"The memo," Page three as promised!

When you have read all three pages please explain to me like I am a three year old how "His Honor" came up with the "shoot pets" guarantee! Your "Honor" your own police department conducted this investigation at the behest of your City Administrator, so what now? Next I expect you to be saying your the victim of "Constantly disloyal officers," while twirling ball bearings in your right hand! Sorry sir, but you were wrong, so why not come out and say so!

st. LouisCounty Animal Control:
Lt. Kevin Avery contacted St. Louis County Animal Control Officer Davis who informed
him that they would respond to a wildlife call if the animal is in a building or has bitten
somebody and the location of the animal is known. They will handle dog at large calls
when they are available between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 11:00 p.m. They will
respond to a dog bite call at any time. Vicious dog calls are assessed and prioritized to
determine their response. They will not respond to sick raccoon calls but will tell the
caller to contact the Missouri Department of Conservation or Wildlife Rescue. Officer
Davis indicated that these agencies tell the complainant to leave the animal alone.
St. Louis County Animal Control handles all animal related calls for the St. Louis County
Police Department with the exception of barking dog calls. In this case, a St. Louis
County Officer will be dispatched.
Wildlife Rescue was contacted by Lt. Avery. Wildlife Rescue indicated that they would
respond for a sick raccoon only if a volunteer was available. Wildlife Rescue further
indicated that they would not respond very often as volunteer resources are quite
limited.
Missouri Department of Conservation:
Lt. Avery contacted Mr. Tom Misner, a Wildlife Biologist for the M.D.C., who indicated
that sick raccoons are very dangerous and should not be engaged by humans. His
direction is to tell people to leave them alone. Misner indicated that there are almost no
instances where these animals are a threat to humans. He did indicate that attempting
to handle these animals is very dangerous and that their saliva, blood, and feces can
cause illness. He provided an example of his supervisor being scratched by a sick
raccoon and was hospitalized for one week. Mr. Misner was very hesitant when asked if
he could provide proper training to our officers and stated he would have to get specific
authorization to do so. Misner stated that traps are available to citizens who are advised
after trapping a sick raccoon they should fill a trash can with water and drown the
animal.
In closing, I would like to recommend that we provide information to our citizens through
our newsletter and website that these sick raccoons are not the threat that people think
they are. They should be left alone and they will leave the area and pass away as part
of their natural process. Citizens should be informed that if a police response is
requested, the animal will be euthanized on site and the body removed by the officer.
We have made arrangements with the emergency animal clinic on Big Bend who will
either euthanize a captured animal for us or dispose of the body. There is no charge
associated for this service at this time.
As we know, this topic was raised by one of my officers who looked into the safety
concerns involved to humans engaging with these sick animals. Although we have
captured several raccoons with the equipment provided by our Animal Control Officer, I
feel that this is putting our officers at risk. This risk is not worth the effort to only have
the animal destroyed minutes later at the emergency clinic. Considering our current
number of commissioned officers and our targeted number, we can not risk an officer
spending a week in hospital over a dying raccoon. I therefore would like to recommend
that we modify our response to destroying the animal on site as other agencies do. We
should engage in a public safety information program as stated as it appears that this is
truly the correct answer to the problem and will reduce the number of times we would be
placed in a situation to dispatch these animals.

Tom Ford

NO. 678