The Syracuse Common Council announced last week it will help pay for the expenses of the Central New York chapter of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals’ investigations of animal abuse, said Common Councilor Bob Dougherty.

‘The SPCA requested funding from the city for their abused animal program,’ Dougherty said. ‘Admittedly, the majority of animal abuse calls that the SPCA in Central New York deals with come from the city of Syracuse, so it was a reasonable request.’

Dougherty said the SPCA requested funding this year after a recent change in the funding they received from the state. Earlier this year, the CNY SPCA presented the Common Council with a fact sheet explaining the amount of financial support the chapter needed from the city.

‘The organization came to us looking for $10,000 in funding,’ Dougherty said. ‘We have the money to give them, and we decided that it was a fair cause to contribute to.’

The Common Council found the means for funding the SPCA’s animal abuse investigations through the money they collect for dog license fees from dog owners within the city, Dougherty said. The city currently collects approximately $30,000 in dog license fees each year.

Paul Morgan, executive director of the CNY SPCA, said the SPCA asked towns and cities across Central New York for help in funding its investigations. The organization especially needed the financial help of the city of Syracuse because of the large number of calls animal cruelty investigators receive from the area. Morgan said the organization receives an average of 1,500 calls from the Syracuse area each year.

Morgan said the organization’s recent push for funding from Central New York municipalities began when New York state shifted the responsibility of collecting dog license fees from the county government to the city government.

The organization used to receive funding for their animal cruelty investigations from the money the county collected from the license fees and is working to make sure they will be able to continue to receive money for their investigations through each municipality, Morgan said.

‘We are asking the municipalities for 9 cents for each resident that lives in their area,’ Morgan said. ‘If the municipalities do not provide funding, we will be unable to serve their community, and I think that could potentially be problematic for the residents.’

Dougherty said he predicted the Common Council will continue to provide funding for the animal abuse investigations in Syracuse in the future.

‘Before I was involved in the Common Council, I never really thought about dogs and animal abuse as a big problem that the city faced,’ Dougherty said. ‘But now I see that residents are continuously bringing up the issue of abused and abandoned dogs in the city at neighborhood meetings.’

Dougherty said many Syracuse residents are concerned with the number of dogs that are left abandoned in parks and other areas across the city, leaving them in fear of possible attacks by stray dogs.

‘Stray dogs have become a pretty big problem in the city,’ Dougherty said, ‘So much so that it may prompt residents to leave the city, and discourage new residents from moving in and that’s something that the city definitely doesn’t want to happen.’

Common Councilor-at-Large Kathleen Joy said she feels the city’s continuous contract with the CNY SPCA is important for the well-being of Syracuse.

‘The SPCA is the only entity that investigates animal cruelty and provides services to decrease the number of stray dogs in our community,’ Joy said. ‘So it’s important that the city maintains its relationship with the organization.’

adhitzle@syr.edu 

Published on January 31, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Alexandra: adhitzle@syr.edu | @LexieHitzler