AUGUSTA – One of the sharpest critics of the state’s Animal Welfare Division on Monday praised efforts by Agriculture Commissioner Robert Spear to overhaul the division and streamline animal welfare complaints.

After a morning hearing before the Legislature’s Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Committee, Donald Harper, state director of the Maine Animal Control Officers Association, said that the changes recommended by Spear “constitute the most positive steps ever taken by the Department of Agriculture.”

“Commissioner Spear acknowledged that yes, we do have problems, and yes, we are going to address them,” Harper said. “We [the state’s ACOs] have probably been one of DAG’s staunchest critics, and yet, with the reform that Mr. Spear has suggested, we can say that for the first time something positive is coming out of Animal Welfare.”

Harper and dozens of other ACOs had joined forces with animal welfare activists from across the state in several hearings held since August that criticized the Animal Welfare Division of the Maine Department of Agriculture for not acting aggressively enough on animal issues.

The most commonly expressed concern was that state officials have not been quick enough to seize abused animals and prosecute offenders. They cited statistics stating that of 45 animal welfare cases last year, not one animal was removed from its owner by the state.

State officials, however, have maintained that they prefer to work with animal owners and educate, rather than prosecute.

On Monday, Spear unveiled a list of short- and long-term solutions, including the establishment of a new advisory board, the Animal Welfare Working Group.

“Their charge will be to report back to me a recommended strategy to strengthen the Animal Welfare Program,” Spear said during the meeting. “They will examine the current program, similar programs in other states, and address the administration and management of the program and [the] training requirements.

“I will also ask them to identify a long-term funding solution to sustain a statewide, integrated working system,” he said.

The 12-member working group will include representatives from the Legislature’s agriculture committee, Maine Municipal Association, Maine Veterinary Medical Association, Maine Federation of Humane Societies, Maine’s ACO Association, Animal Welfare Advisory Committee, Humane Society of the U.S., University of Maine Cooperative Extension Service, and Maine Friends of Animals, as well as a certified ACO, a district attorney and a DAG member.

Spear said the committee should convene shortly after Thanksgiving and should be making recommendations by mid-March 2001.

“From the committee report,” the commissioner said, “we can suggest appropriate legislation that can be amended to a bill that the Department of Agriculture has submitted.”

Shelley Doak, AWD director, explained some of the immediate actions that her division will be taking. Within days, she said, any call to Animal Welfare made on weekends, holidays or after-hours will be handled by the Maine State Police, who will make a referral to the proper AWD staff.

Doak also said that the division, working closely with the Maine Attorney General’s Office, has created a court worksheet that will assist animal welfare agents when putting together court cases.

Doak said the division is strengthening its surveillance and monitoring by creating a contract that will be used as a case management tool between agents, animals owners and private veterinarians.

In addition, Doak is proposing legislation that will give welfare agents subpoena powers for documents such as feed receipts and medical records.

“I like what I’ve heard, both short- and long-term,” Sen. John M. Nutting, D-Leeds, agriculture committee co-chairman said. “If we put this out to a legislative study, it would take too much time. Your working board will be much quicker.”

Nutting added, however, that he would like to see a law requiring veterinarians to report suspected abuse, and a plan to include the state’s horse industry on the board.

“They need to be a stakeholder right up front,” said Nutting. “We have heard lots of testimony regarding horses, and tapping into this industry may be a way to fund animal welfare, rather than just using dog license fees.”

State Sen. Marge Kilkelly, D-Wiscasset, said she has introduced a bill for this session that would provide a voluntary checkoff on tax forms. “This would be a way of tapping into folks’ interests, without generating income by licensing cats or licensing horses,” she said.

State Rep. Wendy Pieh, D-Bremen, agriculture committee co-chairwoman, questioned the commissioner about whether he had included extra funds in his 2001 budget for improvements to the animal welfare division.

“Everything I’ve read and heard indicates the need for more agents,” she said.

“Yes,” he said, adding that the issue of animal welfare is on his priority list. “I don’t believe, however, that when the final budget comes down, there will be anything new.”

Regardless of whether more agents will be hired to augment the eight currently on staff, there may be a possible rearrangement of their coverage area.

While addressing the committee on prosecution issues around animal welfare, Penobscot County District Attorney R. Christopher Almy noticed a map outlining the coverage areas. He explained to the committee that the areas did not correspond with the courts and that realignment would make sense.

“Our ultimate goal,” said Spear, “is to design a system which leads to the curtailment of animal neglect and animal abuse here in Maine.”