Madera County has an animal crisis… and the perfect storm of unaffordable veterinary care.
Madera County and the Cities of Madera and Chowchilla are overwhelmed with stray, starving, and suffering stray animals. Statistics from the existing Madera County Animal Services (MCAS) department show impound numbers of over 8,000 animals in 2013. Current statistics show MCAS department is now impounding under 3,000 each year and being allowed to refuse most stray animals, or about 5,000 to 6,000 animals each year back to residents. Residents are being told by shelter employees to “chase it off”, “feed it,” “find it’s home” or “deal with it yourself.”
There are no other realistic, consistent funding sources for expanding or improving the current Madera County Animal Control Services. Without this measure and the affordable veterinary clinic it provides, our stray animals will continue to reproduce, starve, suffer, and hurt people
Consolidating and updating city and county animal ordinances and animal control service departments improves efficiency, services, and public safety. Two residents have been killed by packs of roaming large dogs, and another 74-year-old man was pulled down while out for a walk and mauled nearly to death in Chowchilla.
The cities of Madera and Chowchilla urgently need updated, effective animal control ordinances and expanded, improved animal control services.
A Solution: Ballet Initiative for a New Animal Shelter with…
Madera can raise between $5 and $6 million annually with the passage of this one-quarter of one percent (1/4%) sales tax increase, or about $4 a month per person, depending on sales tax revenues. This measure will build, consistently fund, and operate a new, multi-acre animal shelter complex and a consolidated animal services department, and build, staff, and operate a separate, nonprofit, new spay-neuter veterinary clinic with affordable services to help animals, reduce suffering, and reduce stray animal populations. The funding of this measure shall be restricted solely for these local purposes listed herein audited annually, and its implementation and use shall be subject to the oversight and approval of the residents’ founding board committee.
This Ballot Initiative will:
We Need Your Help to Make This Possible
The Madera County animal crisis is getting out of hand. The proposed ballet initiative will provide needed funding to make Animal Services more accessible to Madera County residents, help control increasing stray animal populations, and offer affordable spay, neuter, and vet clinic services. We need your help to get this initiative on the Madera County ballet. Click below to find a Petition location.
Want to read the approved ballot measure? Click here.