thanks to the help of several pet rescue groups and an active Facebook campaign.

“I believe we’ve reunited every lost dog with its owner within a couple of days,” Harrison said. She acknowledged that reuniting cats with owners was still a problem.

City Administrator Robert Bartolotta said that when a pet went unclaimed, Dr. Mark Lucas at Animal Talk Medical Center–the city’s contracted shelter–would try to place it in an adoptive home. If the pet was not adopted after five days, volunteers at several rescue groups stepped in to help out. “In the last 30 days, only one (pet) was euthanized, and it was very ill,” Bartolotta said.

Rescue volunteers worked together to form Shelter Pals and launched a Facebook pageon January 31, with the specific purpose “to publicize the dogs and cats impounded at Animal Talk Medical Center, which serves as the holding facility for animal control of O’Fallon and Wentzville Missouri.”

“We’re sharing back and forth to build some good will in the community,” Harrison said. When a picture of a lost pet goes out on Facebook, it gets 40,000-45,000 hits in four hours, she said.

Rescue group staffers are pleased with the improvement while noting that much can still be done. Complete descriptions of pets and good photographs can make a world of difference to potential adopters. (Check out Shelter dogs benefit from the power of a photo on mnn.com)

Shelter Pals emphasizes that it is not an actual animal control facility and is not affiliated with the Animal Talk shelter. Shelter Pals encourages people who have lost pets to visit the shelter at 12678 Veterans Memorial Parkway in person.

Also during the meeting, the board of aldermen passed changes to the city’s animal neglect and abandonment ordinances, specifically identifying which code violations would necessitate a court appearance.

Mayor Nick Guccione said that the changes were a good beginning but that he thought the fines were still a little too high. “I may want to bring this back to revisit,” he said. He added that the purpose of the fines for animals at large was “not about revenue, but about changing behavior.”

The Shelter Pals Facebook page posts pictures of pets to help find owners or adoptive families.