WEB SITE MAKES PETS A CLICK AWAY.Byline: Cecilia Chan Staff Writer AGOURA HILLS - They look out from the computer screen - maybe an 8-month-old Labrador retriever Labrador retriever, breed of large sporting dog whose origins are obscure but whose immediate ancestors were developed in Newfoundland and brought to England in the early 1800s. It stands about 23 in. (58.4 cm) high at the shoulder and weighs between 60 and 75 lb (27. , a 3-year-old Chinese sharpei - and, organizers hope, into the hearts and homes of pet owners. A new Web site lets residents pull up pictures of abandoned dogs and cats at the Agoura Hills shelter and five others operated by the Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County Department of Animal Care and Control and see if it's one they could call their own. ``To me the biggest thing the Web site does is have a picture of a dog who needs a home,'' said Brenda Young, a management analyst at Thousand Oaks Thousand Oaks, residential city (1990 pop. 104,352), Ventura co., S Calif., in a farm area; inc. 1964. Avocados, citrus, vegetables, strawberries, and nursery products are grown. City Hall. ``It sends a message there are dogs who need to be adopted and we hope when people look for a pet, they think of the shelter, not just Agoura but all shelters.'' The site was put in place by the county three months ago to reunite re·u·nite tr. & intr.v. re·u·nit·ed, re·u·nit·ing, re·u·nites To bring or come together again. reunite Verb [-niting, -nited owners with their lost pets and boost adoption rates in a system where at least 65 percent of the dogs and 75 percent of the cats are euthanized. The county spent $94,000 to implement the program, and it will cost $15,000 a year to maintain, said county spokesman Jon Fullinwider. ``We know, from people coming in from all over, they are seeing the animals on the Web page,'' said Kaye Michelson, administrative manager for the department. ``We've also had people calling that they've found their animals, seeing the animal on the Web page.'' Since the Web site's implementation, dog adoptions rose 36 percent and cat adoptions, 28 percent, Michelson said. But the adoption increase is also tied into a new program that dropped adoption fees. Implemented at the same time, Save 2000 reduced the $80 to $100 adoption fee for a large pet to $27, Michelson said. Still, there are anecdotal anecdotal /an·ec·do·tal/ (an?ek-do´t'l) based on case histories rather than on controlled clinical trials. anecdotal adjective Unsubstantiated; occurring as single or isolated event. suggestions the Web site is working, officials said. Michelson said a San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden couple using the site spotted a mixed-breed dog A mixed-breed dog (also called a mutt, crossbreed, mongrel, a bitsa, tyke, cur, or random-bred dog) is a dog that has characteristics of more than two breeds, or is a descendant of feral or pariah dog populations. and came down to the Carson shelter to adopt it. ``I think it's a really good program,'' said Frank Bongiorno, field supervisor at the Agoura Hills shelter. ``Anything that can reunite pets with their owners or find them a new home . . . is good. If it brings stats up it's good.'' From the site, Internet surfers can pull up mug shots of the animals in the six shelters. Accompanying the pictures are statistics - such as sex, breed and age. The site also includes information on wildlife, spaying spaying: see castration. and neutering neu·ter adj. 1. Grammar a. Neither masculine nor feminine in gender. b. Neither active nor passive; intransitive. Used of verbs. 2. a. , licensing and general pet care. ``We take a picture of every (adoptable animal) that comes in,'' Bongiorno said. ``We are known for a good adoption rate. But this is a big help. ``Some people don't have the time or ability to come into a shelter.'' The 24-year-old Agoura Hills shelter, which has runs for 48 dogs and cages for 60 cats, has the distinction of having the highest adoption rate on the West Coast and the fourth highest in the nation in the last eight years, Bongiorno said. The shelter euthanized 42 of the 2,420 dogs impounded in fiscal year 1999-00 and 298 of the 1,559 cats impounded, said Bob Ballenger, executive assistant at the department of Animal Care and Control. The Agoura shelter also placed 598 dogs and 1,185 cats during the same time period, Ballenger said. In all, the six shelters see 100,000 pets come through their doors annually, Ballenger said. On average, 65 percent to 67 percent of the dogs are euthanized as are 75 percent to 80 percent of the cats, he said. A factor that increases those figures is the number of owners who bring their old and sick animals into the shelter to be euthanized because the cost is half of what veterinarians Veterinarians and veterinary surgeons (vets) are medical professionals who operate exclusively on animals. Well-known and notable veterinarians include:
Bongiorno credits the Agoura shelter's success to community support, volunteers and dedicated employees at the shelter, which serves the cities of Agoura Hills, Westlake Village, Hidden Hills, Calabasas, Malibu and the county areas of Agoura, Topanga and Malibu. While officials are hopeful the Web site will work in cyberspace Coined by William Gibson in his 1984 novel "Neuromancer," it is a futuristic computer network that people use by plugging their minds into it! The term now refers to the Internet or to the online or digital world in general. See Internet and virtual reality. Contrast with meatspace. to help pets find homes, they add that pet owners should still come into the shelters to search for missing pets. Some animal breeds look alike and distinctive marks don't show up in the picture and shelters can provide additional information on where to look. Pets on the Web Animal shelters "Dog Pound" redirects here. For the rap group, see Tha Dogg Pound. An animal shelter is a facility that houses homeless, lost or abandoned animals; primarily a large variety of dogs and cats. online: www.co.la.ca.us or www.ci.thousand-oaks.ca.us CAPTION(S): photo, box Photo: (color) Featuring photos of cats and dogs Cats and Dogs A slang term referring to speculative stocks that have short or suspicious histories for sales, earnings, dividends, etc. Notes: In a bull market analysts will often mention that everything is going up, even the cats and dogs. available for adoption, the Agoura Hills Animal Care and Control shelter's Web site has been a big reason why adoptions at the facility have increased. Eric Grigorian/Special to the Daily News Box: Pets on the Web (see text) |
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