SNIFFING AROUND FOR NEW TOP DOG
Advocates demand national search for Animal Care chief replacement
Animal rights advocates are demanding that Mayor Rahm Emanuel conduct a nationwide search for Chicago’s next director of Animal Care and Control after the revolving door spun again at the troubled agency.
Sandra Alfred retired last week while attention was focused on City Council approval of Emanuel’s plan to raise property taxes by $588 million for police and fire pensions and school construction and impose a firstever garbage-collection fee of $9.50 a month.
Alfred was replaced, at least temporarily, by her top deputy, Ivan Capifali. The Better Government Association has reported that Capifali has no previous experience in animal rescue and welfare and a history of disciplinary suspensions at the city’s now-defunct Department of Environment. He was handed a $20,000 pay raise and appointed to the No. 2 job in April 2012.
The leadership vacuum at the $1.6 million-a-year agency that operates the David R. Lee Animal Center, 2741 S. Western, was exacerbated by the fact that the job of supervising veterinarian has been vacant for more than two years.
In an emailed statement, Adam Collins, a spokesman for the mayor, wrote: “After 27 years in public service Sandra decided to retire, and we thank her for her service to the city. We are in the process of conducting a search to find her replacement and in the meantime Ivan Capifali, the deputy director, will manage the agency’s day-today operations.
“The vacant veterinarian position has been filled several times in the past few years, and ACC is again working to fill that role. There are two other full-time veterinarian positions that are currently filled at ACC,” the statement said.
On Monday, the Chicago Rescue Roundtable sent a letter to the mayor demanding a nationwide search for Alfred’s replacement.
“Serious concerns continue to be raised by the public and those in the animal rescue and welfare community regarding various aspects of CACC’s operations, including steadily high euthanasia rates, especially for dogs. However, with the departure of the department’s current executive director, you have a huge opportunity to change Chicago Animal Care and Control for the better,” the letter states.
“We ask that the city conduct a national search for a suitable executive director — one with significant animal sheltering, welfare and related experience,” the letter says. “We further ask that candidates be reviewed and a recommendation for hiring be made by a suitable third party — the board of the Commission on Animal Care and Control — and that their candidate be appointed as the new executive director.”
Heather Owen, executive director of One Tail at a Time, a nonprofit dog rescue, said Alfred’s abrupt retirement exacerbates what has been a leadership vacuum at a “mismanaged” agency much maligned for the quality of care it administers to dogs and cats.
“We have a rampant flu outbreak causing an increase in dog euthanasia that’s becoming very burdensome to nonprofit rescue groups that assist in rescuing dogs from there. We need someone who knows what they’re doing,” Owen said Tuesday.
“Other shelters have been successful in limiting the spread of illness. Chicago has never been able to do that. Any time we rescue a dog from there, we have to set aside a large amount of money, usually more than $1,000 because most of the animals who come from there are sick,” she said. “They don’t have a successful protocol for limiting diseases spread in the shelter. They don’t have a successful isolation protocol for animals that are sick. That’s a leadership problem. We need a director experienced in animal control and government so they can come up with policies and strategies and find a way to get them implemented.”
Susan Taney, president of Lost Dogs Illinois, said “animals need to have a voice” in how the city pound is run, and a only nationwide search can give them that voice.
“They need to increase their return-to-owner rate with dogs. It’s under 30 percent. They took in 60,000 animals in three years and only adopted out 4,000. They have no desire to develop adoption programs while many others have viable adoption programs. They’re not hiring the right people,” Taney said.