Recording in progress.

All right, good morning, everyone.

Uh wonderful, beautiful Friday today.

Um, I want to welcome you to the Washoe County Regional Animal Services Advisory Board.

It is Friday, October 17th, 2025 at 9 a.m.

And we're here gathered with the uh advisory board.

And I believe our first item is uh roll call, please.

Chair Naomi Dewar.

Here.

Vice Chair Trudeau Broussard.

Here.

Uh, Clara Andreola present.

Dias Dixon.

Present.

Jill Fisher.

Present.

Julie McMahon.

Present.

Joe Rodriguez.

Present.

We have a quorum, Madam Chair.

All right.

Thank you so so much.

And for our salute, I'm gonna ask Diaz Dixon to lead us in the pleas.

To the flag of the United States of America.

And to the Republic for which it stands.

One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

All right.

Okay.

Thank you, everyone.

And I think our attorney who you you did not call, Madam Clerk.

Were you going to mention the staff here too?

We don't normally call the staff, but I certainly can.

Please.

We have Director Cheyenne Scholl present.

Deputy District Attorney Kobe Burnett.

All right.

And yourself.

And Clerk Serena Stockdale.

There you go.

All right.

And so, Mr.

Burnett, I think you're gonna lead us with some information about public comment.

That is true.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Uh this meeting will be held in the commission chambers and via Zoom.

To attend this meeting via Zoom, please log into the Zoom webinar found at the link on the first page of the agenda.

You can also join the meeting by typing Zoom.us into your computer browser, clicking join a meeting on the Zoom website and entering the webinar ID of 95402375711.

Alternatively, you can join the meeting by telephone only by dialing 1669-900-9128 and entering that same webinar ID and pressing pound.

Members of the public may submit public comment either by attending the meeting in person, attending the meeting via webinar or teleconference, or attending by telephone only to provide public comment via Zoom, log into the Zoom webinar and utilize the raise hand feature during any public comment period to provide public comment via telephone only.

Press star nine to raise hand and star six to mute or unmute.

All right.

Well, with that said, uh Madam Clerk, do we have any public comment either in the room or online?

We do not, madam chair.

All right.

Uh well then we'll close out public comment and we'll move on to approval of the minutes.

We're looking for a motion to approve the August 1st, 2025 meeting minutes.

So moved.

Second.

All right, and let me just check in.

Were there any need to make any changes to okay?

All right.

Well, with that said, all in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

All right.

Motion passes unanimously.

And then we're gonna move right into our director's report with Director Schul.

Um she tells me that she has enlarged the print.

Oh, only for you.

Wait, what?

Wait, what?

Well, I actually brought my computer today, so I could follow along a little more easily.

Soyen shall for the record.

Um I do have assistants today with my presentation.

My assistant director Tammy Jennings will also be presenting, as well as my program coordinator Quinn Suite over there uh program areas.

The statistics that I'll be providing to you all today are from quarter one, fiscal year 26.

And as you are all familiar, I often will reference the same quarter over the previous four fiscal years for comparison.

So our animal intake slide is representative of animals that we took in in the last quarter, and as you are all aware, we are a government lost and found shelter that has very little control, if any, over the animals that come into our shelter or the quantity of animals that come into our shelter.

One of our primary roles is to provide safe temporary housing for animals that come in that are lost, injured, or have been victims of animal cruelty.

From the bottom up, we saw a slight increase of cats of approximately 9%.

While the other animal category, which is a reminder, is those random pocket pets, reptiles, livestock, we saw a 19% decrease of those animals.

The good news is that in this quarter one of this fiscal year, we saw the least total number of animals over the same comparison of time of the last four fiscal years.

Additionally, we saw approximately 13% of the cats that we took in were already microchipped, which is a great celebration.

And 51% of the dogs that we took in were already microchipped.

Also the highest percentage in this quarter over the same comparison, previous four years.

These are all outcomes of the animals that came into our care.

The two primary are our reunited and transfer percentages.

We're going to take a little deeper dive into all of these outcome areas in the following slides.

So routinely, my staff are asked how can they adopt.

So we've done a fair amount of lifting since 2024 with our behavior program, which you heard Kelly Boland come speak to this board about, our behavior assessments and all the work that my team has invested in order to adapt to these new parameters of our partnership.

And so what you're looking at here is a new slide that's representative of a report that my team created that tracks those metrics and what is being transferred per species to the Nevada Humane Society so that we can then plan accordingly for the remaining animals that aren't transferred to other rescue partners.

So you'll see something similar to this statistic in future slides or in future presentations.

What you're looking at on this slide are dogs that were transferred to other rescue partners, the percentage of transfers to other rescue partners out of all animals that were transferred, not out of all animals that were made available.

So this is our these are our primary partners, and you'll see Nevada Humane Society.

And the percentage of animals that they took from us over the last uh four quarters or last four fiscal years, same quarter.

These valued rescue partners, some are shelters, some are foster-based rescue partners, are extremely valuable to the overall outcome of the animals that we strive to provide live outcomes for.

We deeply appreciate all of the work that they provide to our community to rehabilitate, to train to get these animals into permanent new loving homes.

And as a token of thanks to our rescue partners, Animal Services worked to create a dedicated rescue page on our webpage.

Because we get so many people that ask us, how can we adopt?

I'm interested in adopting.

We wanted to point them to a webpage of approved vetted rescue partners that Animal Services has received an application from.

We have approved rescue file a rescue application on file, and we transfer animals to them on a regular basis.

So we created that page so that people could easily be matched with animals that are adoptable and people who are interested in adopting them.

That's neat.

This slide is representative of cat transfers.

And same uh similar rescue partners here.

You'll see options in there as one of our rescue partners.

They do transfer cats from us on occasion, put them into foster care, and then adopt them out.

You'll notice that 2022 and 2023, we didn't really have other rescue partners that we worked with for cat transfers.

So again, kudos to my team because we started working with other rescue partners, bringing more rescue transfer partners to the table to help us with those cats that we wanted to ensure had a live outcome and a live opportunity to find a new home.

So it's been a lot of work on my team.

I'm proud of them.

It's been lots of testing new barriers and putting a lot of uh excess thought process into how we do business.

Because again, we don't have an adoption program.

My team has never had to do these things before.

So it's been a it's been a tremendous uh learning curve, but also a lot of work.

So kudos to them.

I tell you guys this every time.

This is my favorite slide.

I'm gonna start having uh Quinn have to calculate out how much tax dollars we save by all these animals that get reunited and never brought into the shelter.

But the slide that you're looking at here is representative of all the animals that were picked up by my field staff and their outcomes, those animals' outcomes.

So 280 animals were reunited with their owners in the field and never brought to the shelter, representing approximately 39% of all the animals that were picked up in the field.

And then 435 of those animals were impounded and spent time in our shelter before their final outcomes.

So once again, all the efforts that my team do out in the field, scanning for microchips, contacting any identification that's on those animals, looking through lost reports, contacting my dispatch to see if anyone looking for this particular animal, taking a photograph, uploading it to our website immediately.

These are all tools that help lead us to this successful reunification rate, getting these animals back home, sparing a valuable kennel space in our shelter, and also avoiding the stress of that animal having to go through the shelter system and the stress of the family with their lost pet.

This slide represents the animals that were brought in over the counter to our shelter and their outcomes.

278 animals were reunited with their owners after they were impounded at the shelter.

So obviously, you see a slight decrease in the number of those animals that get reunited once they've been brought in.

There are fees associated, and sometimes people don't want their animals back, and sometimes people just don't know where to look, or that the animal shelter may have their animal.

So that could be some, those could be some of the indicating uh factors leading to that lower reunification percentage.

716 animals were not claimed by their owners and had other outcomes.

So we're looking at the outcome of dog euthanasia on this slide.

And you're looking from the bottom up, we had 37 dogs that were determined to be behaviorally unsafe and were subsequently euthanized.

One dog was declared dangerous through our hearing process and was subsequently surrendered for euthanasia by their owner.

Twelve dogs were not able to be transferred to rescue partners for either rescue lack of rescue resources or lack of interest.

And one dog was euthanized at the owner's request.

And then five dogs were euthanized due to poor quality of life.

And I did add our quality of life definition in there for our shelter, just for reference, for a total of 56 dogs that we euthanized last quarter.

For cats, from the bottom up, one cat was euthanized by the owner's request, and 40 cats were humanely euthanized due to poor quality of life for a total of 41 cats.

Did you know that horses like to swim?

In the end of August, my field staff received an emergency assistance call.

Apparently, two horses had gotten loose in the area of Thomas Creek Road.

And the homeowner of this property did not own this horse, but came out to this unpleasant surprise.

They had a pool cover on their pool, and the horse, if anyone is familiar with horses, don't have great depth perception.

And so when they see a pool cover, it doesn't look any different than a concrete pad to them.

And so that's likely what happened with this horse.

It stumbled into the pool and fell through the cover and was then trapped.

So we responded just shortly after 3 a.m.

to assist Trucky Meadows Fire, as well as large animal, let me get this right.

And they worked very carefully in the dark hours of the morning.

This is very challenging at best, but when you don't have light and you're trying to work with a horse who is exhausted because we don't know how long the horse was in the pool before the owner, homeowner found it, and it was cold, and started to go lateral in the pool.

And so the team was working to just hold the head, the horse's head above water so it didn't drown, while they quickly and efficiently strategize how they were gonna get this animal out of the pool.

And a lot of people, because we we did a social media story on this, and what I find interesting that people aren't that aren't familiar with horses, people would comment and say, Well, I don't understand why they didn't just walk them up the steps and get them out of the pool.

That's not how a horse's mind works.

So unless the steps are extremely wide and the horse is accustomed to walking up steps, that's just not what a horse would naturally gravitate to.

So it's not that simple.

So they determined that the homeowner had a backhoe, thankfully, because the backhoe and all the the rescue team efforts saved the day.

So they they were able to carefully uh pull this horse out of the pool.

And you'll see there that one picture of the horse kind of lateral there, kind of giving up.

This horse was in trouble, and it wasn't going to be long before this horse would have probably drowned.

So this is my team, my field team, uh, a couple of them, not all of them, uh, the officers that were able to locate the the second horse that was running around the area and also get in touch with the owner who did not live in the area, was boarding a horse in this boarding the horses in this area and was able to reunite both horses safely.

Thankfully, the horse that fell in the pool was only suffering minor abrasions and exhaustion and maybe a little hyperthermia.

Uh, but thankfully uh should be totally fine in full recovery.

Comstock veterinary uh clinic came out and assessed the horse and was able to give it a clean bill of health before allowing it to go back home with its owners.

So great collaboration, great team effort.

Again, couldn't have done it solely by ourselves, so we appreciate all the collaborative work that you know, Trucky Meadows Fire and our least resistance partners as well, because it really does take a village to help rescue these animals when they find themselves in these predicaments.

We had uh four animal services officers on modified duty at one period or another, which caused us to be below staffing minimums on some days.

Despite our short staffing, we still were able to handle just over 5,000 field service calls.

From the bottom up, we're looking at animal bites and quarantines, noise complaints, and then those other calls, the variety of other things that we do.

Trapping, working with other first responding departments, things like that.

Stray animal calls, and then unrestrained, and then welfare calls at the very top for that total of 5,250 calls.

Proud of my team for working through.

We've had several new officers come on in the last couple of years.

So making those adjustments and being flexible, keeping in mind that they work 8 a.m.

to 10 p.m.

365 days a year.

I have 14 of those.

That's it to cover our entire county.

So they do a great job.

We're not always as fast as we'd like to be, but we do the best that we can with what we have.

This group has talked a lot about hot car calls.

This is just one of the many animal welfare calls that we take and respond to.

This particular call I wanted to highlight.

Responded to this call.

The windows were cracked on this truck.

It's you could see a black truck or a dark, very dark truck.

Hot summer day.

This dog is panting heavily in the backseat of this vehicle, panting so heavily that some of manager Booster's photos, you could see the seat covered in saliva from this dog heavily panting.

But with his infrared temperature thermometer, he was able to gauge the inside of the truck to be between 109 and 113 degrees.

This dog was rescued from the vehicle, transport back to animal services, and by the time the dog got back to animal services while riding in an air conditioned dog box.

She was still at 104.4 when she got back to the shelter.

So she was in dire trouble if she did not get rescued when she did.

The owner later showed up looking for his dog, and he was promptly cited, and he was found guilty for that violation of interest for leaving that dog in that car.

Which is 500 to 600 is about our average each year.

So it's not something that's going away, unfortunately, and it is something that we respond to.

This slide represents our animal welfare calls received and what their outcomes were.

So out of a total of 634 animal welfare calls last quarter, 102 of those calls were unfounded.

488 were resolved through education or corrective action, and 44 resulted in citations being issued to those pet owners.

I'm glad to see the trend moving in a downward fashion for these types of calls because it hopefully is indicative of our community doing better with their animals and treating their animals better.

And now I will transfer the floor over to Quinn Sweet, who is my program coordinator to let her talk to you all about all the exciting things we've been doing in our outreach division.

Okay.

Quinn sweet, for the record.

So I'm just gonna give you guys a little overview of what outreach has been up to in the last quarter.

So this slide is just a reminder of kind of the things that outreach houses.

So these are the types of programs that outreach runs on a daily basis.

So we run all of our social media pages.

We work with the human services agency to provide free vaccinations and free spay neuters for pets staying at our local pet-friendly homeless shelters.

We run our lost and found pet texting program, all of our microchip, our public microchip scanning stations.

We do our monthly affordable vaccination clinics as well as getting back out into the community doing our community vaccination clinics, uh, our free senior pet food distributions once a month.

We partner with rescue and SPCA to support the karma boxes for pet supplies.

And then we also have our volunteer program all housed under outreach.

So those are kinds of the things that we deal with on a day-to-day basis.

So these are just our statistics for the quarter.

So we can kind of see we had a huge uptick in the number of seniors that we're seeing at our pet food distributions.

We did notice a huge uptick just in the last few distributions.

We saw over a hundred for the hundred seniors for in-person distribution for the first time since we started this program.

So we are seeing that need.

So that number includes not only the seniors that show up in person for pet food distribution, but also the seniors that are served through the homebound delivery program.

So we partner with the meals on wheels through senior services.

So while they're providing food for the seniors, they're also providing pet food for the seniors that have pets that are homebound and maybe can't come in to get that food.

So we are seeing an uptick in that.

As far as our vaccinations, we saw a very small decline in the vaccines given, but an increase in the number of pets that are being vaccinated.

So overall, it's a very healthy, exciting quarter for us.

We did attend a few events this quarter.

So we did a couple disaster preparedness presentations for Palomina Valley and Pause for Love.

And then we also went up and we had a booth at the sheriff's picnic in Incline just at the end of the quarter where we we gave out information, we talked to kids, we uh we did free pet ID tags, engraved those for anybody that wanted them.

Um, and it was a great success.

It was a lot of fun.

Um and then we're just gonna give a quick overview of a couple of the programs that we do.

So uh just as a reminder, rescue has these karma boxes, these pet karma boxes that they put out all around town.

Um, and so we with SPCA have partnered to help provide some of the food that goes into those boxes.

So SPCA provides us with donated pet food, um, animal services then rebags that pet food into smaller bags because as you can imagine, we get a lot of you know, 50 pound bags of dog food that wouldn't fit in those boxes.

So we revag them into four and five pound bags of pet food, um and then rescue volunteers uh come and pick up that pet food and distribute it out to those boxes.

So we do have a page on our website that we created, it has a map of all the locations for those karma boxes.

Uh the they're designed to be take what you need, leave what you can.

So the community is encouraged to leave pet food or other pet supplies in the boxes for people in the community.

And then the most exciting development uh is that we have officially relaunched our volunteer program.

Uh it was a lot of work went into this.

Um I believe the volunteer program was paused in 2020 during COVID.

Um, and so we're back getting it up and running.

Uh, we're really excited.

So we do have three tiers of volunteers.

So tier one is where everyone kind of starts.

Uh they do a lot of the like basic tasks around the uh shelter, and then as they progress, they move into tier two where they start to do a little bit more of the hands-on stuff, they can uh train to handle animals, they can train to do data entry, um, they can uh with additional stuff go to our pet food distributions to work with the seniors, and then um as they continue on, they can opt to move into tier three, which including all of the stuff in tier one and tier two, uh, they can then help with things like uh disasters and help manning those shelters that we stand up during disasters, help out at the shelter during those disaster times, uh things like that.

So it's really exciting to get this program back up and running, and so far it's been a huge success.

Um, so this is just uh for some informational purposes that QR code will take you to our volunteer website if you're interested in the application or recommending it to anybody.

These are just our basic uh requirements, so they must be at least 16 with parental consent.

We generally tell people that we hoped that they can commit at least six hours a month to us, um, and then while we appreciate all prior experience, uh we will provide any training that anyone needs.

So we we can work with anybody at any level.

So it's really exciting.

We've already onboarded, I believe, 10 new volunteers, which has been a great addition to our we have a staff of 47, so adding a 10 new hands to help out around the shelter has been an incredible help for all of our staff.

So I think everybody is starting to see the benefit of having all of these volunteers around.

Uh, and that is it for the outreach program.

So I'm gonna hand it over to Tammy, and she will go ahead and give you guys some updates on the medical program.

Thank you, Tammy Jennings for the record.

So these particular slides are a cat that came in over the counter.

A good Samaritan brought this cat in, and it came in with an open fracture in that back leg.

So after Dr.

Slayton took a look at it, she estimated that this cat had probably been living with this open fracture for over a month.

So as you can see in the X-ray, there's a little spot where the fracture is almost protruding out of the skin.

So the opening wouldn't wasn't healing.

So we took the X-rays, took the cat, and um Dr.

Slayton eventually performed a full amputation, and the cat is doing wonderfully.

And then a week or so later, after the surgery was transferred over to NHS through their adoption program.

So we're this is just one of the uh many things that Dr.

Slayton's been able to do for us since she started all of our programs are just flourishing.

Our TNR surgeries have um increased to 197.

Um we've increased our rescue partner surgeries, and these are surgeries where the uh rescue groups are taking animals from the shelter, and so we do the space and neuters before they leave the shelter for them, and so they've increased to 63 this quarter.

Uh 37 CARES vaccinations, and this CARES spay and neuter surgeries is um one of our newer programs.

So these are free surgeries through the uh our partnerships with all the um homeless shelters around the area.

So we've done eight surgeries on those animals as well.

Thankfully, we only had to do four cruelty investigations and two actual necropsies this time.

But um we have also um done uh 28 different radiograph series with the new x-ray machine that we that I talked about last time, and about 24 other procedures, including pyometrias, abscess cares, um abdominal exploratories, limb amputations, those kind of things.

So it's it's really been a huge plus for the shelter to get this program up and running.

But then on top of that, we also now have six veterinarians outside veterinarians that we are contracting with to help with some of our outreach programs to help do more uh community vaccination clinics out in the community for uh Dr.

Slayton to go to her CE conferences and actually take a vacation so we can still keep our programs going.

And then we also are contracted with six veterinary technicians as well now to help out on that aspect of things too.

So no matter what is going on, whether it's continuing ed conferences, vacations, anything like that, we won't have to stop any of our programs in the future, so we can keep everything going all the time.

So, which is uh a really exciting new development for us.

So and then I will hand it back to Cheyenne.

Thanks, Tammy and Quinn, for your updates.

Um, we are going to talk about on another agenda item scheduling our 2026 meeting, so that's why there's not a date here.

Happy to answer any questions.

Wow.

Um Thank you so much to all of you that participate in this update.

Um, I was taking notes, that was a pretty long, and I kind of uh one hand I wanted to interrupt you, and then I didn't want to interrupt the flow, but I'm gonna ask you to go back to some slides that we already saw.

Um you answered one of my questions, which was I was really pleased to see this new volunteer program.

And I was wondering um, first of all, how you're letting people know about it.

And the other question what you answered, which was how many?

So you have 10 so far.

Have you thought about how many you'll be able to handle all together?

I'm gonna let Quinn answer that question.

Quincy for the record.

Uh yeah, that's a great question.

Uh so we wanted to kind of get the program up and running to see where our capacity was and kind of how those volunteers fit in, because some volunteers will we've had volunteers that come in three days a week for 10 hours at a time, and some volunteers that come in two hours a week, and so we're kind of feeling out exactly what our capacity is and how all of the different areas within animal services uh feel they can handle people.

We believe we can handle uh like approximately four to six volunteers on site at any given time.

Um and so we're kind of recruiting with that in mind.

Um so, and then to answer your other question about how we're letting people know.

We did put something out on on social media and we did have a press release ready to go out.

Um unfortunately it happened right around the same time we were doing a bunch of other press releases for case-related things.

Um and so we didn't want that to get kind of overrun.

Uh so we do have a plan to put out a press release um in the future.

Okay.

Um as well.

But they found you nevertheless.

Yes.

10 volunteers.

Oh, absolutely.

Yeah, we we definitely have had interest, and so we're still kind of working out the initial kinks of the of the new program because it's a totally revamped program from what it was before.

Um, and so um I I think it's going extremely well.

We we already have uh two volunteers who've uh started and moved into tier two already.

Um so they've done their 36 hours of work, they've moved into that tier two, and um we're gonna start training them on some of those more in-depth processes that they're gonna do.

I have one other question.

Um I have several, but I'll just do one more.

And it was really about the hot car call.

Um I was wondering, so the just the process, they had to go what once you cited them.

They had to go to in front of a judge, I assume.

Cheyenne shell for the record.

That's correct.

Yes.

And and then my question was since they were uh found to be guilty, what was the penalty?

Are you allowed to say?

It's a fine, I believe in that particular scenario.

It was a six hundred and something dollar fine, a largely determined by the court.

We don't have a lot of influence in the fine amounts.

Okay.

But the animal is returned to the owner.

It isn't something that we keep under a cruelty charge.

It is not.

No, it's a separate charge.

So the the distinction that we if we were to uh seize an animal out of a vehicle, a vehicle, if it suffered irreparable damage, if it was uh unfortunately deceased or it had some uh damage to the animal, was was very sick, then we can add cruelty charges to that particular violation and then hold the animal uh pending the adjudication of the case.

Okay, but in general, on those citations for just an animal in a hot car, it is a misdemeanor citation that then does go to court.

And usually amounts are set.

Um are they completely optional?

They vary, yeah.

Uh for that particular violation, I think it's six six or eight hundred is probably the highest that you would see in that particular violation.

Okay.

All right.

Just wondering.

And so is there anything like where if they did it again, there they're the I mean it it ramps up in a different kind of misdemeanor or I don't know if the fine incrementally would increase in that particular scenario.

Uh the violation would still be the same.

And I think I talked to this group at a prior board meeting about an individual that we dealt with this year, unfortunately, two different times, same violation.

They got cited both times.

Okay.

Um, and I don't know if their fines would increase.

I I would think naturally it would, but again, we don't set those fines.

Okay.

The judge does.

Exactly.

Let me open it up for comments, questions from anyone, really.

Um go ahead.

Uh yes, I have a comment probably um you can answer both of these.

One is on the one is just a comment, a suggestion on the volunteer program.

There are a ton of social service programs where people are working and engaged in whatever program it might be that look for volunteer opportunities.

So you may want to, and if you want to reach out to me separately, there's a quite a few programs that love sending people working in animal welfare, and they really devoted.

I think it's good for both sides, good for the animals and good for the people, as a suggestion.

Um when you want to build that program.

I think you're gonna have people beating down your doors.

Um the second question I have uh pardon my ignorance, but in your TNR surgeries, I see 197.

How is your TNR program working?

Where is that coming from?

Who's actually doing the work for it?

Great question.

Cheyenne for the record.

In February of this year, we uh launched this trap neuter and return program as part of a get back to our community, um, help to fill that void of spay neuter resources that we have such a shortage of in our region.

And we're working directly with nonprofit partners.

So with our program as it stands now, uh community cats does all the work.

Uh they trap the cats, they work with the community, they schedule their appointments every Tuesday, they bring the cats down to us, we alter them, vaccinate them, microship them, community cats picks them up and releases them back into the community.

So animal services does a very small portion of that, um, and our nonprofit partners are doing the heavy lifting.

We uh created uh agreements so that if there are any other partners that wish to work with us in this particular program that we can accommodate those needs as well.

But we limit the the appointments to 20 cats every week, and I think it varies, but we try to try to meet that minimum threshold so that it makes it worth Dr.

Slayton's time to carve out that day for the TNR procedures.

What's the cost?

Do you know?

Uh do you have a rough estimate of the cost?

Well, we provide it for free.

Right.

There's not a question.

You provide for free, but what is the cost to run that program?

We will we will have to do some research and bring that back at a future meeting.

And with it limited to 20, what would be an ideal number if funding was not a problem?

I'm gonna let Tammy answer that question since the medical falls under her.

Uh Tammy Jennings for the record.

Currently, it is not necessarily a matter of funding that is the issue, it's a matter of time throughout the day and the fact that we only have one vet, one technician and one assistant to do all the work at the same time.

So, in order to fit in the TNR surgeries, the rescue partner surgeries, the care surgeries, we kind of have them scheduled that way, and it's just a matter too of people for that, and the amount of time we have during the day in order to make sure that the animals are not or taken care of properly and not rushed through surgery and that kind of thing, too.

Okay, and you're working with community cats on that.

Yes, currently.

Okay, thank you for answering that.

Uh I'm gonna make a donation of $15,000 to that program, but we'll let's circle back.

Thank you.

All right.

Okay, um, I almost can't speak here.

Wow, member Dixon.

Um seriously.

I don't have the floor.

Yeah, really.

Would you like to say some more?

I mean, please.

That that's amazing.

I just came early.

Yeah, no kidding.

Thank you.

Thank goodness.

Wow.

That's very generous.

We appreciate it.

Incredible.

I think we'll have to talk with Diane Dixon.

No, no, no.

Yeah.

Memorial fund.

Yeah, we're find out more about that.

Um that's incredibly generous.

Thank you, Member Dixon.

One comment.

Yeah, please.

We're doing a great job.

Yeah.

Just to add to the TNR comment about volume and numbers and remembering that um a lot of our community partners do the same thing with the SBCA NHS options is doing some, so it's a it's a group effort.

But when we think about what that does for or how county is participating in this, is not just the CARES animals and everything else, but remembering that Dr.

Slayton is responsible for all animals housed in the facility, which at any given time is hundreds.

Um, so I think that always taking into consideration where that balance is regardless of funding and resources.

Okay.

Wow.

All right, anyone else comments on this agenda item?

Yeah, I think that's a good question.

I just wanted to answer thank you, Madam Chair.

I just wanted to say thank you.

I too am very encouraged about the volunteer program, so kudos to you all.

Um, I'll not repeat what Mr.

Dixon already shared in terms of there are opportunities to uh really even spread the word within other volunteer organizations that, and I do think his comment is going to be realized sooner than later that people will be I'll use the term knocking on the door.

And um I and staying in that same vein.

I I wonder if there's not also an opportunity like with Comston Equine as an example or other uh veterinarian um opportunities and even the university of looking at helping as you're trying to help Dr.

Slater take a vacation and you know take a little time off if there isn't also staying again in that same vein of volunteering but giving them experience as well.

So I'm not trying to add and burden additional program, but I think that there may be some opportunities.

So maybe you've already explored them.

I'm not sure, but um I I think that that might be something to think about unless you've already done that.

So member and I don't have a $15,000 donation, so um, I really do want to thank you for that though.

Seriously, that's amazing.

Thank you.

That's amazing, my friend.

They're doing the work.

I know the amazing part is the work that they're doing.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Cheyenne tell for the record, madam chair.

If I may, I would like to respond to Member Andorilla's comments.

Just to clarify that those are great uh tips for sure.

Uh those are things that we absolutely have explored.

We have worked very closely with options veterinary care.

They have been gracious enough to allow our medical team to shadow and to come over to their clinic and to learn and to you know be able to learn about high volume and high quality spay neuter.

They've been able to learn about clinic that has a lot of things going on in contrast to ours.

We have a lot of shelter things going on, but it's not necessarily a lot of animals moving through a veterinary hospital.

And we also have worked with uh SPCA of Northern Nevada's uh vet veterinary teams on a multitude of projects.

Uh they collaborate with us on vaccine clinics so that we can expand the delivery of services in our vaccine clinics with more veterinarians.

So we definitely have explored and will continue to explore because I said, as I said earlier in my presentation, it does take collaboration amongst animal welfare professionals in order to effectively and efficiently deliver services to our community, and it really is the only successful model that works.

All right, amazing.

Now, anyone else?

Comments from anyone else.

Let me ask, I know this is not an action item, but there I don't know if there's anyone who would like to make public comment.

I'm open to that, whether in person or online there's a member of the audience who would like to make public comment at this time.

Okay.

Miss Tracy Dean of Community Cats.

All right.

I did sign up.

Hello, everybody.

Um I am Tracy Dean of Community Cats of Reno, uh, independent local 501c3 nonprofit group made up of volunteers helping cats and people for 26 years.

Wow.

Um of the main things we do is we empower people to help cats by using the existing Washoe County TNR program.

We partner with most of the groups here in our local area to utilize this resources available already.

And so far to date, this year, we have helped over 1,300 cats and kittens.

And for context, 849 cats and kittens were helped in 2024.

Um little note I just looked up um Nevada Humane Society as one of our main clinic partners, and so far I saw um 311 appointments for TNR through their clinic this year, and we were um just listed in Cheyenne's report with a hundred and ninety seven TNR surgeries because we are the ones providing exclusively the cats to Washoe County Clinic for TNR right now, which we really really appreciate.

And we're averaging 150 cats and kittens helped per month.

Wow.

And we're also utilizing one of smaller rescue groups for fostering for kittens.

We've reunited some cats with their um owners with because they had a microchip, thank goodness.

And thank you to the SPCA of Northern Nevada.

They um purchased a scanner for us to be able to scan cats, so they haven't even had to come anywhere.

We reunited cats directly back with their owner.

So that's just a few numbers, and I wanted to just put that out there.

80% of the kittens arriving at the shelters are from these free roaming cats in our area.

So we appreciate a real forceful TNR and spay neuter services in our area.

Thank you.

All right.

Wow, thank you so much.

Yeah, incredible program.

Um, any closing comments from any members of the of our board?

All right.

One last commentary, one lesson.

So that's we're gonna put that $15,000 up as a match so that we can double it to 30.

So we'll we'll talk more in detail on that.

Okay, right.

Perfect.

Let's get it to 30.

Yeah.

I recently did that and and it actually worked.

I was able to raise $50,000 for something with help from uh various people doing a match program.

But we had an event, so I don't know how how it all works in different ways.

But anyway, all right.

Well, thank you so much.

On that, we're gonna close out item six and move on to seven.

Um, and this is the actual um animal services disaster response program.

And who are we hearing from today?

Looks like Tammy Jennings and Robert Wooster.

Uh thank you.

My name is Tammy Jennings, and this is uh field manager Robert Wooster for the presentation on the emergency and disaster preparedness.

All right.

So what we offer to start with uh community presentations and outreach events, so we go throughout the community um whenever we're it's requested to give presentations on disaster preparedness, whether it's for large animal community, small animal community, or just um anybody in general.

We do disaster preparedness educations for pet owners, um evacuation support for both small and large animals in our community.

Robert Wooster for the record.

Um we are active members of the Washa County uh emergency management team.

We go monthly to meetings, as you can see.

We have a chair at the emergency management.

Uh we do monthly drills there where we kind of review any updates and we go over any uh programs that our department has developed.

Um I bring uh monthly updates to our training programs as far as emergency management goes and for disaster response.

Um we do tabletop exercises, we do them internally, and we also do them with the county.

Uh, we have done, I believe, three tabletop exercises in the last year and a half, two of them for earthquakes and one of them for a uh full evacuation of our shelter, uh including evacuating our dispatch center and utilizing our command center off site to be able to continue our daily operations.

Um we've also done a full-scale uh emergency management uh disaster response up at Incline where we did a uh practical for a large fire and trying to evacuate uh the Incline area.

Uh we also do staff training, uh, we do continue training, uh, we do onboarding training, including uh FEMA courses.

All of our officers, when they get hired on, go through FEMA courses so they can learn uh the incident command system as well as uh animals and disaster training.

We do first responder horse training, we do that in-house.

Um Director Scholl brings her horses, we have another field supervisor who brings her horses, and our staff have to practice catching, loading, haltering, and dealing with horses that they don't know.

Um we do wild fire uh behavior training, which is incredibly important when we respond out to fires.

We are dealing with uh trucks and trailers inside active fire zones.

Uh we have airplanes that are dropping fire retardant, and we need to know where to be how to be safe.

Um we have had incidences where we're on properties that are actively on fire, and you have uh airplanes dropping fire retardant, and that is unsafe for our staff, so understanding where to be when to be is important.

We also do uh traffic control and incident management training.

Um, same thing when you have a uh disaster going, a fire flood, and there's large amounts of uh first responders.

We need to be safe, we need to know where we're going, and uh we need to know how to operate within um those kind of incidences Tammy Jennings for the record.

Uh we have multiple um equipment that we use for um our disaster response.

As you can see in these pictures, we have two um stock trailers that we take out with us um for any evacuation.

When we send our stock trailers out, we have an officer in the truck with the trailer, and then we have another officer that goes along with them uh to assess the situation before the trailer goes in to make sure the trailer can get out safely and that kind of thing too.

So there's it's two people that are responding anytime we take these trailers out.

We have our two small animal evacuation shelter trailers that we can um respond to any emergency evacuations kind of at the drop of a hat.

These are our first response vehicles.

We have our command center that we take to mostly to our large animal sites because they're usually in a separate location than our small animal sites, and this gives our um officers, our staff an area to get out of the weather, take a break, do their paperwork, all that kind of stuff at any site we go.

We have our large animal evacuation trailer and another small animal evacuation trailer.

Our large animal evacuation trailer is filled with anything we need to set up uh evacuation site for large animals, horses, cattle, goats, sheep, llamas, anything that would come in full of um water buckets and hoses and rakes and feed and smaller kennels or anything we would need in that situation.

The small animal evacuation trailer is our next step from the first response trailers that we have.

So if the evacuation is gonna last a few weeks, or if it just expands on us, we need more than just those two trailers.

So we have a separate trailer that houses everything else we would need from um different size um very kennels to dog bowls to cat bowls to different types of crates and all the equipment we would need to expand our shelter or have a long-term shelter.

And then we also have our side beside side by side that we can take out to some of these places.

When you're hauling hay over a long period of time, it just gets a little tiring, so this makes it a little bit easier for us.

Along with these, we have also developed a emergency manual SOP.

So we have a full manual that lists all of our procedures so that any time any of our staff maybe they want to refresh their memory, if they haven't worked this large animal site before, if they haven't learned just small animal site before, they can take a look at this manual, refresh their memory, and figure out what they need to do at any given time.

So our sheltering locations for large animals, our first location is usually the Livestock Event Center.

That's where we go to first.

It's a central location no matter where the fire is.

And it has excellent accommodations, no matter what type of animals we're housing as well.

So that's our first go-to location.

After that, if they're full, we move over to the UNR equestrian center.

And um because they have some excellent accommodations for us as well.

After that, um, and depending on where the fire is, will depend on where we set up a location.

If it's in the North Valley area, if it's in Washoe Valley, we have to take that into consideration as well.

So we are uh have some overflow locations in different parks around the county that we're looking into.

Part of the problem that we run into in locations other than the Livestock Events Center and the UNR equestrian center is whether or not they have enough or any actual stalls set up.

A lot of the arenas and areas where people can ride horses don't actually have stalls.

So that is one of our restraints when it comes to using some other locations.

Our small animal shelters are normally set up wherever the Red Cross setups their shelter so that the people that come to the shelter can have their animals close.

Um so right now, when it comes to gaps in our um sheltering locations, it has to do with those supplies that are harder to keep mobile.

Uh when we when we talk about um the large animal shelters, in order to set up quick, we need like panels and things like that.

And those you just can't grab and go.

Those uh it's a lot harder to get those panels where we need them and all that kind of stuff, and to get enough of them for large-scale um shelters.

So those are some of the restraints constraints we have when it comes to sheltering locations.

I'm sure you're all aware, uh, Robert Wooster for the record.

Uh, fires are our most common emergency that we have to deal with.

Uh, but we also deal with flooding and the potential of earthquakes.

Um so we have some resources on our website, um, and we have a little scan spot that you can scan there that'll take you directly to it that goes over some tips for uh how to prepare for disasters.

Um these are the kind of things that we do uh community outreach for and teach about.

Um something that is very important is being prepared.

Um it is the worst time to try to prepare your animals for disaster is when a fire starts, when floods happen, when an earthquake hits.

So some simple things to remember that we like to remind people of is having like a to-go bag.

So if you have dogs and cats, you have a to-go bag, you have um some food that your dogs are used to, your veterinary records, vaccine records, um contact information in case we have to go in and get your animal out, uh, that we have your information, uh, any family members, kennels and crates.

If you have dogs and cats, you have kennels and crates, and also that you are habituating your animals to using kennels and crates.

Um, the first time your cat goes into a kennel or crate shouldn't be in the middle of a fire when you have random people coming into your home.

Um, and same with horses, um, we deal with a lot of uh livestock during fires.

And if your horse has never had a halter on or has never been on a trailer, having me show up and have to load that animal is not a fun time.

Um, it's very dangerous and it's stressful on your animal.

So getting that in front, um, loading your animal, practicing loading them into crates, loading them on the trailers, um, evacuating them is super important.

Uh that's all talked about in our website.

Also having different evac routes, um, you might be used to we probably all have our normal routes that we drive home, but if there's a disaster and you can't access your home that way, do you know an alternate route to get to your house?

And uh, can you let us know what those alternate routes are?

If you call us up, you need to just come get your animals.

It would be helpful for us to know that as well.

Um so agreement and support.

Um, so we have entered into three new, I don't want to misquote, I think we've entered into two or almost done with the third agreement for assistance.

Um, typically our department handles all the animal evacs.

Um, but if we have one of these true large-scale uh events where there's a massive earthquake or a huge fire that is a multi-week event, we don't have the ability to care for those animals that entire time.

We don't have the staffing, we would be exhausted.

So we have entered into an agreement with Humane World.

Um if we had a uh multi-day or large-scale event, we can contact them and they would come out and help with uh bodies to take care of the animals that also send up secondary uh shelter locations.

Uh we also entered into agreement with ASAR Assist, which is a group of animal control officers across the nation.

Um so if we called for assistance, I believe within 48 hours they can have animal control officers with vehicles and trailers coming to assist us as well.

And we are working with an agreement on LRTC, which is the same group from the slide that Director Scholl shared uh when we pulled the horse out of the pool.

It's that same group.

Um they are very experienced with uh technical large animal rescue, um, and they can help set up short-term uh sheltering for us for animals.

I believe they can do a secondary uh site of about 20 horses in a pinch if we needed, they would not be a long-term uh solution for us.

Um, and then obviously we have our uh internal voluntary program that we're establishing, which would be able to help out.

And in the past, we've also had assistance from uh the SBC of Northern Nevada, uh, believe on a Davis fire, they were out assisting us with animals.

And uh Tammy Jennings for a record.

This is just a quick example of some of the charts that we've put together internally for our staff to reference when we have an emergency and when our um internal communication loops kick in.

So it starts with the notification from the emergency operations center, which usually goes directly to myself, director Schull, manager Wooster, and then we disseminate information from there, and we have different ways throughout our internal organization that we communicate that to everybody within the organization.

So we start with our main charts, we have a separate one for um our supervisory team and our evacuation teams.

We have a flow chart for our shelter teams that um talks about everything there, separate one for our dispatch group so they can notify everybody of everything that needs to happen and set up the different teams that they need within the shelters well.

So we all are communicating amongst each other as efficiently as we can.

We would love to be able to communicate this efficiently with all the other groups involved, but unfortunately we don't have any control over that.

So we do the best to make the communication within our group as solid as possible.

And then um we are ready and equipped with trained staff, resources, and response trailers.

We have some strong partnerships with local and national agency, and we're committing to protecting both people and animals during all of our disasters.

And um, I just want to point out our new uniforms and our new um field server field supervisor vehicles in that picture there.

We have um recently just upgraded all our uniforms and some of our trucks to make our um staff even more professional than they already are, and then to remind everybody of our mission of promoting responsible care of animals through education, proactive outreach, and regulation making Washoe County a safe community.

Oh, any questions?

Yeah, all right.

Well, super good report.

I do have a few questions, but let me start this time by opening up to uh the board.

Anyone?

Yes, please go ahead.

Jewel McMahon for the record.

Uh I was just curious on the trailers, um, for instance, like your large animal trailer, not the stock trailers, but your resource trailer.

Um, how are you guys managing um the consumables?

Things that date out outdate or go rancid if they sit or things like that.

Do you do you have to have that stuff on hand immediately?

Um, or do you have a resource where you can pull from at the time of the VAC?

Tammy Dennings for the record.

We actually set up kind of like a to-go bag or to-go box for that type of stuff that we don't want to keep on the trailer that would go bad in the heat or the weather or anything.

So we have, and that's part of the reason for our SOP manual.

So somebody can look in and say, okay, there's an emergency.

I have to grab this list of um supplies, then grab the trailer and then go, which would be like chicken feed for a good example, a couple bales of hay, things like that that we don't keep on the trailer at all times.

And uh that's uh items that maybe you guys wouldn't be able to keep in the barn or somewhere in anticipation of on-site animals.

Is that where you you'd be pulling from?

Tammy Jennings for the record, yes.

So our uh as you all know, we have we do have a six-stall barn, and so most of that stuff is kept in our uh supply area in the barn.

So we have hay on hand, we have pig feed on hand, chicken feed on hand, you know, anything like that that we would need we do keep out there.

Thank you.

All right, anyone else?

No, how about Joe online?

Any questions?

I know uh emergence okay, I see your hand.

Um you need to unmute or we need to unmute you.

Uh no, um Joe would use for record now.

Uh I had uh tour done a while back and had to see a lot of the vehicles and trailers are doing and uh good work.

Okay, so you're satisfied they are properly set up and ready to roll?

There's always room for improvement in all things emergency management, but uh I think they're doing a great job.

Nice qualification there, uh, member Rodriguez.

Okay.

Um yes, please go ahead.

Jill Fisher for the record.

Um back to what you were saying about evacuing animals and reuniting animals.

During the Davis fire, they blocked access to my development.

There was no way in or out.

We had animals at the house, as well as other important things.

And we did not know that we had any option other than to sneak around back, jump fences, and hike in to get our animals out.

Is there a way to deal with those situations when they come up that doesn't involve property trespass?

Robert Wooster for the record.

Uh yeah, don't do that.

Um, give us a call.

Um we can still access it to the properties generally, unless unless it's unsafe for our staff.

And if it's unsafe for us, it's unsafe for you as well.

Um and we do this routinely.

We would love to get the animals and bring them to you.

Um they don't have that just because we pick them up doesn't mean they have to go to one of our evacuation sites.

Um I've done many fires where I get an animal and I meet somebody off-site where they're allowed to legally go, return the animals to them, and then they go take care of themselves.

Let me ask a follow-up.

Um, is that number posted?

Like where are they blocking the road?

Like I can imagine someone coming up, the road's blocked.

In that emergency moment, they're not really having your number at hand.

Are they calling 911 or do they do you post your number there somewhere?

Robert Wooster for the record.

Um, so we don't post it because we don't know where they block them off at.

Um like for a fire example, they they're they move so much that those locations change.

But when they block that off, they do have sheriff deputies that are always there.

Uh and they're gonna route you to 911 or to us directly.

Either way, it'll funnel back to us.

Uh with emergency management, we're part of uh Web EOC, which is the online um means of sharing information and requesting information.

And if you contact 911, they'll probably call us directly.

But if not, they'll put a resource call into Web EOC that comes in myself or whoever is monitoring it would see that.

We then make a call for service in our department and send somebody out.

But it doesn't sound like that happened in member Fisher's case.

Like if they blocked that off, they generally have a deputy there on site to prevent people from coming in, in which case they can share that information.

But did they what what was the interaction like?

I mean, this is something look, where the advisory board, if this has kind of been identified as a problem, you know, as Joe said, there's always room for improvement.

And maybe this is one of those improvement areas where we can make sure that all the sheriffs do actually know what to do.

So what was your experience?

Member Fisher for the record.

Yes, um, they had a huge line of cars backed up.

This was Mount Rose Highway and Virginia.

And they did not, and I don't blame them, feel like they had time to supply information other than it's blocked off.

You'll be able to get back in when it's cleared, go around.

So it wasn't even like I felt like asking questions was okay.

And my neighbor has a several animals and a sick child.

And they weren't even helpful in getting her in to get medication for her child.

So I mean, that there wasn't really a whole lot of communication.

They seemed very frustrated and hurried.

And there was a lot of us that were sitting around going, what do we do?

Robert Wooster for the record.

Um, I do attend the emergency management meetings once a month, and I'm happy to bring that up in the next meeting.

So that would be awesome.

I mean, I think that again, as member Rodriguez said, there's always room for improvement.

I know people are stressed, but this is why they go to training, right?

I've been to Emmett's burg, I've been to the training.

Um, you know, they train you in process, but also behavioral things, and um, you know, I'm sure other people had animals also.

It wouldn't be just one family out of 25 or whoever was down your road or a hundred um that had animals.

So there must be a process, and if you're available to do it and do it safely, then we need to, you know, activate you in this situation.

Yeah, another question.

I just wanted to add Julie McMahon for the record that maybe this is an opportunity where most of us in these situations are relying on social media updates from local news partners and or TV updates, that maybe that's a part somewhere where it could be activated maybe with Quinn or somewhere that says, are you out of side of your evacuation zone?

Are you concerned?

Would you something to that effect?

I think that we have to have a balance though, because we have to think that human life before animal life, which coming from my side is hard to say.

Um, however, we also have to be realistic that they may not be able to support or help all people with the resources they have.

Because I mean, you think how many households have pets right now, and in areas like Davis where it's not just small animal, it's large animal.

Um so just two points.

Maybe maybe it is use of media social media, maybe it's something different.

Tammy Jennings for the record.

Um yes, we do do put it out on social media.

So um part of the um flow charts include Quinn or Director Schull stepping in to get the information out on social media as far as um numbers you can call, where the um evacuation sites are located, and any information animal-related.

The biggest advice I would have for anybody who um has animals, first off, is be prepared.

But second of all, our dispatch line, call our dispatch line if you need help, and we'll do if we can't get to you immediately, we'll walk you through whatever steps we can to help you with whatever the situation is.

But um just put our dispatch line out there for everybody and stuff.

But yes, we do put it all out on social media, and we also work with the PIO for the county as well.

Okay.

Madam Chair, can I uh also add?

I think one of the things I want to uh add to the conversation is to keep in mind we're very, very small department.

Right.

We are very, very limited when it comes to emergencies, and when we deploy, it's generally two to four people, and we're trying to assemble more people depending on the disaster.

We do not have a PIO.

Quinn works uh administrative hours, and so do I.

And so if we don't have the ability to get that information out quickly, it's just because we are limited with so many uh resources.

And so we do the best that we can, as I said earlier, with getting that information out there, working with the county communications team to get the information out there, but from also deploying to many fires, this information changes fluidly.

It can change within minutes.

Sometimes we are out, our teams are out there, and they don't even have the most up-to-date information about what's going on.

So it oftentimes is out of our control, is really what I would like to emphasize.

We don't necessarily have control over the checkpoints of who's letting people in and what information is being relayed.

We can try our best to relay the information that would be best uh you know uh absorbed by the citizen to get them to their animals or to keep them from the area if it's not safe for them to enter.

But we did definitely we'll take the information back, and as we uh manager Wooster said, we do work with other emergency divisions from across the county to try to unite the information, but it is very oftentimes very disjointed in the midst of an emergency.

So we have to be realistic too about what we can do as a very small department.

But I mean, Cheyenne, you also said or or the team said that you're there are volunteers out there, because I've I've seen this happen, right?

In the fires where they're helping rescue horses or other animals, um, and then you're building your volunteer corps.

I understand they'd have to go all the way to tier three plus probably plus uh to become uh part of the emergency team.

But I mean, maybe that's a goal worth worthy of.

I mean, you could probably double from four to eight with the properly trained volunteers um to to help with that.

So just a thought.

I mean, all this is is about how to improve.

And as I think it begins with um uh Officer Wooster speaking to the other emergency management teams about how to improve the response.

I think that's all it's about.

We we don't expect miracles, but we do see you have some equipment, some ability to help.

So, you know, if that mobile can go down that road and rescue four cats, let's say, in one trip, that that's a win, you know.

Even even if there were 10.

Yeah, thank you.

Julie McMahon for the record.

There's got to be a limit who is going to be able to access those areas and support.

Um, so we just again have to be cautious of that.

Right.

And then I was particularly thinking of like the least resistance training concepts people.

I mean, they're helping you at three in the morning rescue horses out of pools.

Um, I've met a number of those people, and they are very well trained.

I mean, they have equipment, straps, training with horses, training with other large animals.

I mean, that's why they're not called the horse training uh group, but they're the large um animal group.

So anyway, I just we're just talking about how to improve and not expecting miracles, but I think one more animal saved in a this kind of situation, or or even four or five is is a huge win.

So that's all we don't want to put people in danger, but this this job is danger.

There are volunteer fire departments, for example.

They're all volunteers, and so um, you know, we're just looking at how to expand the numbers and how to do better.

Um, I still had uh one or two questions.

So I wanted to ask, I thought at the beginning of your comments you mentioned evacuating the whole shelter.

Did you?

Yeah.

I'm trying to imagine how that happens because at any one time, how many animals would be in there?

Robert was here for the record.

A lot.

Uh we had uh we were pretty I I think we were above 60% when we did the evacuation of the shelter when we did the trial.

Uh and we were pretty systematic about how we went about evacuating um as far as identifying which animals we can easily get out first and which ones had priority.

Uh stray animals and own animals we had to get out first, um, friendly animals that were easily uh removed from the kennels and quickly removed from the kennels.

Uh we had an assembly line of our animal control vehicles pull up and we would use the vehicles in their kennels to load animals onto, and as they would fill up, we'd move them off site.

Um while that was occurring, my dispatch center uh took our command center and relocated over to uh the Reno's Parks Lifestock Event Center um set up there and got the full dispatch center up and running.

And we had animals driving to the livestock event center setting up inside one of the large arenas.

Um we had kennels set up inside the arenas.

Um we didn't do cats just for the stress of it.

We we mocked removing cats, but the stress level to remove them uh wasn't worth it for that.

But we did the walking to every kennel.

So, how many animals do you think you evacuated in that exercise?

Um it's probably over 50 that we relocated over to Lifestock Event Center.

Shannon, for the record, I think we were upwards of a hundred animals.

We actually inventory the number of animals, and we actually had cage cards and we were following the cage cards with the animals.

It was quite a system, but it was also a few years ago.

So uh memory serves me.

But that's a wow.

I mean, that's incredible that you actually physically did it and just talk about it.

Um people are starting to learn to evacuate and they're doing actual drills of people.

You know, I know they did one, I believe up Mara Creek.

Um they organized one.

So anyway, the other thing you use the word, you said we will help secure animals, and that's in an emergency too.

So I wasn't sure what that really meant.

Uh well, there's sometimes we don't always take animals off property.

So we are going to be on site.

Uh Robert Woosser for that record.

Uh we'll go on site to the fires and we'll go beyond the fire line and we'll see.

Maybe the fire is five miles away.

Uh they're in the evac zone, but we don't need to remove those animals, so we will secure them on the property.

So we'll make sure we contain animals to the property.

We document it, we contact the owners with that know that we're at the property, we know what's here, we know that they're safe.

Uh, we've provided food, water, ensure that they're not leaving the property.

Um, and then if the fire behavior changes or something changes, we can always remove them after the fact.

Okay.

So are you or some of your people usually staged at the um wherever the response unit is throughout the emergency?

Yes.

And you're doing shifts or something.

Correct.

Okay, wow.

Um, and then finally, I just wanted to say I like the uniforms.

Thank you.

Yeah, I think we're very proud of them.

Yeah, I think they look really good and really help professionalize the group.

Uh uh good move, Cheyenne.

Good move.

Thank you.

All right.

Any anybody online?

Uh, this is too too just a non-action item, but anybody uh in the audience or online would make like to make a comment.

We do have uh a member from the public online who would like to uh make a comment.

Okay.

Yeah, hi.

Uh Frank Gibbons.

Hi, Frank, welcome.

Hi.

Hey, um, during the Davis fire, you're mentioning um shelters, wasn't it?

The CR CCS shelter had to be evacuated, correct?

I I didn't hear what you said.

One of the C RCS.

One of the when we were talking about shelter evacuations.

Right.

The C C R S shelter in Washoe Valley had to be evacuated, I believe.

The shelter itself.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And I don't know how many animals were involved in that.

Okay.

We'll see if I can get you an answer.

Do you have another question?

There was an evacuation.

I don't know who was involved in doing the evacuation.

Okay.

Do you have another question?

No.

Comment?

All right.

Thank you, Mr.

Gibbons.

We will get an answer and we'll go ahead if you happen to know.

Otherwise, we'll get back with you, Mr.

Gibbons.

Go ahead.

Robert Wooser for the record.

I do know they evacuated because we use their site as our staging area.

Their parking lot is where we staged.

Can you go closer to the mic too?

We staged in their parking lot after they evacuated.

So that was our staging area because it was a safe location that we could easily get to locations from.

I don't know how many animals evacuated, but I believe they evacuated to the Nevada Humane Society.

I believe they are who assisted with housing their animals.

And I imagine that they would have evacuated their own animals, but I can't speak to that for sure.

Okay.

Tammy Jennings for the record.

When it comes to organizations like CRCCS, we highly encourage them to have emergency evacuation plans for situations just like this.

Any stables that house multiple horses, all that kind of stuff.

We and these are some of the talks that we do, helping them come up with plans to evacuate in an emergency.

When you come, like Maplewood Stables, for an example, has a full evacuation plan for every horse on their facility, depending on the situation.

And they practiced it and they know what they're doing when it comes to that.

So they a lot of times these big stables, uh, rescue centers, that kind of stuff, they do it on their own, and we can take care of some of the smaller um areas and individual housing and individual horses and stuff like that, um, so that everybody can get out safe.

But we work with a lot of these groups to come up with these plans ahead of time so they can be proactive.

Okay.

All right, thank you.

Well, that's good news as well, because it's not all about us, right?

There's training component here, and it's really getting the message out to the community.

I'm sure is helping people help themselves is your biggest force multiplier, right?

So okay.

Oh, yeah, please.

Just to clarify, CR CRCS, I know it's not that anymore, C C R C S.

Is that right?

Um, is that they are not a shelter.

Um, they are a private rescue group.

Right.

Um, so I just to clarify for his comment or question is what was the involvement, assuming that that is a shelter setting.

Um, and so I think just to make sure we are understanding that the difference between a rescue group or a CRCS is unique in that they have their own facility, but it is still a kind of a private entity.

Right.

Right.

Yeah, they're not a public shelter, they're a private rescue organization that has you know their own shelter or their own facilities.

Let's use that word.

Okay, very good.

All right.

Well, I'm ready to close this item if you all are too.

Thank you.

Great report.

I mean, very helpful to us.

And I am sure we're gonna have more emergencies to come.

Uh, yesterday, myself and member Andreola participated in a uh wildfire awareness um symposium looking at ways to address wildfire better.

Um, and it touched on emergency management, although that was not its focus, its focus was really on the long-term impacts of wildfires, scorched earth, toxic materials.

Um, I moderated a panel.

Um, it was really about what have we learned and what techniques are helping us prevent these fires and getting out of control, and so we went over some of that, but it was really well done.

It was uh held up at DRI, sponsored by DRI and a few other sponsors as well.

Um, so it's it's heavy on our mind, in other words, and we know more fires are coming.

Um so we're gonna move on to item eight, which is the SPCA of Northern Nevada um talking about their free spay neuter clinic and providing us an update.

And we did this last time with NHS, as I recall, had an update on theirs, and um good good to see you.

And I think we also sorry, last time I believe we also had options report on theirs.

So good to see you.

Hello, Jill Vikina Dobbs for the record.

I am the very short executive director of the SBCA of Northern Nevada.

I'm sure you can all hear me.

Uh, but hopefully you can also see me as well.

I feel like this is a lot of structure in front of me.

Yes.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to speak before the advisory board today to do some updates on our Spay Neuter services.

This has been a huge need and ever increasing, and is really the only way that we can start to get a handle on homeless pet populations again here in Washaw County as well as regionally, as well as of course nationally.

So SBCA of Northern Nevada, we are small and mighty.

We are a wholly independent small organization.

There's a misnomer that we're connected to the AS ASPCA and every other SVCA that you've heard of.

This happens with humane societies as well, but we're all private, wholly independent organizations.

And we do not receive any government funding from any level.

So we rely on private donors and private foundations in order to provide the funding to do amazing things like provide free spay neuter services at a time when they are more needed than ever before.

And it is especially important to a small organization such as ours that we take every opportunity to collaborate in order to make a wider ranging impact in animal welfare in our community and region.

We actually serve all of northern Nevada as well as care deserts in Northern California, such as Lassen County and Shasta County.

And we are so fortunate to have such a professional, well-run county animal services department.

And so thank you again for giving me the opportunity to talk about them and especially this this clinic that we did together.

SBCA of Northern Nevada tackles the pet overpopulation crisis in multiple ways.

We have an uh internal spay neuter clinic for the community.

We do that twice a week.

We have a very small clinic, and I have it just pushed to the max because our community really, really needs us.

So we do that twice a week.

We also have an affordable uh spay neuter voucher program, and that is based on collaborative partnerships we have with over 20 private practice veterinary clinics in our region and beyond throughout Northern Nevada, which unfortunately is a quite stark care desert.

But we do run a program in Carson City and in Elko and in Crescent Valley, which essentially gets funneled to Elco.

And so individuals can apply for a voucher.

And once they sorry, get approved, they use it in their local community vet clinics where they're available.

And that is, as you can imagine, an expensive program because it costs more, even with the discounts that our veteran partners provide us.

It costs a lot more to run that program than our own internal one.

But again, we are a small organization and our clinic is very small, and our shelter is pretty small.

And so this program is very important because it allows us to make a much deeper impact beyond our shelter walls throughout northern Nevada.

And those things are still not enough to be making a dent in the homeless pet populations.

And so this year, I worked really hard to raise the funding in order to do a large three-day clinic.

Uh arm as well called USAID.

And we worked with that, started working with them months and months and months ago in order to provide this large community spay neuter clinic.

Well, it always comes back to where we're gonna hold the clinic.

Again, I know I keep saying this, but we have a very small clinic.

I know I keep saying this, but we have a very small clinic, and it is a whole different layer in order to set up uh a purely mash style clinic, which is you have like a gymnasium or other large open room, and you have to transfer every piece of equipment from surgical beds to anesthesia machines, um, to all the things it takes to clean instruments and redo packs and laundry.

You have to be doing laundry through these clinics, right?

And so it's a whole nother layer uh that would have made it impossible for us if it was not for Washa County Regional Animal Services enabling this clinic to occur at their fabulous clinic.

So I want to take a minute to really talk about the importance of the fact that regional animal services lives up to this Washoe County mission every single day.

They work together regionally to provide and sustain a safe, secure, and healthy community.

So just sitting in the audience now listening to all that they do while seeing those mission words on the wall, this is a perfect example of how they go out of their way to collaborate in order to help the community beyond their extremely limited resources.

Fourteen ASOs for all of Washoe County.

I have no idea how they accomplish what they do, but it's incredibly amazing.

And they go out of their way to collaborate with organizations such as SBCA of Northern Nevada to make an even bigger impact.

We are so lucky.

But this is the first slide, and this is a very important thing.

I'm gonna say that slide.

Yes, please proceed.

Um truly, I cannot emphasize enough.

I've been in animal welfare for over 20 years.

I am an attorney.

Uh, I was also a financial expert.

I've been in lots of different collaborative environments.

Teamwork truly makes the dream work in animal welfare.

Animal welfare cannot be successful without collaboration.

Oh, that's a fun feature.

Umuter, we we're fortunate to have a lot of vet clinics in town.

Their costs are rising, their costs are essentially the same as human medical services, but there is no underwriting insurance uh system or government funding that goes to them, and so of course their costs have risen over the last few years dramatically.

And at a time when the economic disparity in our country is widening ever more, it is extremely important that we are finding ways to provide affordable services for people.

And for those who need these services the most, uh, that affordable definition really becomes free.

And so we put this clinic together, and I found some amazing private donors who really understood the important need to be providing this.

And uh we have a very bilingual community with multiple languages, uh, but Spanish uh does remain the second most spoken language in um Washoe County, and I don't have the specific stat, but I would also presume Northern Nevada as a whole.

And so for us, it was it's always really important to be translating our services uh into Spanish as well.

And so this was the very cute banner that Animal Balance put together for our clinic.

Uh and it is set up in the parking lot because we had to make sure that we designed the whole intake process of over 70 pets fixed per day during this three-day clinic in a way that didn't impact day-to-day operations.

And so we actually um went through a permitting process with the Washa County Community Services Department in order to use their parking lot, which is directly across the street from Washa County Regional Animal Services in their shared facility with NHS, and so that's where this banner was, and that's where the the check-in pop-up was as well, because you have to keep the cars flowing, and it's very complicated process.

Veterinarians have to do initial checks, they have to make sure that the animals appear healthy enough to undergo the major surgery.

That is a spay or neuter surgery.

And so I was extremely relieved that it worked as well as it did.

A lot of planning went into it, and so my thanks also goes out to Washa County because there were multiple departments involved in this.

Um, it takes a village.

Amazing things happen for pets and people in need.

So we fixed 203 pets for free over three days.

The animal balance team flew in from the area and had three veterinarians.

Three, or actually four veterinary, and this is just the animal balance team.

Three or four uh veterinary technicians, as well as a number of VAs and additional administrative volunteers.

Washoe County provided Tammy, who's incredible because she is an administrative genius and also an LVT, as well as Ingrid, their LVT, and countless others of their staff who, again, have so much on their plates every single day.

And we couldn't have done all of this without them.

Plus my staff and all of our volunteers.

So to give you an idea of the complexity of doing something like this, it takes a lot of moving parts coming together.

Um, 104 cats and 99 dogs.

So that means, based on the approximations of how much a female cat and a female dog can produce within five years, which is 11 to 12,000 offspring just in five years.

And they all have longer lifespans than that, and they all have longer reproductive spans than that.

But just taking that five years, this means together we humanely prevented 1.1 million, 1.2 million from being born.

The majority of homeless unwanted litters end up in sheltering systems.

That's a huge impact for three days.

Oh, I worded that incorrectly.

I apologize.

This was a late night production.

283 total vaccines were given for three for free over these three days.

So it's 142 rabies, 55 DHPP, which is the core vaccine for dogs, and 86 F VRCP, which is the core vaccine for cats.

And that is thanks to Petco Love, which is a national animal welfare organization, the charitable arm of Petco, which is one of our many charitable partners in order to make this happen.

We also had CoVetris, uh, which is one of our vendors for veterinary medical supplies.

They also gave a number of vaccines to us to use for the community for free.

That is incredible.

We all want it, right?

Pets get home to their owners, they stay out of shelters, everybody wins.

Uh, lots of times too, when Cheyenne's team and ASOs re-home or bring these pets, reunite, that's the word.

Reunite the pets with their homes.

It helps bring to light uh that those families need resources.

Families need resources to care for their pets as well as to care for themselves.

And regional animal services is an amazing collaborator with social services as well.

Those ASOs work hard to get people connected to the services they need.

I have yet in over 20 years to experience a pet in need where there aren't also people in need.

It's the reality of it.

We don't have animals stroll off the street, throw themselves down on the surgical table and say, help me prevent unwanted litters.

So we see people who share their medicine, their insulin with their diabetic cat.

We see so many forms of needs.

And so the fact that on top of all that additional work, they're willing to show up and give us some of their staff and their microchips to chip 143 pets is amazing, and I'm endlessly grateful for it.

And so is our community.

And it ends up saving taxpayer dollars in the long run because they get to be reunited in the field.

Doing wonderful things.

I'm not, I didn't need it specifically.

That came out weird.

Moving on.

I'm an upstanding citizen.

I can assure you.

This is the dream team.

Oh my gosh, so many props to these lovely humans.

So we have the fabulous Tammy in the flesh here today as well on well, my left.

I don't know how you're seeing it up there.

You're left too.

You're, yeah, you're left too.

Megan Graham, she is the director of USAID, which is again the part of uh animal balance that works domestically now.

And so they work in California, they work in New Mexico, they work in Arizona, they work in Utah, and they're ever expanding it, right?

Because the need for these services is ever expanding.

And I am proud to say now they work in Nevada because this is the first time that they have been able to work in Nevada.

It is imperative that they have a local organization that provides a lot of the support as well as the money in order to run these clinics.

And so it's thrilling to be able to do this.

And then my very own engagement and enchantress, uh, Naila Garcia, who is not here in the flesh, but is a force of getting things done and motivating people.

And that these three humans were the primary leaders uh on the project, and it was so fun to watch these organizations who had never worked together before come together, and it was it was so easy, and it was so much dreamy teamwork.

It was everyone had each other's back, everyone was willing to do whatever they needed to do in order to make this a smooth and successful experience for the pets and for their people and for the community as a whole.

It takes a lot of courage from for individuals to hand over their beloved family members to people they've never seen for major surgery to be accomplished and then pick it up again in just a few hours.

It can be truly scary.

And it is important to be able to establish that trust.

And when people see people other people working together so well at a high level of enthusiasm and confidence, it makes all the difference in the world.

And so much planning and logistics and buying supplies and all the things led to these three rock stars showing how easy it can be.

And the poodle with the pink hair was the star of the show, as far as I'm concerned.

One of my favorite pets out of all the 200 plus pets that we got to meet that day.

If you're wondering what the number is on her forehead or what it is on her forehead, it's just a piece of duct tape that has her number.

It's part of the process to ensure that the pet stays with its paperwork.

We know exactly who everyone is and which kennel they belong in.

And so she uh, I believe at this point received the sedatives and is waiting in her kennel to get pulled into the clinic in order to undergo surgery.

So she never has to have puppies.

Congratulations, Pink Poodle.

These are just a couple of the hundreds of photos that were taken over the weekend to give you an idea again of the high level of collaboration and professionalism and planning that's required to pull this off, and was worth every minute of it.

Um, an animal goes through the flow.

Uh, so what you're seeing here is a combination of animal balance veterinarians, SPCA of Northern Nevada, vet techs, and uh animal balance VAs, and there's a Washoe County um staff member in the back there as well that was helping move animals, check animals, um, and and helping the magic happen.

So it's that little dog is undergoing its medical check again to ensure that it is healthy enough for surgery.

And what's also fun is that animal balanced veterinarian that you see in the foreground on that bottom picture, right hand side is Dr.

Chris Hansen, uh, who was one of our veterinarians uh for a period of time when she wanted to still be working full time.

And so it's really fun when you're you're in this movement for a long time and you build strong positive relationships, and then you all come together again to keep helping and keep showing up for pets and people in need.

And then that was the check-in pop-up with one of my staff members.

We were also able to hand out a lot of information on all the local resources for pet owners, letting them know about the multiple microchip clinics, the multiple affordable vaccine clinics, the multiple spain affordable spay neuter programs that do exist in Washoe County because again, it takes all of us to even try to keep up with demand.

Um I gotta walk the line, and it was really fabulous because you get to see so much gratitude.

I talked to so many individuals who've been waiting to fix their pets for two years, trying to get on our list, trying to get other voucher lists.

Um that Nevada Humane Society is running their program, that's another really important boost to our community.

Uh but they've been trying for years.

And the definition of affordable varies organization to organization, person to person.

But again, with the growing disparity, I'm seeing such a huge need for free services.

Uh, some community services aren't being filled because the the price point still is so unaffordable by a lot of individuals.

And so the fact that this was a free clinic, the gratitude was overwhelming and brought me to tears multiple times.

We had whole families where it looked like they were probably living out of their vehicles with their pets.

So grateful for the opportunity to be the pet parents they want to be, but can't currently afford to be.

So the impact was massive and will continue to float me for the whole rest of the year.

That we all got to work together and do this.

With that, I would love to invite Tammy up so that she can give a bit of perspective from the Washoe County team on this clinic.

I have to say I loved even the staff in the building those days who weren't directly involved, were so enthusiastic and energetic.

The energy in that building really helped them get through what really is the most difficult job in animal welfare because they don't often get to do big impact programs like this.

They don't get the the warm fuzzies from the adoption side of things.

They deal with the hardest, most difficult cases and situations, and it felt like a gift being able to provide this collaborative environment for everyone on that team.

Thank you.

Uh Tammy Jennings for the record.

And I I can't stress enough what an amazing experience this was to participate in for me.

I've been working in the veterinary industry since the early 90s.

I usually don't want to put that out there very much.

I've been a licensed vet tech since the early 2000s, and this has been one of the best experiences I've I've ever been involved in in the veterinary industry.

Um, and to give you a little bit of perspective of how much was going on in a three-day period, I kept checking my steps, and I walked over 30 miles around the shelter, going back and forth outside, doing all this kind of stuff because there was so much going on and so many things happening and all that kind of stuff.

And it was just an amazing experience.

The group from Animal Balance were the ultimate professionals, the groups from SPC, the people that came over from the SPCA were the ultimate professionals.

It was so much fun for me as a veterinary professional to be involved in this too.

And um, I have a couple of quotes from some of the members of my team that assisted in this, and one of them to start with is Sophie, who you see in the picture that right up there.

And I gotta tell you, Sophie is a rock star.

That girl is amazing.

And Sophie uh sent me this little note saying that she appreciated the team's flexibility and willingness to step in wherever needed, and that she was very impressed by how well all the teams operated together.

Um, our program assistant Nicole, who stepped in whenever we needed her, sent me this quote.

The teamwork, professionalism, and compassion displayed throughout this event made it a rewarding and memorable experience for all involved.

Working alongside such dedicated and passionate organizations who all shared a common goal was truly inspiring.

And then Ryan Crane, our administrative assistant got roped in as well.

And he uh said that working with the SPCA and Animal Balance was a fantastic experience.

Everyone was happy and in great spirits, full of energy and excited to be there.

So it was just an amazing experience, and I was truly proud to be a part of it and to work with both of these amazing groups.

Thank you.

She agrees it's not just me.

No, we we got that.

It sounds like an amazing event.

Um perhaps you could uh walk us through the remainder.

I know we still are waiting to hear from NHS today and a few other presentations.

So thank you so much.

This sounds like an amazing event.

Yes, it was.

I just have a a few more things to share.

Uh back to the trust situation, it can be unnerving uh for people to hand their pets over to a high quality, high volume spay neuter program, whether it's a stand-in clinic program or a big event like this, and there is always an expected complication rate uh between one to three percent, really depending on which national organization stats you're following.

And out of 203 pets in during this surgery, only one patient required aftercare, and it was essentially um a warm compression to reduce swelling.

So it's we can do this, and we can do it well as a community.

And that's Tom the volunteer, who's usually an amazing cat guy, but fell in love with some small dogs that day.

These are just some more pictures of the process and how it is and and how each of these organizations really stepped up to make it happen and to make it professional.

Uh this is the picture on the left was the pickup.

Pickups easier than drop off because they are staggered as animals um come to, and those are all SBCA of Northern Nevada volunteers.

Uh, very grateful for them.

We were also able to provide the take-home cones, uh, which is an additional expense, which a lot of uh high quality, high volume clinics aren't able to do, but we are because we got free vaccine, donor found funding, and all the free mark microchips.

So that allowed us to pass on other benefits to the community as well.

Uh up top are the three wet tables, so three animals were prepped and three surgical tables were going.

That's a lot of work.

And then the bottom right is the picture of day one just before check-in of our volunteers and our signage to uh help direct the participants of this clinic.

And it's so fun to write the word free on signs.

We got great press coverage, uh, Wash County Regional Animal Services as the code enforcer and the lost and found agency can sometimes get negative feedback from the community because again, they deal with really difficult situations, and enabling them to show the positive side of everything that they do is really impactful as well.

And again, it helps our community understand them better and trust them more, which means they're gonna reach out for those necessary services.

I'm not gonna play that clip for you.

You're welcome.

Umother close collaborative partner of both my organization as well as Wash County Regional Animal Services, which you know because you hear their name a lot, and they were not a specific partner on this event, but we collaborated with them to help make a big dent in their waiting list for all the people waiting for community spay neuter, as well as ours, um, as well as a couple of the other foster-based rescue groups, so that we could try to catch up.

This is what we're we're doing.

We're just we're trying to catch up.

And so I wanted to take a moment to give them a shout out because they were very much the superhero of the day.

Our enclave went down, and which is the piece of equipment necessary for sterilizing the instruments and options, who is located just across the street, was fantastic enough to let us steal theirs.

Um, it went down on I think Sunday.

Uh so luckily they were close because it was a weekend for them.

Um, but that's an early morning phone call to a trusted partner and yay for strong relationships because they definitely saved the day there, and then we ended up needing an additional anesthesia machine, and they came to the rescue again.

So I just want to emphasize that wonderful partnerships are so important.

Um then speaking of options, I'm a proud member of the options advisory committee, and Wash County Regional Animal Services recently hosted a meeting in person at the Wash County facility in that classroom.

And when fellow animal welfare professionals have important positive feedback, it means a lot, and it means more because they get it.

And so I think it's important for you all to hear some feedback that I received from another colleague who is an advisory committee member who had pretty low expectations for Wash County Regional Animal Services.

Uh, this colleague comes from a large county in California where they're not as fortunate as we are to have a county facility as dedicated and compassionate and professional and easy to work with as Washoe County Animal Services is.

That she, in all of her years, which probably 30 years of experience in animal welfare, had never seen the county agencies so positive and collaborative.

And she found it, and I quote so inspiring and motivating.

So it's important that we all help get the truth out about Washa County and our community so people trust them, and they're allowed to continue to get the support that they need in order to do their important work.

Um this is a short video of Megan Graham, who again is the director of USAID for animal balance.

And I was fortunate enough to meet Megan about six years ago.

Um, and it was during a time when we were trying to build a uh Northern Nevada coalition across um all the animal welfare groups, large, medium, and small, and it was initiated by the Dave and Cheryl Duffield Foundation at the time.

And Megan was working for that foundation, and although her time with that foundation was short, her dedication to collaboration and creating these lasting positive impacts deeply aligned with mine with Cheyenne's, with Bonnie Brown's, and with CMEs from Pet Network, and has just continued to influence our work on a daily basis of really coming together to make these positive impacts and share our limited resources for the betterment of pets and people in our area.

And so she does a lot of these clinics, and I would like to share this minute if it's that long video of her experience.

Oh shoot, I did it wrong.

Sorry, that was user air.

Again, it may be that can you run it from where you are?

I thought I just had a question.

They tried to teach me how to do this.

Isn't this fun?

Anyone dizzy?

I'm just asking if our can you run it from there?

Hi, my name is Megan Graham, and I am the director of the US vet aid program for animal balance.

Animal Balance is a nonprofit organization that travels throughout the US and around the world providing high-quality, high-volume spay neuter clinics for cats and dogs as a means of humane population control.

We had the pleasure of working with Jill and her team at the SPCA of Northern Nevada about a month ago.

We were working together to plan for about six months to host this clinic where over 200 animals from the Reno area were spayed and neutered vaccinated and microchipped for free.

We were able to do this because of the partnership that we had with Washoe County Animal Services.

Cheyenne and her team allowed us to use their clinic facility to host this event, which was incredibly generous.

And our three organizations worked very well together to make this event possible.

And I've done a lot of these clinics, and honestly, it was one of the most well-run, uh, most efficient, most uh impactful clinics that I have been a part of.

And I am really looking forward to more clinics with Jill and Cheyenne and their teams.

And I know that there's a huge need in the Reno area.

I know these clinics booked up, or this clinic booked up extremely quickly within days or or even less than that.

And I know that they have a huge waiting list at options, veterinary care and also within the community itself.

So these services are extremely important to keep animals out of the shelter to control the population of dogs and cats to give pet owners the opportunity to provide basic vet care for their animals that they love so much.

And we really hope that we can come back to um the SPCA, Washoe County, Nevada, Reno.

We hope we can come back again soon.

This was our first clinic in Nevada, so we were really excited to be in a new state, and we um are incredibly excited to come back again soon.

So we hope you'll have us back.

And we um again just can't emphasize enough how important the partnership was between um Animal Balance, SPCA of Northern Nevada, and Washoe County Animal Services, and a huge thank you to Jill and her team, as well as Cheyenne and her team.

All right.

What a testimonial, right?

I mean, incredible work, it sounds like.

Um, thank you so so much for being here, Jill.

But also, you have emphasized on every slide that collaboration is essential uh to make this whole scene work.

And uh, we know that from the work we've seen from Cheyenne and her team over at NHS, the work they do.

So thanks for reminding us of you know this most critical uh piece of of the puzzle.

Um let me at this time open it up for comments or questions, and yes, please go ahead.

Well, I don't think I'm on.

Yeah, you are.

Oh, first of all, I wanted to say thank you for doing this.

Congratulations on the outcome.

And when's the next one?

Well, that's a that's a great question, and it's part of the importance of this opportunity to come and speak to you all because I need continued support to keep offering these clinics.

And so at the Washa County Regional Animal Services level, um we obviously would need the clinic again, and I think it was such a positive experience.

Hopefully, there aren't any problems there, but also at the the county commissioner level.

We really need uh leadership support in order to continue these and to continue providing us the the resources in order to give this to our community because it's unbelievably important.

And Washoe County Regional Animal Services is a nationally recognized and leading agency with Cheyenne, Tammy, Art, the whole team, Officer Wooser providing high quality leadership, and they deserve this utmost respect and credibility, and they deserve to be heard and supported by this advisory board as well as the Washoe County Commissioners.

They need support for their challenges for their needs as as Cheyenne states and requests in order for them to continue their impactful work, especially in light of the vastly growing population in our area, and their resources weren't enough before, and they're certainly not enough now.

And so that continued support talking to other commissioners as well as Commissioner Andreola here in the room today.

Thank you for being here, is uh very very important.

And we hope to hold another one next year, and uh we will start working on that in January right now.

We're drowning in all the other things that we do.

But thank you.

I'm so grateful for this board for Cheyenne and her team, and I know she probably hated every minute of my presentation because she never wants the gratitude and the attention shined on her and her team, but wow, just wow, we are so fortunate.

Thank you so much, Jill, and member Andrea.

Thank you.

Um, I can't help it.

To the time that I'm given.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Because you opened up by saying you're an attorney and a finance person, and I think you've set the record for both of those careers being the most enthusiastic person that I've ever seen, holding two professions with all due respect to legal counsel that don't always, you know, have such exuberance.

And so I think you found your calling, and I'm sure those two careers and credentials help in the success of SPCA.

I also kept on thinking to Madam Chair's point about collaboration.

If we would have put a dollar amount, we would have matched the 15,000 that Mr.

Dixon has already pledged.

Can't we do that?

But I do, I do also don't want to minimize your point.

And I really can't thank you enough for sharing how collaboration, partnership, with a sole purpose of really being bound by the love of animals and their benefit to our community and more importantly, as well to the loved ones that they have, right?

Called humans.

And so I it's so in it's just so wonderful to have you share what the you know core culture of the Washoe County Animal Services have and understanding how really working together can have a great outcome.

You've proven that.

So to Trudy's point about the vice chair's point about when are you having it again?

I hope we don't have to wait a year just based on the fact that the need is there.

Um if you need a volunteer during this uh next time, I'm gonna volunteer myself because I just want to work with you, like really.

Like I I want to just be immersed in your commitment to how important it is to work together and to actually be at the highest level of professionalism for the love of our community and the animals that reside in it.

So thank you, Cheyenne, to your team, right?

And to Jill and your team, and to all of the other partners, because as you put it, it takes everyone working together, really.

And and it and it's it's just so enthusiastically hopeful that we can actually have this be emulated in every aspect of what Washoe County does with animal services.

So thank you all.

Yeah.

So well put thank you, Member Andreola Um Ditto.

I mean, I couldn't have said it better.

So again, I've I've had the privilege of knowing you, Jill, for quite some time, many years, and you even served on this board, and um, we appreciate the service to the community, the whole entire thing.

So let me just see there are any other final comments here.

Is there any member of the public um looking to make a comment online or in person?

There's no uh members on Zoom today.

All right, well, thanks again for being here and sharing.

Thank you.

Jill Dobbs for the record.

Thank you so much for the opportunity, and thank you for the continued support.

And I am happy to accept your offer to be a volunteer, and I look forward to working with you as well.

Thank you.

Yay.

Thank you.

That's awesome.

Um to item nine, which is the 2025 legislative update.

And who will be providing that to us?

Same enthusiasm.

Can you match that?

All right.

The bar has been set.

Well, good morning.

My name is Rebecca Goff.

I'm the Nevada State Director for Humane World for Animals, formerly known as the Humane Society of the United States, and very soon I will get to stop saying that second part.

Um I'm here to talk about the 2025.

Can you explain that though?

Oh, yeah.

So for like I want to say 74 years or so, we were the Humane Society of the United States.

We also had international arms, the Humane Society of Australia, Humane Society International, and in the last couple of years, they've decided to bring them all into one branch.

So we are now Humade World.

We are one organization based in DC, but we have representatives now all over the country, as well as in um almost every state working on policy and legislation to help protect animals.

Great.

Thanks, Rebecca.

Thank you.

So today I'm gonna talk about the 2025 legislative session.

Um there were six main animal bills, five of them survived and got signed into law.

So I'm gonna talk about those today and um how they kind of affect the day-to-day operations.

So the first one was SB 166, which was a bill that expanded on the breed restrictions and insurance bill that was passed a few years prior.

It now includes commercial properties like apartment complexes and requires that certain types of subsidized housing allow tenants to have at least one pet.

This is important because it means that pet owners no longer can be denied insurance based solely on the breed of the dog and expands the type of insurance that it covers.

In the past, we've seen that breed restrictions have prevented homeowners from obtaining home insurance and in rental spaces, building owners or landlords could prevent tenants from owning specific breeds of dogs, using the inability to insure the property as an excuse.

This removes a big barrier to access to housing for families who own large or historically maligned breeds such as Doverman's boxers or pit bull type dogs.

The provision about also about subsidized housing is also important because it gives people the opportunity to own a pet regardless of what their current financial situation is.

This is a very big step in the right direction to help us prevent animal surrenders to our local shelters and rescues based solely on housing.

So that is the first bill.

Before you go on, I just want to make sure we understand.

So the tenant is you cannot discriminate against a person if they have an animal.

Can you set the number of animals?

It is currently one animal was in the law.

So they are allowed to have at least one, and it was a specific type of grant funding.

Um that has to do with like low income housing.

Okay, but it's not all rental units.

Correct, yeah.

It's just low income that are getting federal state funding, local funding for that program.

Correct just bill, it was just regarding to state, local, and federal.

Okay, and it's just one animal.

Okay, just one animal.

Just thought we'd repeat.

Okay, keep going.

Thank you.

Oh, you're welcome.

Um, the next bill was SB 325, also known as pets for vets.

Um, this requires any county or city run funded shelter to allow veterans, law enforcement officers, and first responders free pet adoptions.

The pets must be at least six months of age and have been in the shelter for at least seven days, and applicants must be able to provide proof of qualification.

This bill was designed to help encourage adoption of potentially harder to adopt animals and also provide veterans, law enforcement officers and first responders with the many benefits of animal companionships without the barrier of cost.

Um, this could also help foster continued strong relationships between our law enforcement professionals, veterans, first responders, shelters, and the community.

So just to recap, say this again in some other words that what's the change exactly?

So basically it's mandating that if a shelter is city or state run or funded, they have to create a program to allow veterans, first responders, or um law enforcement officers to be able to adopt a free animal.

Is that the main thing free?

I mean, because they already can adopt.

Yes.

Yeah, the point is to make it free.

Okay.

Um, specifically, I believe it started with just veterans and then was expanded to the other categories.

Um, some of our veterans, unfortunately, um do live in difficult conditions, difficult situations.

There's a large homeless veterans population as well.

But we know that there are many, many benefits of owning an animal, both mental and physical health benefits, and especially for our veterans maybe experiencing PTSD, even having an animal of any kind can help with some of those things.

Right.

Um we wanted to be able to, not we, but you know, the creators of this bill wanted to be able to have that available for free.

Did that take effect June 1, October 1 or January 1?

I believe that was October 1st.

All of the bills are now in law.

Um, some of them were immediate, some of them were October 1st, but now that it's okay mid-October, they're all of in effect.

Well, we'll be interested next time, Cheyenne, to see if anyone takes advantage of this and also if we advertise it.

I mean, some may just think, well, I can't afford it, so I'm not gonna go.

So they may not know that they could get one for free.

A lot of shelters and rescues, frankly, already did have some type of program like this.

Um, our shelter, you know, we don't have an adoption program specifically the Washoe County shelter, they have partners.

But for example, like let's look at the city of Henderson, they have a city-run shelter that does do adoptions.

Okay.

So they would now be required to implement this program if they didn't already have it.

And does it apply though to NHS?

I mean, our partner in adoptions?

Um, they are, I believe they do receive some funding from the city, correct?

Or no?

I mean, not from this, but we know.

So if they don't receive funding directly from the city for like operations, they're not required to follow this ordinance.

I mean, even if even though the money is from a local government, the county?

I'd have to see, I guess, the contract to see how that would play out.

But I believe it is specifically designed for like state and sh local shelters that are run by the city governments or the county governments, which well, I mean it is run by the county government.

But it's it's our animal services, but NHS is nonprofit, so are you saying they may not fall under this?

I would I don't think they follow under it.

I would have to check to be frank.

I wasn't a big um, I didn't work on developing this bill, we just supported it.

Um it would be good to just find out.

But yeah, I can definitely find that out for you.

But I I think I see where it's going.

Okay.

Um the next one was AB 136.

This is a bill that requires businesses that provide paid human-animal interactions, like petting zoos or aquariums that allow you to interact with like the sharks or manna rays or whatever.

This is a bill that requires businesses that provide paid human-animal interactions, like petting zoos or aquariums that allow you to interact with like the sharks or manna rays or whatever, um, to post a conspicuous sign that must notify the public if they believe there's an animal in danger or suffering cruelty, that they can contact local animal control authorities.

It has to be posted in the payment area, must be at least eight and a half by eleven and must include the phone number for the appropriate local authorities.

This is important so that if guests do have animal welfare concerns or that they suspect cruelty, they know the appropriate place to contact.

Um, what we've seen in the past sometimes is that they contact maybe the facility.

The facility may or may not act on that information, or they call just like the police or some other entity that isn't responsible for that and it gets rerouted and it might take a long time to for action to be taken.

Um, or they just don't know what to do, so they just don't say anything.

So this will make it very clear that if you see an animal that you feel needs immediate attention or you suspect cruelty, you can go to the appropriate source, and then that those people can take action and move from there.

Um the next bill is AB 418, which requires the governing bodies of counties and cities to adopt ordinances that mandate the completion of training courses for certain pet related business operations, such as grooming salons, pet retail shops, and boarding facilities, et cetera.

This training is going to focus on handling of pets and must be removed by annually.

There are exemptions for veterinarians and staff operating under their supervision, animal shelters and nonprofit organizations focused on sheltering pets of domestic violence victims.

This bill is important because it helps ensure that businesses are providing the appropriate training.

These businesses are taking care of our animals.

For example, if we look at grooming, you know, we are trusting that those animals are going to be in a safe environment while they're getting those services, and this makes sure that they are re receiving the appropriate training beyond just the skill of grooming to help protect those animals.

And also because it is something that needs to be done biannually, they'll be able to get updated as new techniques, new information, and new standards are set that that will be done up biannually.

Um it's now up to this the municipalities and cities and counties to now come up with these ordinances and implement them.

So you said that the county would have to, or or the shelter would have, I mean, our our place.

The shelters are exempt.

Right, but our animal services group, county run, would need to provide training to private businesses on how to handle animals.

Is that what I heard?

It's up to the cities and counties to develop an ordinance.

So who they decide to spend like disseminates that training is is up to them.

Um it would be at the county and city's discretion.

I imagine that this will likely, frankly, probably fall on many of the animal control agencies to deliver that training.

That was some input that I heard during the legislative session.

Again, this was not a bill that we frankly didn't participate in this bill at all as an organization.

Um it was a private bill that was brought forward by different entities.

Well, I'm gonna be interested to see Cheyenne.

If I mean this seems pretty complicated.

I mean, it it's it's a it's a brand new duty.

There's no money from the state to do this.

They they the county would either have to hire a third party or have staff to do training, and there's quite a few of these groups that do grooming, um, you know, either on premise or mobile lab, you know, mobile grooming, that kind of thing.

Um, and it's probably more than grooming, but like from what I understand training as well.

Yeah, training retail pet shops if they sell puppies.

Um from what I understand, this bill came forward to a legislator from a constituent who had an experience where their dog either was severely injured or died at a grooming salon.

Okay.

Um we didn't participate in this because it was a very complex bill.

It's not an area that we frankly have done a lot of work on.

Well, the sentiment is amazing.

We think training is very, very important.

Um I think that there's a lot, there's still a lot that needs to be done.

Yeah, um was there a date given by which they have to adopt this ordinance?

I believe this was one of the October 1st going into effect ones, but I don't know that there's a date for the ordinance.

I don't okay.

I'd have to reread the bill.

I don't remember seeing a date.

Okay, we should know that because like we had to at the city, for example, adopt an ADU ordinance.

We were giving a year.

Luckily, we were well underway in doing that, but yeah, you know, many jurisdictions probably hadn't even started.

So yes, yeah, and I think I believe that the county government representatives are at least present at these hearings, so I'm sure that they might know more as far as if there was a date or what their input was on the bill.

What's that?

She's in the audience.

Who is in the audience?

That was oh cadence.

Okay, well, later, maybe you could come up and or even now.

But um, okay.

Um, and I can also look back at the specific language.

I was just kind of trying to look at like the overall summary of the bills and kind of like how it affects animals.

Um, and in this bill, you know, obviously the animals would benefit from the further trading, but on a city and state and level, it's much more complex.

Well, let me just why don't you just speak to this if you know?

Were were you at the hearing?

Do you know anything about this?

Good morning, madam chair, members of the board for the record.

My name is Kaden Smithievich, and I serve as government affairs liaison for Washoe County.

Um thanks for the opportunity to add to Ms.

Goff's information.

So, yes, Washaw County was present at the hearings for this bill.

I can give a little more context.

Um, as Ms.

Goff said, yes, it was something that the particular legislator who sponsored the bill was contacted by one of her constituents whose pet did suffer distress uh following grooming services and ultimately did pass.

Um, it's uh I think it's important for you all to know that Clark County already had embarked on putting this process into place.

And so um it it did make it somewhat more difficult for local governments um to come to the table to say that this was going to be overly burdensome or challenging for us to put into place.

We did express um that that likely this would take um resources that were that are not currently allocated.

Um we submitted a fiscal note that that said at that time we could not determine what the direct fiscal impact would be because the bill was not at that time specific about duration, some of the things that later were amended into the bill about the frequency of the training, whether or not it had to be provided in person or virtually, and some of those things were clarified as the process continued.

Um, as Ms.

Goff said, it is up to each of the local jurisdictions as they adopt their ordinances uh to craft the ordinance really in the way that works best for their community and their organizations.

Um, and I know that Ms.

Shull and her team are in the process of doing that now.

Okay.

I mean, it may be that the ordinance mandates the training, but that the let's say the groomer or the pet store or whatever pays for training from a third party.

I mean, that that might be a good division of duties where the government sets the requirements and the training frequency.

Um it's like continuing education, but that we're not providing it and they have to pay for it just like a lawyer does or many other professions that are regulated.

Um, I don't think pet stores are regulated, but the part that is doing animal care, you know, washing animals or whatever, maybe there is a regulation.

I just don't know.

So we'll have to.

I don't know if that'll you might bring that to us at some point, Cheyenne.

Okay.

Usually we do review all the ordinances that get presented to the county for consideration prior to them getting there.

Sounds like we'll have work to do.

Okay, thank you.

Okay.

Oh sorry, this is a new tablet, and I barely know how to use it.

The last bill is probably the one everybody heard the most about, which was AB 381, which was Reba's Law.

To give a quick background on this bill, this came about because of an incident in Las Vegas last summer where a bull English bulldog named Rhea, well, she was named Reba by the rescuers, um, was placed into a plastic tote, sealed, and left in direct sunlight next to a dumpster on a day that was over 110 degrees.

She was very quickly found by rescue organization and um immediately brought for veterinary care, but unfortunately she succumbed to her um situation and did pass away.

And who put her there?

Um I don't remember the names of the perpetrators.

They were oh, it was an individual, not okay, correct.

It was an individual that put them and they have since received their sentences, but I don't remember them off the top of my head.

Okay.

Um the community in southern Nevada obviously was was rightfully outraged by this and created um a lot of pressure towards the elected officials to do something to create stronger laws to do something to help protect these animals, and this this bill is a direct result of that.

Um, and it was very fascinating to work on this bill and see the community interactions with legislators, see the public media coverage, and um really get this done.

This was a bill that didn't get voted on until like 15 minutes before session ended, its final vote.

So it was like a down-to-the-wire thing.

So what this bill does is it strengthens animal cruelty laws and tightens penalties as well as cleaning up some like administrative language that was there.

The main points of it are around animal seizures and disposition.

So now officers can humanely euthanize an animal if they take possession of it, if they get a court order to, or if a licensed veterinarian or euthanasia technician recommends it.

Willful and malicious cruelty causing an animal's death or cruelty done to intimidate or terrorize someone is now a category B felony and can get one to six years in prison.

Cruelty to police animals is also treated as a category B felony now if the animals killed or totally disabled.

There's also a bit about animal abandonment.

Abandonment of animals regardless of their health is now prohibited and carries the same penalties, including enhancements for specific circumstances, circumstances.

Animal cruelty in domestic violence cases.

So those were the main key provisions of Reba's bill.

This is, I think, really important for a number of reasons, but mainly because I think it shows that Nevada takes animal crimes seriously.

If I recall, a lower level felony and lower level prison times.

So this was a very important bill to be passed.

I think it sets a very important statement to the state.

And those were the main animal bills that passed this session.

Wow.

All right, really good, really thorough, pretty exciting to uh Sandiola's point.

I mean, especially this last one, uh, because it looks like it's gonna have direct positive impact on on your ability to enforce, take care of the animals.

Um let me ask a question.

So we there's just like REBA, there's it's become widely known that we had an animal hoarding case with a hundred and one cats, I think it was.

And I um did some research on this with our city because it sounded like that unless you could see the the problem from the right of way, the city could not intervene even if they had complaints.

And it sounded like the um county was similarly restricted.

And so we've had a fair amount of discussion at the city about this, whether we need to change our ordinance, whether this should be a state law.

Um, in other words, uh, if there's a concern in this case, animal hoarding, could we access the sheriff's office or our Reno Police Department to do a welfare check type of thing where they go and actually go in the home to see the situation?

And so this is something I'm gonna bring up when we talk about future legislation, but I didn't know since you're here, if if this has come up or was discussed during this last bill or any other time.

It didn't come up specifically about Reba's bill.

This was really trying to look at the most hate agreement crimes.

Yeah.

We don't, I mean there are some things that are crimes of negligence for lack of resources, lack of information.

The point was not to like throw everybody in jail.

The it was to really go after the most awful people doing the most awful things.

I just want them to be able, I I don't want to throw anybody in jail.

But what I do want is that this parently went on for a couple years, and um it was brought up at our city.

Well, is it harming a person?

You know, this animal hoarding, and I think there's a lack of information about what that actually can do to animals, and I don't think the harm to a person that lives outside the home is a necessary criteria.

And so um anyway, well, we'll get in discussing that, but I didn't know if it was at all addressed in these bills or or came up.

No, it didn't this session, but I'd be happy to talk about this further with you guys.

Okay, thank you.

Anyone else comments, questions on what happened at the legislature?

No.

A big thank you for your enthusiastic report.

Yeah, um, more importantly, thank you for um you know being there and contributing on behalf of the community that we all care about, and that's animals.

So thank you.

Yeah, we're incredibly grateful for the work you do, and I've had a chance to work with you only a few times, but um, you know, you're an incredibly passionate person, and you and uh the fact that you know I understand the renaming issue, it has been a little bit hard to get your mind around the rename.

Um, but uh the regardless, the work that you do is invaluable to our community, and and as our advisory board, we're incredibly grateful that you're there so often at the legislature following these bills, arguing, um, advocating, testifying.

This is something that none of us have the ability time to do.

Um I come up very occasionally on a very specific bill, but um was not able to participate in any of these particular bills.

So thank you.

Really good.

Literally the pleasure of my life to have this job.

So thank you so much.

And um, if you guys have any questions afterwards, I'll be available.

Okay.

And and thank you to Decadence, because I know you're out there on behalf of Washto County, uh paying attention to all the things, which is you know, quite a big job, and it's hard to be everywhere all at once, you know, in all the rooms, um, taking care of Washoe County and all of us uh in local government on these mutual issues.

So I I know it's not just one person, you know, it's a it's a team effort, but thank you too.

Uh all right.

She's on all the right issues on in all the right places.

That sounds like a country song.

I know you know that I have some artistic talent somewhere, but it's usually about flowers, you know, not songs.

But uh anyway, okay.

Well, with that, thank you again.

Um we're gonna move on uh to the long-awaited um NHS report Nevada Humane Society update.

Uh looking forward to that, and then we'll uh finalize with some meeting dates and trying to be done by noon.

Thank you so much for your patience here.

Good morning, Madame Chair and board members.

For the record, my name is Geraldine Bryant, and I'm the CEO of the Nevada Humane Society.

I have what I think will be a brief informational uh update uh for this board uh going over stats from third quarter of this calendar year.

Uh but before I start that, I would like to let you all know how happy I am and was to hear so much conversation about collaboration today.

Um I wholeheartedly agree that collaboration is key to a successful community, it helps the animals, helps the people.

As long as we can all come together, and I think it's also imperative for successful collaboration, that all entities come together in a genuine professional and um meaningful way, and when we're able to do that, our community thrives.

And when we're not able to do that, uh it's our community, and then of course the animals in our community that suffer the consequences of that.

So I was really happy to hear all this conversation about collaboration.

Um, I would also like to address the um Senate Bill 325.

I think there was some questions about that that uh Rebecca Goff uh brought up.

Uh as a private nonprofit, we are not included in the in we are exempt from that bill.

However, what I would like to also share is that we any any we have removed um financial barriers to adoption at the Nevada Humane Society.

So any animal over dog or cat over the age of eight years old has a waived adoption fee.

So veterans, first responders, if a finan if it was a financial barrier to adopt those animals, they still can at NHS.

Uh I would also like to uh remind anyone listening that Nevada Humane Society does not receive um local or state uh funding from Reno or Washow County.

We our entire operation at uh Areno campus is funded by donors and then a small part by revenue generating programs that we have.

So some of these slides will look familiar from previous presentations that I give.

We are contracted to be that surrender facility.

We don't receive funding for that, but we do take that role very seriously.

In just this last quarter, we received a staggering 3100, over 3100 requests for help from the community.

Of those 3100 requests for help, almost 2500 of them were requests to surrender their animals.

There are a variety of reasons why an individual may need to give up their animal.

Oftentimes it is circumstances that they have no control over, or something changed in their life.

Oftentimes it is because of the behavior of that animal or unsafe behavior of that animal and what it is exhibiting in the home, or it may be due to medical needs that that animal has.

Again, many of those animals also needing medical and behavioral support and interventions.

And then the same percentages year to date.

And kitten season, kitten season is pretty intense for us in this community, and certainly for us at Nevada Humane Society.

It can start around February or March and ramp up in July and June and July.

It is not uncommon for us to have over 500 kittens out into foster care at any given time.

And in quarter three, we accepted over just over 700 good to merit and surrenders, and then 1,349 year to date.

Many of those babies are hours old when we see them or maybe weeks old.

Many of them have been without their mom for a period of time.

So they require different levels of support.

And then this is just a summary in quarter three of our total intakes.

As you can see, their surrenders again that come through our animal help desk 734, 1,15 from Washa County Regional Animal Services, 701 of those Good Samaritan, mostly little babies kittens, and then a small variety of others.

And then year to date, we've accepted in almost 7,000 animals.

And almost 2300 from our community, and almost 3,000 from Washaw County Regional Animal Services, and then just over 1,400 of those Good Samaritan babies.

That in quarter three, we were happy to see almost 2500 animals adopted into what we hope is their forever homes, and almost 6,000 year to date.

And you can see that those numbers are slightly up from the same period of time, quarter three and 2024, and then year to date 2024.

So I would like to say that our numbers are going down.

Unfortunately, we are not seeing that here in our area, and we're not seeing it on a national level either.

So that takes me into this next slide because much conversation has happened already today about public spay and neuter, very near and dear to my heart as well.

In this last quarter three, we performed, my team performed almost 1,300 spay and neuter surgeries for owned animals in the community.

This is not including shelter animals.

All of those animals are spayed and neutered, microchipped, vetted, that receive their vaccines.

All of that is separate.

This slide is just talking about or referring to those owned pets in our community that we would like to make sure cannot reproduce.

So 323 dog and neuter surgeries or dog and spay and neuter surgeries, and then just over 950 cat spay and neuter surgeries.

We have surgeries.

In fact, tomorrow there is surgery appointments available for cats, and if it's a dog, then we have surgery appointments available mid to a little bit later in November.

So as a community, um, I don't think that there can be enough spay and neuter, certainly, but I do want to share, and maybe everyone in this room can help get the word out that there are surgery appointments available at Nevada Humane Society.

So I look forward to the well, I don't look forward to the day where I can say those aren't available, but right now they are.

Spay and neuter event in the next couple of months.

So Commissioner Andreola, if you still want to volunteer and you want to volunteer sooner, we'd have be happy to have you.

And then the outreach that we provide to our community doesn't end with spay and neuter.

We also provide microchips, uh low-cost vaccines, and I'm happy to say that in this last quarter, uh, over 1,700 animals received a microchip from Nevada Humane Society.

And we uh were able to vaccinate over 3,000 owned pets in our community.

Again, that is just in this last quarter.

And then speaking of volunteering, we uh have a robust volunteer department and team.

Although I I don't know, I I feel like I see the same 30 all the time.

I think that's how it works at any organization.

Um on an annual basis, we see about 1,200 individuals come through our organization, but some of those are with uh companies or organizations that do volunteer days, some of that is community service, and then um for our volunteers, we have a dedicated base of about 250.

Again, I I feel like I see only a portion of those, but we uh are so grateful to our community and to our volunteers that choose to give their time to the animals and to Nevada Humane Society.

We know I sound like an airline when I say we know they have a variety of choices out there to give their time to, and we very much appreciate that uh they choose Nevada Humane Society, and we try to show our volunteers the love and appreciation, and um it's a it's um it's something we talk about at a leadership level quite often.

Uh we we wouldn't be able to give the care and the support to the animals that we have in our in our building at the level we are able to give it without help from our volunteers.

So year to date, over 21,000 volunteer hours given, and that doesn't include uh our foster homes.

So historically, we haven't been calculating those hours, they are staggering.

I think we did a rough estimation recently, and it's over a million hours in a year when you include the the care from foster givers.

And then speaking of fostering again, in quarter three, we placed over 1,100 animals out into foster, or it says placements because one animal might go to more than one foster home.

So it was 1,100 placements in quarter three.

Standing here and we're looking at a slide that simply shows numbers.

There's no way to for me to fully articulate what it takes to make any of the numbers happen on any of these slides.

We are a sizable organization, we deal with quite a volume of animals, and uh I have an amazing team.

Like, like I think we are all really proud of our teams in this room, and I really can't say enough about the NHS team.

And then one of the programs that we provide to our community as assistance to our community, but also as part of our shelter diversion program, is our pet pantry.

Uh, we provide cat and dog food to individuals in our community that are experiencing hardship.

We don't want that to be a reason that any animal goes hungry or that any animal would be surrendered to our organization.

So in quarter three, over 45,000 pounds of food were distributed.

It takes a lot to make that happen as well.

And then year to date, over 145,000 pounds.

Last year we ended the year at just at 200,000 pounds.

So it looks like we're on track to do similar.

And that is it for my presentation.

I'm happy to answer any questions.

All right.

Let me open up to the board.

Any questions, comments?

Yes, please go ahead.

Ms.

McMahon.

Julie McMahon for the record.

Um you stated that your Reno facility doesn't receive any funding.

I know that in Carson you guys operate as the sheltered.

Is that is that a separate entity?

In Carson, we have a contract with Carson City to provide animal control uh services.

And in Reno, of course, we don't have animal control services.

So we are approximately 88% donor funded in our Reno operations, and the remainder is adoption fees or you know, uh low cost low cost clinic fees or retail store, things like that.

And then um on your slides, uh it said that uh you took in an approximately 6800 animals and approximately 5800 were a little over that um were adopted.

Where's what where does the other because that's almost a thousand animal difference where what what's what happens there?

Transfer.

So some of our animals we transfer out.

Um our live release rate is approximately the same as it was last year.

We're we're trending about the same, about 93 to 94 percent in there.

Um keep in mind that the percentage of animals or those animals that don't leave our organization for a positive outcome.

It is not just euthanasia, it could be a you know, a big percentage of them are those little neonatal babies that regardless of the efforts we put uh into helping them, they fail to thrive and they either die on their own or or have to be humanely euthanized.

So that percentage of non-live outcomes is euthanasia that is behavioral or quality of life medical or dieting care.

Thank you.

Okay, great.

Anyone else?

Anyone else?

Um, thank you so much for the report.

I was going to ask just one thing.

Um it would be, and we may have discussed this before, but it would be very helpful for me.

You have all these great numbers, and I've was able to download it this time, but I don't have it in context.

So you do have the um 2024, for example, like uh the adoptions I'm looking at, um, it was the green page.

So you have the Q3 and then the Q4.

I I just don't know, it might be helpful to also when you're summarizing these things to have like a bar chart or something.

It's a little more visual than grasping a number than putting it in context.

Is that something you think you could provide in addition to the raw number?

I think you used to do it.

I is that something okay?

That would be very helpful just to have a quick at a glance to know how things are going.

Um good, bad, or indifferent.

So that'd be appreciated.

Okay.

Okay.

And then I know that you're working really hard on a lot of other issues.

So we we know this is a some would say thankless job, just the the work that both you and Cheyenne do, but I think it is a thanked job because our community appreciates what's happening, right?

We we could not operate without the services of animal services or your services.

We wouldn't be the same community whatsoever.

And we're known as a community that loves animals.

Um, and I think there's some informal numbers that show about half of our residents own animals.

I don't know if you have any statistics on that.

Um, I don't know what it is locally.

I know nationally it's a it hovers around 65 percent of individuals own own at least one animal, so I'm not sure what it is here in the case.

Well, I'm not sure what the number it would be a good at some point to know what that is, but um on anyway, a lot of people care.

I'm sure it's well over 50 percent, maybe it is over 65 percent, but I don't want to speculate.

Um I just know that you hear it often that we're a uh animal loving community.

So you help make that possible.

Thank you.

I appreciate that.

I participate in a variety of um calls on a national level or work groups in my industry, animal welfare, and we'll have a variety of um leaders, um, my colleagues from around the country.

Of course, we want to celebrate what is going right.

We spend a lot of our time talking about what isn't going right and the trends that we see across the country.

Shelters are overflowing, the resources are not able to keep up with the needs or the volume of animals, and while we see that, and I and I want to be clear that Nevada Humane Society struggles as well to meet the needs um of the animals coming through our doors and of our staff and whatnot.

But I want to say that we wouldn't be able to do it without our community and the support we receive from our community.

Okay, really good.

All right.

Um any other final, and let me ask if there's anyone online or in the room, make make a public comment.

Not at this time, no.

All right.

Okay, well, thanks again for being here so much.

Really appreciate that, uh, Jurene.

All right.

This is uh our next items about establishing um meeting dates.

And I do have some input on this that's maybe different than the proposal, but uh we'll see.

So we've been provided a calendar, it's in the agenda, so you can have it at hand really easily.

I notice excuse me.

I noticed that the January meeting was moved to February.

And I have a conflict when it's being moved.

Um I wondered if you um considered or would consider uh January 16th, as all it's still in January, it's just a week ahead instead of three weeks behind our usual meeting date.

Shayen Shall for the record the calendar that was shared uh with the board is just a proposed calendar, right?

It is only proposed meetings, and it's also based on availability of this room, as well as if you all recall we talked about at the last meeting.

Our department needs time to um clean and scrub our data and prepare the reports, and the lead time to prepare our presentations is going to increase.

And I do believe there's gonna be an update from our legal representative about um some change in lead times and preparing materials for these meetings in order to meet the accessibility requirements.

And so we're going to push meetings out versus sooner in the month.

So if we've proposed something that's early in the month, or um we tried to propose something on the third uh Friday or for last Friday of the month, if it can't happen on those dates, it needs to go out to the next month.

Okay so that we have that time to prepare that quarterly data from the prior quarter.

Okay, and then you have some dates blocked.

I assume some of those are holidays, but I see almost two weeks at the end of January that are not holidays.

Is that just staff is away or something?

Yes, okay.

The grade out are unavailable uh either the room or staff is unavailable.

Well, let me just say this about the room because I thought that you were making some changes at your office so that we can meet there.

Is that room available or will it be available?

We are making change we did make the upgrades to our AV system in our classroom.

However, if y'all recall, we lost our business technologist in June, who was just on the cusp of uh going through and testing the room and figuring out how we could hold public meetings.

Um and what I failed to do at the beginning of the meeting is introduce our new business technologist who's in the back of the room.

Her name is Althea Hicks.

Um Ryan is back there uh helping her get up to speed on uh running these meetings and dealing with all of the technology in this room.

Uh it's quite a an undertaking.

Um it's also gonna be a different learning curve for us to move it back to our classroom because we've changed uh the the location of this meeting from in person to hybrid to then Zoom during COVID and then to this location, and so my team is gonna have to adapt and test out the room.

So we we propose at some point in 2026, we'll be able to relocate this meeting back to our education room and our shelter.

So your plan long term is to relocate it, but you don't think you'll be ready in three months to run a Zoom out of there?

I'm not certain that we will be, just because Lthe has got a lot of learning to do and getting up to speed with both Sparks Justice Court and our department because we share her position, it's a part-time position for us.

Okay with Sparks, yes, Justice Court, okay.

Um, and so then my other question if if we can't move it up, I didn't know any of this.

So um if we can't move it up, um you have it on the sixth.

Um I guess what I'm wondering.

I'm just gonna pull up my calendar.

If um if it's possible to um if it is the 13th, I mean I'm available.

Um it would have to be um in the afternoon.

We have another board in this room.

I know.

Well, I'm sorry.

That board is not in this room, it's in Sparks.

Um are you wedded to this room, or are you open to meeting in Sparks or uh Reno at all?

I mean, they have pretty they have staff to support, but I just checking I think for the ease of my staff and working through the processes that we're familiar with, it's easier to utilize this room.

And I Karina Serena can correct me if I'm wrong.

Are the dates that are on this calendar just staff limitations, or were there any room limitations?

These are just staff limitations, and these were just um proposed dates for the board to discuss.

Okay.

So is it possible you could check out the 13th and uh do it here and in the in the afternoon?

We we've done that before.

Um, you know, move the time, but I just wanted to is that something you can look into.

Can you specify time?

Yeah, like uh instead of nine, we would look at one.

So um we did that with debt management.

They used to meet at the same time we meet and not at uh on the on the same days often because it's a quarterly meeting, and they move their meeting to afternoon to accommodate this.

And so I'm just saying that asking if we could uh look at that absolute and let us know.

Yes, okay.

That would be my request would be to move it to February 13th in the afternoon at one o'clock.

Um, and then we should be done by four, you know, the same kind of time frame.

This is a room calendar.

Okay.

All right, and then the I'm fine with the other dates, and let me poll the rest of our members.

I think before we move any more farther forward, this calendar.

I know it says 2025.

And it's it's lining up okay.

Yeah, yeah.

It is a typo, it's supposed to say calendar 2026.

I was gonna bring that up, but I've got confusion.

I checked it with my calendar and it looked like it was lining up with 2026.

So okay.

So um, what about any of the other dates?

Um, it looks like it's the 24th or the 23rd of each month, which is the fourth Friday.

And I'm I've checked all my dates.

I'm totally fine with all those.

The one date, madam chair, that I'd like to um actually suggest a change to is the October date.

Um I know that if that one has to move up at all, we it will have to move into November this particular meeting.

We moved it up to today from that third or fourth week, which we would have traditionally had it because of a Nevada day.

Yeah, it was extremely difficult to get our statistics and stuff ready for this meeting today.

So you don't want it on the 23rd?

So if the 23rd does not work for whatever reason, we have to look into November.

Yeah, I assume that's for that would be the same for April too.

For any of the months, yes, but because of that that standing holiday in October for the last couple of years, we've moved the meeting up instead of out instead of 30.

Yeah, it's been challenging for us to do that.

But at least it's still four weeks.

Yeah.

I mean, isn't that so is it the fourth Friday or is it the last Friday?

I think we set it for the last, but I think it looks like it's mostly uh the fourth Friday.

Yeah.

So maybe it's on the right day this time.

This 2026.

Yes.

Yeah, okay.

Okay.

Well, um, I guess I'd uh given the input, I guess I'd like to make a motion that we uh look at uh February 13th in the afternoon at one for that meeting and adopt the other dates as proposed on the calendar.

Okay, all right.

All in favor, please say aye.

Aye any opposed?

All right, motion passes unanimously.

That is great.

Um let's see, we're gonna quickly turn to um future items.

Um this is for um announcements, requests for information, or future agendas.

So would anyone like to propose uh agenda topic or want to share some exciting, especially Clara?

Exciting news.

I'm excited out.

Oh, you are okay.

Anyone else?

Uh Joe online, anything to share in this item?

Um no ma'am.

Okay.

Um go ahead.

You know what?

Um I may not be well informed, but I understand a new dog facility is being established in South Reno to get um dogs for veterans.

Yeah, and I just wondered if there was gonna be any collaboration with them or they need anything from us and if anything that people really know instead of rumors floating around.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Do we do we know the opening date?

I know it's been several years in the making.

You do know the opening date.

Oh, I have some information.

I have dogs.

Julie McMahon for the record.

Um we just met with the Liberty Dogs team at uh the community college.

Their new anticipated open date is in March of 26th.

Um they are still working with um getting puppies out into foster and working on building their team, including their veterin team, which is why we collaborated with them to have them come talk to our student club.

Perfect.

Um as far as collaboration with county services.

Um I do know that in the big picture, their intent is to be able to partner and pull animals, but that's probably years in the making.

They have a small but mighty team, like many people say, uh, that there is intent to move forward with that, that maybe they can help animals get placed and actually train for services for veterans, but right now their focus is on their breeding program and getting pets out.

So that's well what I have from their team and Dr.

Peck, I believe is her name.

Pete General.

Yeah, General Barry, Jen Draberry.

No, the veterinarian.

Oh, yes.

Oh, I thought you meant the person running.

No, no, no.

I just think it's really cool that we have a general who's we do have running.

Well, I would like to see if around that time um that first of all that we get a invited to the opening.

I think it'd be great to invite all the members of this board to the grand opening.

Second, it'd be great for us to have a tour, you know, at some point.

Doesn't have to be on the day of opening, but I have a feeling they're gonna be doing tours on the day of opening.

Um so I don't maybe you can make some connections over there.

I know um Andra Barry pretty darn well over the years.

He's he's a pretty well known figure in Reno in Washoe County.

So um, but is that something you could put on your to-do list?

Cheyenne for the record.

Yes, we have been in discussions with some of the staff over there about um emergency planning um and some of those things in preparation for opening, so I'm sure we can reach out to them to request make that request.

Okay, perfect.

March of 26th.

Okay, yeah, March of 2026.

So next March.

Um anything else.

I guess I'd like to reiterate just the request for um future legislative items.

I don't know when the right time is for that.

You know, I know you need a lot of time to think about it, prep for it, kind of work through it, put uh forth a proposal, get that approved by the county, etc.

etc.

Um so I don't know when you think we should begin that process.

Um I have a list already, so uh some of that is easy because it's carryover from the last two sessions.

Right.

Uh so it's just gonna be a matter of how quickly can we incorporate the um 2025 legislative session impacts, which have turned out to be relatively significant to my department.

Uh we we have to put that first and then we can focus on the next session.

But I do have a list, and we will definitely be bringing it to this board first to discuss and to share ideas as we have in the past.

Okay.

Um, so it would be good.

Um, I think back at our home jurisdictions, we often ask the members do they have any proposals as well as of course the staff are always gathering proposals.

Um so are you thinking maybe March time frame uh is the time to start talking, or do you want to start talking as soon as January or you think about it?

Yeah, I think we're we're right now we're working on the discussions around what does it mean the the the current impacts and what do those mean?

And there obviously will have to be at least one amendment to Washer County Code uh to adapt to some of that legislation, and so that will come first.

I don't necessarily have a timeline, but it will be early 2026.

Okay, really good.

And then you've heard what I said.

I just like some analysis on are there any impediments to uh I I understand staff, but are there any legislative legal ordinance type impediments to helping us respond uh more quickly when we have a case with suspected, whether it's animal abuse, animal hoarding, whatever the case may be.

Um I'm still probing at Reno, I've gotten some preliminary answers, but and I'm proposed to them.

Well, could we, you know, if it was a child, how how would we handle it?

Would we wait two years?

Yeah, you know, because we couldn't see it from the road, that kind of thing, or would we you know figure out a way to get law enforcement involved, or how would we handle it?

And so I'm trying to make some analogies.

I know that humans and animals are not the same, but nevertheless, if there's a process to deal with humans, there may be a process to deal with animals, you know, that we could we could adopt or amend or follow, you know.

So that's that's something I really want to pursue.

Um, and then okay.

Well, if there's nothing else under this item, okay.

I have one uh additional comment.

Uh Kobe Burnett for the record.

So this is a newer development for the board that I just want to bring to everyone's attention, both the board and the public.

Um, I'm sorry, I can't be too enthusiastic about this one.

But it is it is good.

Um so pursuant to federal regulations as well as the state of Nevada's web content accessibility guidelines, uh section 508 specifically.

This relates to digital accessibility standards that are being implemented countywide.

Uh the county's switching some accessibility information and stuff around uh for our websites and platforms to ideally enhance a better and more cohesive accessibility experience for everyone.

Um for this board, that just means that the way the public and the board will access future agendas, future materials, things like that, it'll change slightly.

It'll look different.

Um some things will be located in a different area.

That's just because sometimes we have to go through and archive old information to make that accessible.

Um there still will be a link, as far as I know, on the advisory board website, but changes in copies of materials would be reflected in a different portal.

Um this will most likely take effect by the next board meeting.

Um, it it should, it should take effect.

Uh I wanted to mention just to prepare that things are changing, but there's nothing substantive that will change aside from uh as Cheyenne mentioned earlier, the guest presentation materials.

Those will need to be submitted earlier uh than they currently are, just to give everyone more heads up and more time to prepare all of those things given these new accessibility changes.

Uh specifics on that lead time and everything will be relayed at a different date to those guest presenters.

Um these are just general changes, but again, all board functions and procedures will remain the same.

Great, great, good to know.

And it sounds like it's supposed to it's aimed at a better experience, not a worse experience.

Should be.

Okay.

Very good.

All right.

Well, we're gonna close out this item, move on to uh for our final public comment.

And uh, Madam Clerk, is there any final public comment either in the room or online?

There is no final public comment at this time.

Looks like someone is walking up to the public.

Sorry, it'll be quick.

Can you you've already filled out a form, I think.

I don't think I did.

I can.

Okay.

And introduce yourself, of course.

Uh Rebecca Goff, Nevada State Director for Humane World for Animals.

Um, during the emergency uh presentation, it reminded me, I'm not sure if this body knows, but Humane World for Animals does offer free law enforcement training and included in that long menu, it's like three pages of training subjects that we offer.

We do have an emergency preparedness training that is free to municipalities, as is all of our law enforcement training.

We just completed a very successful training in Clark County on animal crimes and investigations, and we also did one with the city of Sparks back in June.

So for our elected officials, if you're interested in that, it is free.

I just need to partner with somebody either from the law enforcement side or from the city side to sponsor it, meaning give us a place to have a room.

Um raising my hand enthusiastically because we've had a number at the city, and it has been problematic to do the investigations, and we don't have a good template, and some have gone to civil.

Um in other words, they weren't pursued criminally, but they were pursued civilly, and the people won, and we have some that are reopened and people are re-looking at them.

So I I am enthusiastically raising my hand, and I'm sure we can provide a room.

Great.

I can um provide you the menu of topics.

Washoe County was at our Sparks training.

Um I'm it's a passion of mine to get more of these trainings out specifically because we are seeing, you know, in some of these animal crimes that direct link to human crimes.

Right.

So making sure that we can maybe stop it at the animal level, protect the animals, but also protecting the humans in our communities.

So that is a free service that we offer.

I just wanted to make sure this body was aware of that.

Thank you.

Have you just uh if I may, have you reached out to RPD already?

Um I don't have a contact with RPD yet.

Um I will get you one.

Yes, I've just been kind of starting with the animal control officers and branching out as I've done more of them, I've become more confident in the process.

Okay, cool.

Great.

Thank yay, thank you.

All right, anyone else?

Um, and then if you could fill out a form, I think there is one in the back.

Um all right.

Well, with that, I believe we are at adjournment.

So we are adjourned at 1215.

Thank you.

Oh, thank you.

Thank you.