The basics about Pima Animal Care Center

PACC volunteer – Jillian MacKillop

PACC is a government run nonprofit organization. This organization has an obligation to the public health and safety of Pima County, Tucson, Arizona and it is because of this that PACC is required to euthanize some of their animals. There are many misconceptions that Tucsonans have about PACC and other animal shelters that use euthanasia. It is my goal to discuss some of these fallacies and to clear them up. I am the only person in the group that is volunteering at PACC instead of HOPE and I have some strong opinions and reasons for doing so, but I am going to try to represent both PACC and HOPE fairly in the blogs that I write.

For this first blog I am going to focus on PACC’s policies and background information. First, PACC only takes in dogs and cats. They take in strays, owner surrenders, and animals that have been confiscated and are evidence in an ongoing investigation. Second, they do not reject any dog or cat and there are no requirements to surrender an animal to PACC. Third, there are many steps PACC goes through when they admit a new dog or cat. The first step is to enter the animal into the computers and assign them an “animal number” which is how they identify the animal throughout their stay and then they give the animal a series of vaccinations. After they finish the paperwork the animal is evaluated for behavior and health problems. Once they have been evaluated, the vet techs put dogs into one of seven sections and cats are either put in the “cat room” or in “sick bay”. The dogs are broken into quarantined, large breeds, dog’s “sick bay”, puppies and small breeds, or put back into the stray area. When a dog is put into quarantine it means they either have an owner, have bitten someone, or they are evidence. Animals are put into “sick bay” when they have any spreadable sickness, are recovering from surgery, or if they are being monitored for a sickness such as rabies. When a dog needs surgery but is otherwise adoptable, they are put into the stray section. When PACC receives an animal that is too old or sick to be put up for adoption then the animal is placed on a rescue list and can be rescued by specialized animal rescue groups or by individuals. Fourth, before any animal can leave PACC they have to be deemed safe, have gotten their shots, have a microchip, if they are four months old or older they need to have a license and a rabies shot, have all the animals medication, and most importantly be spayed or neutered. Fifth, PACC is not just a shelter; it “is organized into four major divisions, Enforcement, Animal Shelter, Licensing, and Public Relations/Education” and its main goal is “to protect the public health and safety of the people and animals within Pima County” (pimaanimalcare.org).

Thanks,
Team Animal
Jillian MacKillop

NOTE: The information from this blog was taken from http://www.pimaanimalcare.org/