The Kansas City, Missouri, City Council discussed bringing animal services within city limits back to city control on Thursday afternoon.
Right now, KC Pet Project handles the city's animal services.
The city's outsourcing of animal services has caused controversy for years. A push for change has come from the family of a man who was mauled to death by a pack of dogs last month in south KCMO.
Chris Culbertson died from injuries sustained in the attack on Nov. 2 in the 3200 block of East 80th Street.
In 2017, a Kansas City, Missouri, city audit cited a lack of organization and management oversight in the city's animal health and public safety division.
At that point, the city was in charge of animal services, and KC Pet Project was operating the city's animal shelter.
KC Pet Project’s Chief Communications Officer Tori Fugate said the potential transfer of control could come with lots of impacts.
"New vehicles would have to be purchased all new equipment, everything that we have here, all of that would have to be purchased again,” Fugate said. “And so that would be a big cost to taxpayers."
Currently, KC Pet Project receives $2.3 million of the city's budget. The 2017 audit also cited issues between the City and KC Pet Project, such as not working together, differing views of animal care and control, and lacking productive communication and trust.
Fugate said KC Pet Project hopes to meet with city officials to discuss the future of their services.
"This is a very, very difficult job. It takes very highly trained and skilled people to do this work,” Fugate said.
KCMO councilwoman Melissa Patterson Hazley is backing the change. She said it was prompted by recent constituent feedback over the course of many months.
Kansas City resident and pet owner Becca Craig started a petition on change.org to bring animal services back to city control. She said she's in favor of audits like the one in 2017 because of the transparency it brings pet owners.
"It's really banning the behaviors of the people that lead to the neglect and abuse that we are challenging the city to correct,” Craig said.
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