REGION
Saturday, February 7, 2015
East Oregonian
HERMISTON
BRIEFLY
Pet Rescue complaints on council agenda
Umatilla
County OKs
reimbursement
for wolf costs
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
The city of Hermiston’s contract with
the Eastern Oregon Humane Society Pet
Rescue will be a topic of discussion at
Monday’s city council meeting after the
city received complaints from residents
about how the animal shelter is run.
The council will discuss a report pre-
pared by City Manager Byron Smith,
which concludes that Pet Rescue is
meeting the requirements of its contract
with the city and recommends the city
council continue with the contract.
Pet Rescue has a $30,000 contract
with the city to house animals the city
has collected and to administer the city’s
dog licensing program.
Suzanne Phillips, who runs a blog
dedicated to criticism of Pet Rescue,
was joined by three other residents
during a January city council meeting in
encouraging the city to examine the hu-
mane society’s practices. They claimed
the shelter had a higher euthanasia rate
than necessary and turns away volun-
teers and offers of help regularly.
“We don’t need to settle for substan-
dard practice and care,” Phillips said.
Pet Rescue owner Beau Putnam de-
clined to comment, but has said through
Facebook and other venues that oppo-
nents’ claims are misleading.
Putnam told the Hermiston Herald
that while the shelter does have to euth-
anize some animals not adopted in order
EO Media Group photo by Sean Hart
Humane Society of Eastern Oregon Pet Rescue volunteer Saige Borrego,
14, Hermiston, feeds the dogs at the shelter in January. The city council
will discuss renewing its contract with the animal shelter at its Monday
meeting.
to make room for new ones, the shelter’s
39 percent kill rate also includes animals
that are too aggressive or sick to adopt
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bring in to be euthanized.
He said the shelter welcomes volun-
teers and recently announced that the
Oregon Humane Society will increase
the number of animals it takes from Pet
Rescue starting this month.
In other news, the council will also
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measures for the May election. One asks
voters to approve an updated version of
the city’s charter and the other amends
that charter to change the city’s munic-
ipal judge from an elected position to a
appointed one.
———
Contact Jade McDowell at jmcdow-
ell@eastoregonian.com or 541-564-
4536.
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ODFW collects six infected ducks in one day
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All 10 ducks had an
H5N2 virus, a mix of Eur-
Wild ducks collected in asian and North American
Morrow County have tested strains. Migratory ducks
positive for highly patho- are immune from the highly
JHQLFELUGÀXWKH¿UVWFRQ- contagious virus’ ill effects,
¿UPHGFDVHVLQ(DVWHUQ2UH- but pass the disease along to
gon of the virulent Eurasian poultry, and raptors, which
virus spreading into the U.S. die.
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West.
The U.S. Department of that highly pathogenic bird
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2 that three wood ducks and waterfowl in different re-
three northern shovelers gions of Oregon. Until
shot by hunters at the Uma- this week, the USDA had
tilla National Wildlife Ref- FRQ¿UPHG RQO\ WZR DYLDQ
uge in early January were ÀX FDVHV LQ PDOODUG GXFNV
shot in Lane and Columbia
infected.
The USDA also con- counties.
The Oregon Department
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shot in Oregon in early Jan- of Fish and Wildlife collect-
uary — three in Columbia ed samples from fewer than
County and one in Lane 100 hunter-harvested ducks
By DON JENKINS
EO Media Group
on Jan. 30 in Morrow Coun-
ty, ODFW’s migratory game
bird coordinator, Brandon
Reishus, said. Finding six
with the disease on one day
“was a little bit surprising,”
he said.
“We’re keeping track of
(the virus in wild birds) as a
service to the poultry indus-
try, so they can know where
it’s at, so they can take ap-
propriate actions to protect
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The USDA has now
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birds since mid-December.
Besides Oregon, highly
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been found in wild birds in
Washington, Idaho, Califor-
nia, Nevada and Utah.
The ducks in Columbia
County, two mallards and a
northern pintail, were har-
vested Jan. 5 at the Sauvie
Island Wildlife Area near
Portland.
The mallard in Lane
County was harvested Jan. 7
at Fern Ridge.
Oregon’s duck season
ended Jan. 25. Reishus said
he expects the USDA to re-
port more cases as the Na-
tional Veterinary Services
Laboratories in Ames, Iowa,
tests samples collected later
in the hunting season.
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virus does not pose a risk
to humans. Captive falcons
have died after eating infect-
ed duck meat.
The virus also has been
found in non-commerical
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gon and Idaho; a game bird
farm in Washington and a
Foster Farms turkey opera-
tion in California.
Eastern Oregon Forum to discuss local climate change
East Oregonian
A facilitated discussion of
what climate trends are being
experienced locally is fea-
tured in the upcoming East-
ern Oregon Forum.
In addition, panelists will
explore the impacts and op-
portunities related to the Blue
Mountain uplands, forests
and local agriculture during
“Climate Change: Impacts to
the Mid-Columbia Basin.”
The forum is Tuesday at 7
p.m. in the Science & Tech-
nology Building room ST-
200 at Blue Mountain Com-
munity College, 2411 N.W.
Carden Ave., Pendleton.
Tickets are $6 at the door and
students are admitted free.
Jeff Blackwood of the
Umatilla County Climate
Change Focus Group will in-
troduce the speakers and fa-
cilitate the panel discussion
and question and answer
session. Blackwood is a re-
tired forest supervisor on the
Umatilla National Forest.
The speakers include
Mary C. Wister, science and
RSHUDWLRQVRI¿FHUDWWKH1D-
tional Weather Service in
Pendleton; David Powell, re-
tired forest silviculturist and
climate change coordinator
for the U.S. Forest Service;
and Chad Kruger, director
of the Washington State Uni-
versity Center for Sustaining
Agriculture and Natural Re-
sources.
The March 10 Eastern
Oregon Forum will focus on
climate change impacts to
ZDWHU¿VKZLOGOLIHDQGSXE-
lic health.
The Eastern Oregon Fo-
rum is a collaborative effort
among leaders from Blue
Mountain Community Col-
lege, InterMountain Edu-
cation Service District, the
East Oregonian, American
Association of University
Women and Harriet Isom,
former United States ambas-
sador.
For more information,
call Karen Parker at 541-
966-3177.
PENDLETON —
Umatilla County Board of
Commissioners approved
paying the Cunningham
Sheep Co. of Pendleton
more than $20,000 to
protect livestock from
wolves.
Cunningham Sheep in
December sought $20,469
from the county’s wolf
depredation compensation
fund. County
commissioners approved
the expenditure at their
meeting Wednesday.
County documents
show the money will
compensate the company
for several costs to abate
wolves, including a new
sheep camp and herder,
two employees for wolf
monitoring and four sheep
dogs.
The county board
also approved a $10,000
economic development
grant to the Umatilla
Chamber of Commerce
& Visitor Center. The
money will come out of
tourism and economic
development funds.
The chamber asked
for a $15,000 grant. The
chamber in its grant
application stated it lost
nearly $15,000 a year
due to restructuring of
transient room tax in
Umatilla three years ago.
That punched a hole in
the chamber’s budget,
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chamber to function on a
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The chamber,
according to the
application, will use the
funds for operating costs
and the manager’s salary
for a few months.
Umatilla County
opposes voter
registration bill
PENDLETON —
The Umatilla County
Board of Commissioners
opposed a state House bill
Wednesday that would
expand voter registration.
House Bill 2177 would
mandate voter registration
through driver’s licenses.
The bill would cost
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the county $35,000 a
year to mail ballots to
approximately 14,000 new
registered voters.
Board chairman George
Murdock questioned
adding so many people
who show no interest in
voting.
But more problematic,
he said, is the “undue
burdens and hardships”
the bill would put on
the county. If the state
attached funds, he said, it
could be a different matter.
The board voted 3-0 on
an order against the bill.
CAPECO trains
people to identify
elder abuse
PENDLETON —
While society has
made great strides in
identifying child abuse,
the Community Action
Program of East Central
Oregon’s Gatekeepers
program wants to elevate
awareness of the other end
of the spectrum — elder
abuse.
Started in Spokane in
1978, Gatekeepers trains
people that regularly work
with elderly people in how
to identify abuse.
The program has since
spread to Portland and
is now in Umatilla and
Morrow counties for the
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Max Jones, CAPECO’s
Gatekeeper coordinator,
said he’s been targeting
bank tellers, mail carriers
and meter readers
because of their frequent
interactions with the
elderly community.
The program
VSHFL¿FDOO\WHDFKHV
employees how to learn
the warning signs of a
senior in need of help,
gather more information
and get them the help they
need.
Jones mostly leads
trainings at workplaces,
but said he’s available to
anyone who’s interested in
the Gatekeeper program.
He can reached at 541-
278-5672.
———
Briefs are compiled
from staff and wire
reports, and press
releases. Email press
releases to news@
eastoregonian.com
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