RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, Advocates for Chicagoland Animals has launched a campaign calling upon Chicago to become a "No-Kill City"; and
WHEREAS, The Chicago City Council has been informed of this campaign by Aldermen Edward M. Burke and Raymond Lopez; and
WHEREAS, The "no-kill" philosophy states that no healthy or treatable animal brought into a shelter should be killed for reasons of space and that euthanasia should be reserved only for those animals who are terminally ill; and
WHEREAS, The campaign opposes killing animals after minimal "hold" periods and seeks to expose shelters that charge "processing fees" which discourage the reunification of pets with their owners; and
WHEREAS, According to Advocates for Chicagoland Animals, the Chicago Department of Animal Care and Control killed more than 10,000 animals over the past two years at a cost of $ 1.1 million, or nearly 11 percent of its budget; and
WHEREAS, Advocates for Chicagoland Animals cited an announcement by the City of Atlanta that it has recently achieved a 95 percent "save rate" since adopting "No-Kill" protocols in November of 2015; and
WHEREAS, "No-Kill" policies are both an humane and fiscally responsible alternative that can save local governments money while promoting an increase in pet adoptions; now, therefore
BE IT RESOLVED, That we, the Mayor and the members of the Chicago City Council, assembled this sixteenth day of March, 2016, do hereby encourage all Chicago animal shelters to adopt "no-kill" policies; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Committee on Health convene hearings to examine the feasibility of converting the Chicago Department of Animal Care and Control/ D^vid R. Lee Shelter to a "No-Kill" facility.