Getting Animal Control under control

The City Council at their Wednesday meeting introduced two ordinances to impose more regulations upon the city’s Animal Control division.
One ordinance will establish a nine-member Jersey City Animal Control Commission to develop standards for the office, ensure compliance with city and state laws, and study the improved response by animal control officers.
The second ordinance will create the position of an Animal Control Ombudsman within the Office of the Mayor’s Action Bureau, to handle citizens’ complaints and inquiries. A current Action Bureau employee will serve as the ombudsman.
Jersey City Councilman Steven Fulop said the new ordinances were requested by Morgan Metius, a downtown Jersey City resident whose cat got loose and was captured by Animal Control officers. The cat was allegedly dumped in Lincoln Park rather than taken to the Liberty Animal Shelter, as it was supposed to be. Metius’ attorney Diana Jeffrey, a longtime animal advocate, also requested the ordinances.
Fulop also designed the ordinances based on recommendations by a City Council subcommittee put together over two years ago to study past problems with the Animal Control office.
The alleged dumping of Metius’ cat, which was found after five days lost in the park, provoked an uproar from animal lovers in the city and led to the suspension of the two Animal Control officers for five days. The Animal Control division has been put in charge of the investigation of its own officers’ conduct, which Fulop found unacceptable.
The City Council at their next meeting on April 20 will vote whether or not to adopt the ordinances.

Report from Health Dept.

At Monday’s City Council caucus, Harry Melendez, director of the city’s Department of Health and Human Services, which has authority over Animal Control, said the investigation into the two officers is continuing. He said the two officers were each suspended for a week without pay.
He also said he has contracted the New Jersey Office of Animal Welfare to review the Daisy case and all aspects of Animal Control operations, and he will meet with representatives of that office in about two weeks.
Fulop was taken to task by Melendez for not contacting Melendez and discussing his ordinances before putting them on the council agenda, which he said “demeaned” the work that Animal Control does.
Melendez also defended the Animal Control officers, saying they are “providing a service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week” and that they provide proper documentation on all of the calls they answer.

They welcome more control

On Wednesday, six people spoke in favor of the ordinances.

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“We need an Animal Control commission in Jersey City and we need it badly.” – Carol McNichol
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Among them was Carol McNichol, the founder of Companion Animal Trust, Inc., a Jersey City-based non-profit animal welfare organization that deals with stray animals, especially with feral (untamed) cats. She said that an acquaintance of hers was told by head animal control officer Joe Frank that officers do not pick up cats, and the person was actually given McNichol’s phone number.
“We need an Animal Control Commission in Jersey City, and we need it badly,” McNichol said.
David Norman, who formed Hudson Animal Advocates last year to address the problems at the now-closed Hudson County SPCA shelter, also favored the ordinances being introduced. He agreed that more oversight was needed over the Animal Control division.
Ricardo Kaulessar can be reached at rkaulessar@hudsonrreporter.com.