Software to help city shelter track pets

By Bryan Dean

Published: June 18, 2008

City leaders bought a computer program Tuesday that could save more pets at the animal shelter.

The software will help animal welfare employees track every animal and keep better statistics, which will help determine which parts of town need more attention from animal welfare officers.

City council members on Tuesday approved the $120,000 purchase from HLP Inc.

Catherine English, superintendent of the animal shelter, said the old program was free but had serious problems. The maker of the software stopped updating it years ago, and the system was unreliable for both tracking animals and keeping statistics.

"It also doesn't do a lot of what we need it to do,” English said. "It doesn't track medical care of the animals very well. It doesn't track the movement of the animals in the shelter very well. The new system allows us to take photos of all the animals and automatically uploads it to the city's Web site.”

People looking for a new pet on the city's Web site and two other independent Web sites can see pictures of every dog and cat at the shelter.

The system also will automatically post photos of lost and found dogs, meaning they are more likely to be reunited with their owners.

English said better statistical data will help the city as it competes as one of three finalists for a program run by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The city is one of three finalists for ASPCA's Mission: Orange program, which could bring up to $600,000 from the group for animal welfare programs.

One of the group's requirements for the program is reliable statistical tracking of shelter animals and strays.

"Right now we can't track addresses or ZIP codes,” English said. "When you are talking about strays, knowing where they come from is going to help us target those neighborhoods for more service. This is the industry gold standard.”

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