Detroit Animal Control and Care Shows Signs of Improvement
Reduced dog bites and an increase of outreach programs since joining the Detroit Health Department.
Detroit Animal Care and Control says dog bite attacks in the city are down 30 percent since last year. That’s one in a series of improvements Animal Control is announcing since moving from the Detroit Police Department to the Health Department nine months ago. Officials say using social media to connect lost pets to their owners has improved release rates threefold. Rather than the old “dog-catcher model”, Director Melissa Miller said Detroit Animal Control is putting neighborhood outreach first.
“Our goal is to educate our communities and also implement owner retention and shelter intervention programs so that the animals and the community are healthy and well taken cared for, properly contained and licensed.”
Melissa Miller, Director of Detroit Animal Control and Care
“Our goal is to educate our communities and also implement owner retention and shelter intervention programs,” Miller said. “So that the animals and the community are healthy and well taken cared for, properly contained and licensed.Miller says promoting the vaccination and socialization of dogs as pets rather than using them as protection is helping reduce attacks. She says Detroit Animal Control and Care will soon move to the former location of the Michigan Human Society on Chrysler Drive, in order to improve responsiveness.
