Anchorage Daily News

A plan to send out animal control officers on bicycles to enforce the city leash law in city parks and other public places has been put on hold, a city official said Tuesday.

The additional enforcement is being put off because the city is short of the money it needs to fully fund Animal Care and Control Center operations, said city contract administrator DeeAnn Fetko. Animal control is run by a private corporation for the city.

Animal control had said last week that it was going to start issuing warnings and tickets to leash law violators. In a city with many thousands of dogs and dog owners, that news raced across the city like a Lab after a tennis ball. It appears to have mobilized dog owners to start campaigning for dog parks, where pets can legally run free.

"It's one of the leading issues we're getting e-mails and citizen complaints and concerns on," said David Ramseur, transition manager for Mayor-elect Mark Begich. People calling are generally opposed to more enforcement and favor the idea of off-leash areas, he said.

The new administration is just listening; it is not taking a position until Begich takes office July 1, Ramseur said.

People have also barraged Anchorage Assembly members with phone calls and e-mails. Many were calling for the city to establish off-leash areas, said Assembly chairman Dick Traini.

"That's what I'm hearing," he said. "People want to see doggy parks. We promised them."

A rewrite of the city's animal laws last year authorized off-leash parks, but the city has yet to create any.

Traini said he will push to get a park created this year. In the meantime, dog owners have been using some parks, such as University Lake Park and Connors Bog, as unofficial off-leash areas.

About 30 people contacted him, Traini said, some saying every dog should be on a leash, and others advocating off-leash areas.

Assemblyman Doug Van Etten said about 10 people wrote or called him -- more than e-mailed him regarding a $250 million port project.

"That's a lot," said Van Etten. The messages ranged in tone from civil to an irate one that described the enforcement plan as Nazilike, Van Etten said. But all were opposed to stepped-up enforcement, he said.

Traini said he became more of a dog park convert after seeing some successful dog parks in San Diego recently, with 45 to 50 dogs roaming around happily.

"It was probably more polite than some Assembly meetings I've been to," he said.

As a first step, Traini said he asked city advisory committees for parks and animal control to get together and develop a dog park plan.

"We should have dealt with dog parks a year ago," Van Etten said.

But if animal control maintains the status quo -- responding to complaints but not actively seeking out violators -- people could manage while an overall city parks plan is updated, Van Etten said.

Animal control officers don't usually go out specifically looking for violators, but the agency is required to respond to all requests for service, Fetko said.

Anchorage contracts with Animal Licensing and Placement Services, a subsidiary of Doyon Universal Services, to run animal control. The city is about $150,000 short of funding for the contract, Fetko said. Animal control managers wanted to hire an officer to investigate animal cruelty allegations, but they lack money to pay for the position, she said.

Instead of launching the bike patrols, the city will be looking next week for recommendations from the Animal Control Advisory Board on what to cut or how to raise more money, she said.

Daily News reporter Rosemary Shinohara can be reached at rshinohara@adn.com or 257-4340.