City to keep its animal shelter, but use county animal control
Pet owners will have to get dog licenses from the county
Madison Heights pet owners will have to get their dog licenses from the county now that the city is using Oakland County animal control services.
The move went into effect Tuesday and Madison Heights Police Chief Corey Haines on Monday gave a presentation on the city’s Facebook page that is on YouTube at https://loom.ly/UVeE56o.
Oakland County Animal Shelter, which also has a Pet Adoption Center, will run animal control services in Madison Heights while the city will continue to maintain its existing shelter and animal control service, Haines said Tuesday.
“We can have all the advantages of the county (services) while retaining our animal control to better enhance services for our residents and animals,”
Haines said. “There are things the county provides that we can’t. We’ll be able to treat and take care of animals much better than we could on our own.”
Joanie Toole, chief of the Oakland County Animal Shelter, said residents will have to get county dog licenses starting Dec. 1.
“We are taking on Madison Heights as a service area” for animal control, Toole said. “We’ll be handling dogs at large, dog bites and injured animals.”
Southfield is the only other city that uses the county animal service while maintaining its own shelter, but boarding animals with the county, she said.
“We also do rabies testing,” Toole said, “if you get a bat inside your home or are bitten by any wildlife.”
Dog licenses from the county are more expensive than Madison Heights licenses.
A one-year county license for a spayed or neutered dog is $15. Previously, Madison Heights licenses cost $7.
The three-year license, which most dog owners get, was $15 from the city and will cost $40 from the county, Haines said.
Madison Heights residents can buy dog licenses in the city or purchase them on the county shelter website at oakgov. com/petadoption.
Toole said the facility also keeps pictures of all stray dogs and those up for adoption on the website.
“The silver lining is that the city will no longer require cats to have licenses,” Haines said, but cats will still be taken in and adopted through the city animal shelter.
Residents in Madison Heights and countywide already pay taxes that support the county animal shelter services, he added.
Before the city contracted with the county for animal control, Madison Heights had to pay the county for boarding dogs at the county shelter.
Since July, the city has paid the county $7,000 for boarding, Haines said.
“That’s now a fee we’ll no longer have to pay,” he said. “Over the past couple of years, when our shelter became full with dogs we ended up having to transfer dogs to the county (and pay) for housing and care.”
Haines said he did his YouTube presentation Monday in part to debunk some rumors on local social media, including a false claim that Madison Heights wanted to send dogs to the county shelter to be euthanized.
“The only time euthanasia comes into play is if animals are extremely injured or sick and can’t be effectively treated,” he said.
Madison Heights’ shelter will retain its full-time officer and part-time assistants there.
Last year, 170 animals were turned in at the shelter. Of those, 85 pets were returned to their owners and 65 were adopted into new homes, Haines said.
The city shelter’s goal remains to reunite animals with their owners. When that can’t be done within a couple of days, the animals will be boarded with the county, Haines said.