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Attachment A Summary of Developments in Animal Services Affecting the City of Eugene The following narrative provides an overview of developments in animal services provided within the City of Eugene specifically and of historic developments in animal services more generally. Source documents for this summary are noted at the end. Development of Animal Services within the City of Eugene Animal control was first mentioned in the City Charter of Eugene in 1876. A 1929 article in the Eugene Register-Guard shows that by that time the City of Eugene required dog licenses, funded a city dogcatcher and operated a rudimentary city pound. By 1947 the old pound was recognized as totally insecure and inadequate, and the city dog control officer was housing dogs in pens at the back of his home. In that year a new pound consisting of wired-in pen boxes was constructed and it was used until 1949. No veterinary care or humane amenities were funded. The city dog control officer at the time called for the formation of a local humane society to help improve conditions for animals’ welfare in the community. In 1949 the Oregon Legislature passed laws requiring all counties to provide for impoundment of dogs. Lane County contracted with the Lane County Humane Society, newly formed in 1949. The Humane Society immediately obtained a site and began construction of a new shelter. From 1949 to 1975, all animal control within Lane County was coordinated by the Lane County Humane Society under contract with Lane County. The Society managed shelter facilities and directed code compliance, which was enforced by city police within cities and by the sheriff’s office in the county. This system was in place many years, but by 1975 both the Humane Society and the community came to view the shelter facility as inadequate and the enforcement model as ineffective. 1975 saw a culmination of a period of intense citizen advocacy for changes. The primary issue mobilizing this advocacy was the then-use of euthanasia methods that came to be recognized as inhumane. Also, many citizens wanted to relive police of the duties and responsibility of enforcing animal code compliance. Finally, there were widespread complaints to City Council members about problems with ineffective enforcement. Extensive community discussion took place about dogs at large, damage to property and numerous dog-bite incidents. A range of similar concerns were raised in the City of Springfield. At the time Eugene’s city code allowed for dogs to legally be either on-leash or off the leash and under voice control. Ambiguity about what constituted voice control contributed to a wave of litigation in which parties tried to establish the city’s liability following dog-bite incidents. After court rulings the City Council deleted that language from city code. In March, 1975, The Humane Society’s Board announced it could no longer provide impoundment services and urged the county to establish its own animal shelter. The Society expressed concern that