Los Angeles herald., 1908-06-24
PEASE FAvORS
PASADENA PLAN
PROSECUTE OWNER AND NOT
POOR CANINE
MOVEMENT ON TO DO AWAY
WITH POUND
Present System lie In Disrepute and
President Of Council Thinks
Another Should Be
Adopted

Los Angeles city officials may change
the dog-catching system by eliminate
! ing the catchers.
President Niles Pease of the city
| council and Mrs Willoughby Rodmans
prominent in humane work. have been
slxed fo launch movement to intro
| duce the Pasadena system here.
IL 1t carries 1t will, briefly result in
owners of dogs being punished when
| they refuse to take out licenses. rather
| than the CANNES.
1t will do away with the brutal prac-
| tice of lassooing dogs. because the
practice of letting dogs roam at large
will be abolished
| Persons who have dog licenses take
care of their animals usually.
| The principle followed in Pasadena
| is when a man refuses to take out
| license for dog to arrest the man.
not the dog. 1t has solved the dog
problem and the license problem there.
The Pasadena Idea
When the city poundmaster five
years .ago threw UP his job and left
Pasadena in order, as he thought. to
save his life from Infatuated citizens,
the s. p. G. A. offered to take charge
of enforcing the ordinances, provided
| 1t was given one-half the amount Of
all license taxes collected. Since that
time the work has been entirely in the
hands Of the society.
| Their first move Was to abolish the
custom of taking up" all stray dogs,
unless 1t was impossible to find any
| owner for them. In actual practice 1t
| has not proved at all difficult, to find
out from neighbors to whom any dog
| belonged.
Citizens who came in at the begin
ming of the year and took out licenses
| for their dogs met with no trouble. A
card index of all dog owners. with the
description and license number of the
dog, is kept, and also an index arranged
by tag numbers.
Notify Humane Society
When stray dog is picked up by
any one in the city he at once tele-
phones the license number to the sec
rotary Of the society. The owner can
be traced in a minute. and he is then
notified by telephone or postal card to
get his dog and keep IT at home. In
this way the society goes to no ex-
pense whatever for dog-catchers sal
airy or maintaining dogs In a pound,
but is able to abate any nuisance of this
sort in any part Of the city.
Whenever an unlicensed, dog is found
or heard of he is not impounded and
fed at the expense of the society. but
allowed to run loose until his owner
| Is located. This Is usually not hard to
| do. since people to protect themselves
are willing to give the society's agent
all information in their possession.
The owner of the dog is then notified
by the following circular letter:
Notify Owners Thus:
Dear Sir or Madam: The city of
Pasadena has commissioned the
Humane society to collect the dog
taxes, to take charge of the city
pound and to see that all homeless.
worthless or dangerous animals
are properly disposed of.
This work, is very important to
the health, safety and welfare Of
our citizens. If you have dog it
will be necessary for you to pay its
license fee, $3.50, to the city tax
collector Immediately.
Ordinance No. 459 imposes PEN
atty of $50 or Imprisonment for
fifty days or both such fine and inn
prisonment for refusal or neglect
to pay such license fee.
Unless you comply at once with
the terms of the above ordinance
1t will be necessary for the Humane
society to proceed against you in
accordance with its provisional and
1t will do so without further notice.
When the owner is unmoved by this
he is at once brought into court on a
warrant procured by the society and
served by the regular police officials.
It is customary for the Judge to assess
fine of SIS and remit So of 1t on the
owners promise to take out a license at
once. If the owner says the dog ought
to be killed the society undertakes to
do it and charges him SO cents for 1t.
Find Good Homes
Dogs OF any value, however. are
never killed, but placed in good homes
by the society. There are always on
hand more applications for dogs than
can be filed.
Vicious and wounded dogs are fire.
Quently killed at the pound, but in all
cases the, owner Is charged for 1t. This
custom and the fact that dogs are never
boarded for several days at a time in
the pound free of charge keeps the
expenses of the system down very low.
AS to its efficiency the figures are
striking.
Under the last year of the city's
control 375 dogs were licensed. The
first year of the new plan GA tags
were issued and in the four succeeding
years the numbers have been 1863. 9SS.
1155 and 400.
At the present time then, the city
derives an income of from $500 to 5000
every year from this source. Its ex-
penses are merely the cost of the tags
and a clerk In the city tax collectors
office to receive the money. i
The s. p. c. A. receives like
amount, plus the fees paid for killing
dogs While its expenses are much
larger, yet this sum easily covers them,
and of course the society. being phil
anthropic enterprise, does not expect
to make great deal of money In this
Thirty Owners In Court
The number of arrests necessary has
been growing less each year. During
the mast twelve months probably not
more than thirty owners have been
brought into court. Every one is sat
listed with the system and the dog
catcher has no enemies.
The results, then, are humane sys-
tenn of enforcing the law; much
larger revenue and profit; much greater
efficiency in getting owners to take out
licenses, and the absence of the dis
satisfaction and anger at the city and
its employees. which characterized the
old method.
Son Of Jefferson Dies
NEW YORK, June 23.-Charles b.
Jefferson, eldest son of the late Joe