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Show Legislature mulls fate of unclaimed animals By E. MARK BEZZANT Shall or may? That is the question currently before the Utah Legislature dealing with the use of animals for experimentation. The current law states that city pounds "must" sell animals not claimed by owners for medical research rather than put the animal "to sleep." Researchers are concerned that if city pounds are not required to sell the unwanted animals that there .' will be a shortage of animals available for research. One would initially wonder why there would be ' a shortage since the city would lose t revenue by not selling the animals for research, but apparently there is other money involved. I asked Animal Control Officer Kurt Bean how the proposed change : would affect Pleasant Grove, and what the city's position was on the . bill before the legislature. Officer Bean indicated that a man from the University of Utah comes down every Tuesday morning to see if the city has any dogs that they could use. The University will pay . the city $14 per dog and $10 per cat. They prefer dogs that weight 45 or 50 pounds. The city usually sells between 40 . and 50 dogs to the University of Utah per year. Since July, the University has purchased about 25 dogs from the city pound. They have purchased no cats. Officer bean stated that they buy hundreds of cats from Orem City, as well as hundreds of dogs. Officer Bean indicated that the alternative for the animals is to be put to "sleep" by injection to the heart. In a typical year he said that between 500 and 1000 dogs are disposed of per year at the city pound. He also indicated that he puts more cats away than dogs. However, before the animal is killed, the animal is kept at the pound three working days to give the owner a chance to claim the animal. The carcass of the dead animal is taken to Orem where a company picks them up for recycling into fertilizer, soap, car seats, etc. Pleasant Grove pays $30 per month to Orem to handle the dead animals. Officer bean indicated that he favored the use of animals for research from both a humane and economic view point. He stated that the animals are well taken care of at the University and are kept in a very healthy condition for the researach. He also indicated that it sayes the city a lot of money because he does not have to take the time to inject the animals. Officer Bean also said that it reduces the risk of being hurt by the larger dogs in an attempt to inject them at the pound. Regardless of the outcome of the bill before the legislature, Officer Bean sees no change in Pleasant Grove's policy to make pound animals available for research. The League of Cities and Towns, which represents city views favors changing the "shall" to "may" thus giving the cities their choice. |