City Council - City Services Committee Hearing on Docket #0811

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Good morning. For the record, my name is City Councillor Ed Flynn, Chair of the Boston City Council Committee on City Services. July 30th, 2026. The exact time is 12-04... 10-04. This hearing has been recorded It is being live streamed at boston.gov citycouncil-tv broadcast on Xfinity channel 8, RCN channel 82, Fios channel 964 Written comments may be sent to the committee email at ccc.csit.boston.gov and will be part of the record and available to all City Councillors Public testimony will also be taken.

Individuals will be called upon in order, in which they sign up and we'll have two minutes to testify. You can testify virtually or you can sign up right at the back of the room or the entrance of the one I should say. If you are interested in testifying in person, please add your name to sign up sheet If you're looking to testify virtually, please email our central staff liaison Megan at meagan.corgedo at boston.gov for the link and your name will be added to the list. Today's hearing is on docket 0811, order for a hearing to review animal control enforcement, leash law compliance, dog licensing Public Safety in the City of Boston.

The matter was sponsored by City Councilor Aaron Murphy and Edward Flynn, and has been referred to the committee on April 14th. 2026. Today I am joined by colleagues in order of arrival, City Councilor Aaron Murphy and that's it. We are joined by a panel today that includes the City of Boston Director of Animal Care and Control, Alexis Trazinski. who does an outstanding job working on behalf of the residents of this city. I have seen her team at many locations throughout various neighborhoods in Boston and they're always doing

Exceptional work, professional work and communicating as well to the residents in letting them know about upcoming events and how they can support their pet. We're also here with Mike Kiley, who's the Vice President of Animal Protection Division at Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals at Angel. Hospital off of South Huntington Avenue in Jamaica Plain. Before I give my opening comments, I would like to ask Council Murphy if you would like Go first and I will follow after you please.

Awesome, thank you. Thank you for being here. We've had conversations about this in the past. A couple years ago, Councilor Flynn and then Councilor Flaherty had a in-person meeting up at M Street Park with concerns there just To me, it is a balance. I'm a dog owner, dog lover. I bring my dog out for walks. We know that during COVID when our parks were not activated That many residents, and rightfully so, were using them as places to gather and dogs to come together. And even though we're years now out from that still there are places around the city where The dogs still use the park, which now we are getting direct calls, Councilor Flynn and I. One particular concerning incident was the girls softball team over at McConnell Park. Often games had to be stopped in Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you very much. Our seniors and our young kids and people of all ages are using them. I do think we need to be clear on what are the rules It's a conversation that comes up in almost every aspect of city government. What rules are already on the books? We don't think we need to be here to talk about new rules, it's how are we enforcing them? Is it ISD? Is is the Parks Department? I know at those previous meetings with Ryan Woods, Parks was there. I know we invited them. We had hoped they were here because I think they're a big part of this conversation because many times it is in our city parks that this is happening so

Happy that you are here, but know that I know your division, even though you do so much for the animals, it isn't always or never is. So I know that you do have that information, Share that with us so that when we leave here, we can kind of have more of an understanding of what next steps to do. So thank you. Thank you Councilor Flynn.

Thank You council Murphy for adding me as an original co-sponsor Again, thank you to the panel for being here City law requires that dogs be kept on a leash and remain under control when off an owner's property, prohibits dogs from running at large, and mandates that all dogs over six months of age Be licensed annually with proof of rabies vaccination. I do know that the City of Boston Animal Care and Control does tremendous outreach with residents, especially residents with limited income and helping residents get the proper vaccinations for their pet. I've seen it dozens of times across many neighborhoods and I want to say thank you to you Alexis. Despite the existence of these clear and established laws, residents across the city continue to report

concerns regarding off-leash dogs, unlicensed animals and at times inconsistent compliance in public spaces. I could highlight as Councilor Murphy did about in different locations where people were bit by dogs, including in my neighborhood at Meadow Havana Park but also in the south end. The southwest corridor I believe and Peters Park as well A man was attacked in Peters Park and suffered extensive injuries, as well as another dog bite incident that took place in another neighborhood. While laws governing dangerous dogs Incidents are in place. Public confusion remains about the appropriate response to these situations and the legal standards for intervention. Recent high profile cases across the region have further

underscored concern about the use of force in public safety protocols. These concerns have also been raised by both dog owners and those without dogs, reflecting a shared concern about safety accountability Quality of Life and Public Spaces. It is evident that there are ongoing challenges relating to enforcement, response time, jurisdiction, and responsibility My wife and I own a dog. We've had our dog for 13 years, and we got our dog at Angel right at the Mouse Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals We've had our dog for 13 years and I can honestly say, and most pet owners can say dogs and pets are part of the family. And that's why we're here.

We want to provide a safe and healthy environment for families, for dog owners, for dogs, and for the general public as well. Let me go to Alexis. I know you might have a slide presentation, but you have the floor and thank you for being with us.

Thank you. Good morning Chair Flynn and Councilor Murphy. To go over some statistics and functions of the Animal Care and Control Division, we are as you may know under the Parks and Recreation Department. So the division has 19 staff members. Eight staff members are dedicated to the animal care facility where we have, we care for Our stray pets, stray abandoned and displaced pets. We have a volunteer program, foster program, adoption program, pet food pantry and most of the community outreach is driven by the staff members that are at our animal care facility. We have an administrative team, myself which are four that are stationed out of our 1010 Mass Ave location.

The staff there are charged with managing our nuisance and dangerous dog hearings, licensing of pets, the majority of licensing of Doug Bright reports in collaboration with the Boston Public Health Commission. and lots of other data entry including ratings, certificates. And like I mentioned the majority of our calls are dispatched through those staff members with the support of 311 Our animal control officers, we currently have six animal control officer and a supervisor. Those team members can be called away to help support the animals Care Facility and our operation at 1010 Mass App with their primary job function. Our field services, which include stray and injured domestic pets, stray and wildlife, dog bite investigations, cruelty complaints and other public safety concerns.

As you alluded, there are some statutes that we are responsible for enforcing The Master Honor Laws 140, Section 136 through 174F including the Licensing of dogs in the leash of dogs. In our parks, most of our parks have their signage displaying how the parks should be utilized by dog owners that they should be leashed and picked up after. Our officers do respond, patrol are the most common call type that our officers are responding to They can and do issue citations for violations of the lease law, and for failure to comply with the ordinance on licensing state law, in accordance on licensing effects. There is increased demand for our services. Since 2020, there's been an increase in the need for our service.

Some of those are driven by the post-pandemic pet ownership ASPCA According to their data, one in five pets—one in five households acquired pets during COVID and many of them have retained their pets. Animal control divisions and departments across the nation Seeing then as a result increased calls for service around particularly dogs, whether they're off-leash dog bites, dogs that are under socialized and the need for humane education. We responded to 9,519 calls for service in 2025. We also experienced an increased number of animals needing sheltering. The division provides immediate support for animals that are displaced and abandoned. Some of our residents are hospitalized, incarcerated

evicted and sold about 20% of our animals at this point are what we consider charity boarding cases that fall along that criteria. You'll see year-over-year increase in pets that this city of Boston has impounded from 2020 to 2025. We also offer services for our unsheltered residents. So in addition to caring for the pets that are at our shelter, we offer annual pet community clinics focused on rabies vaccines. We have a year-round Pet Pantry but Pet Adoption Program Our shelter has a full-time vet staff that's headed by our medical director. They also do some licensing at our animal care facility. You'll see that we have a little chart showing

Increase of rabies vaccines and licenses at our community clinics, again which is driven by our shelter team from 2024 to 2025. Just to kind of recap, some data points there for you. We've got a 30% increase in the amount of licensed dogs from 2020-2025 A 56% increase in calls for service from 2020 to 2025. And a little over 50% increase the number of cats and dogs impounded at the animal care facility, 30% increase in the overall amount of animals that we pick up. And that's brought either most primarily to our animal care facility, some more into wildlife or brought to our angel MSPCA partner and .

So the graph on the right-hand side has a percentage of call volume by broken down my neighborhood for Boston. We typically refer to Boston proper, although some of the Boston proper locations are separated. In those data points, generally Boston is our waterfront, our south end back bay Fenway and a village in those other neighbors. Finally, we have some pets and wild animals that the shelter has cared for over the past couple of years and some photos of our staff members. Any questions?

Well, thank you. Let me go to our next guest. Mr. Kiley, give a opening statement?

Yeah absolutely. First of all thank you for inviting me here and happy to stand by Alexis in the Boston Animal Control team as we work with them on a regular basis as a charitable organization In the city of Boston, we recognize that the number of pets in the city is rising exponentially while the cost of affordable veterinary care is skyrocketing. So for the lack of affordable care I think we are in a situation where a city function of a municipal organization charged with so much work to protect the city 24-7, with a large animal owning population Leads to some significant challenges in the city. I work nationally with other animal welfare organizations, including animal control facilities and it can confidently say that

A good animal control organization is part of the lifeblood of a city to make sure that both animals and people are protected, and have the resources they need to be successful. Knowing Alexis and her team, they are stretched very thin. They have not enough officers on the street and a complex set of cases that they are dealing with on a regular basis They have to triage constantly and I think when we're talking about issues and interactions with off leash animals, That is a very common problem to solve in a city situation. But given all of the other higher priority issues that they're dealing with, with a small team They are unlikely to be able to address this issue head on and proactively without additional resources. I would also say that one of the things that's glaringly apparent with the

The City of Boston Animal Control is that they have a aged facility that needs replacement as it is insufficient for the number of animals that come through and especially the types of animals that also can threaten the safety of the staff that are handling them. So I think, you know, this is not an uncommon issue. Deals with off-leash issues that result in human safety concerns. I worked in 2012 with the city of Lowell for a very similar issue where residents were getting harmed by loose Loose Dogs, and in fact some of those were so significant and loss-of-life was included in those issues. So it's an important issue. I think, I would say that sometimes this issue gets looked at from the incident backwards instead of looking at the systems issues that are there that need to be addressed

I think more resources for animal control will be one of those solutions to help get to a place of greater safety for the City of Boston residents and pet owners. I think the other issue is a proactive approach to how to address these problems. When we were working with the city of Lowell, they were trying to solve how do we reduce the number of bite incidents with loose dogs? and for most of the year that we worked on this issue, most of focus is on increasing punitive actions. after an incident happens. And I think where we ended up was a more thoughtful approach to it of saying everything that we've been working on For this past year has been through the lens of how to solve the problem after something bad happens Instead of looking through the problem set from how do we keep the bad thing from happening?

And I think what Boston Animal Control does really well is acknowledge that resources are part of the reason that these issues come into play and looking at the ways in which we can proactively address those issues It is no surprise that access to affordable resources isn't the root of this problem, and part of that is information sharing. And part of it is also trust and comfort with animal control. If their only approach is punitive, then they become an untrustworthy place for the city to Thank you. Thank you very much. Be able to curb the issues that you're talking about that led to this conversation and something with more officers allocated to the department and greater resources. I believe that faith in Alexis and her team

that they are the type of animal control department that could start to address this issue proactively if there's an investment in their team. I've worked with animal control in every single city, uh, in Massachusetts and again like I said nationally. and I can confidently say you have one of the very best directors of animal control at your service. And if you provide the support to Alexis that she needs, I'm all the faith in the world that mutual gains would happen as a result. So happy to answer any questions and brainstorm solutions. Also, the MSPCA stands in service with the city to help with this issue as it is a complex issue and takes a lot of time and effort and resources to figure out How do we get to the place where we want to be? I will absolutely say that the MSPCA and Boston Animal Control enjoy a mutually beneficial relationship, and we will help in every way that we can.

Thank you, Mike. Thank you for your testimony and thank you to the team at Angel Memorial that do outstanding work but also thank you for the positive partnership you have with the City of Boston. I do want to mention one of my colleagues did submit a letter of absence, Councilor Enrique Pepén. He will follow up with any additional questions upon reviewing His staff's notes in watching the recording. So I just want to acknowledge Councilor Pepén's letter of absence. I do know, I do wanna note that we have invited these, the Parks Department I do believe they are scheduled to be here, so maybe they're running a little late. So maybe they run their way down now. But having said that, I'm going to go to public testimony first.

There's two or three people virtually, and I want to give an opportunity for the public to hear. But before I do that, is there anyone in this room that is planning to testify? Okay, can we go to virtual testimony please? Good morning, Wendy. Good morning Chris Hey Chris, you're on. Go ahead please.

Well good morning everybody. I'm really glad to hear that we're having this particular hearing and the reason for that is because coincidentally We had this very topic at one of our recent Dorchester Heights Association meetings, which is actually a neighborhood association in South Boston. And the reason why we had that and our major concern is the off-leash dogs that we're experiencing up at our park, which is Dorchester Heights Monument as well as at Carson Beach. I think from my perspective at least during the meeting what we did was we ourselves had brainstormed to determine what the best solutions could be to address the off-leash dogs. We came up with a number of bullet points that we thought we could start to work on to try to address this, And we were looking at it from a multi-prong approach because it's not a single solution that'll fix this particular issue.

I think, from my perspective, one of the most significant things that we could do around this is really public education I think that most people don't understand that there is this leash law. That's in effect, that is the law of the land and most people really know that it exists. So when I had spoken with Lydia who was from the mayor's office I had suggested that we do some sort of a media campaign, and she was going to bring that back to her office and see what they could do to create some sort public awareness around this particular issue. We're also working with the Boston National Park Service to figure out from their perspective what they could do to help resolve the issue. We were thinking more signage could help, we had a number of different suggestions around that and then we also thought we could use some community input

and we're looking at trying to enlist people from the community to actually serve as what we're calling bark rangers at the park just to hand out information, educate people about what the leash laws are to try to address this. The challenge that we find is that it's not just a city issue. We've got multiple jurisdictions that we deal with and at Carson Beach, we have people there who will just let the dogs off leash in the off season thinking that that's okay And the signage says that you can have the dogs at the beach in the off season, but it doesn't really specifically say that it has to be on a leash. So again, it seems like it's more of an education thing that needs to take place and probably in addition to that, as Mike had mentioned an increase in the animal control officers are actually in the field to help enforce these laws because I feel like that's another place where we're kind of falling down. Thank you very much.

Good morning Kyla, you're next. Good morning, Kyla. Can you hear me? Yes we can hear you Kyla go ahead please.

Hi, my name's Kyla. I am a primary care nurse practitioner in community health. I care for patients with dog bites and I've personally been bitten by an off leash pit bull. I understand the need for public safety But I'll say far more commonly, I see the effects of loneliness and isolation. For many people including me dogs are a vital part of companionship and connection. Boston makes responsible dog ownership extremely difficult. Housing is limited, most businesses and workplaces prohibit them There are very few legal places to run your dog. Even for a restaurant to allow dogs on the patio, you have to apply for a special license. Yet dogs need to sniff, play, run and experience the world to remain physically and mentally active. I would say as a responsible dog owner, we owe that to our dogs and it is near impossible to do in Boston because of the way the laws are.

I have invested substantial time in training my dog who has 100% recall. 20 minutes of running after a ball and bringing it back gives more stimulation than an hour on leash can. So I urge you to avoid laws that treat every off-leash dog in every situation as equally dangerous. A trained dog playing fetch under attentive control is fundamentally different than a dog who chases, threatens or injures. and our laws need to recognize that distinction. Blanket lease rules paired with flat fines are inequitable Some residents will treat fines as the cost of dog ownership while other owners will face serious hardship for the same conduct. Effective legislation should offer meaningful alternatives so those of us with dogs who want to have off-leash can follow the law.

Ideas that many other cities do who are more dog-friendly are designated off leash areas within larger parks, scheduled off leash hours, additional dog parks. Thank you for mentioning that already. and permits for dogs that pass a recognized recall in behavioral assessment. Dogs with demonstrated reliable recall should be allowed off leash in appropriate settings under attentive supervision. The law could establish clear standards for distance, voice control yielding to other park users. Attention warnings should be used for low-risk violations, while stronger penalties should be reserved for dogs that chase, threaten, injure or repeatedly disregard rules. Please create laws that are proportionate, equitable and focused on actual risk. Animal control resources should prioritize genuine public safety threats. And while I hear there have been dog bites

I'll say in my neighborhood, there's a pack of wild coyotes that den and roam in my neighbourhood. When I take my dog off leash, I regularly bring a knife Because there's really coyotes here, so please do something about that too. So I'd say rather than treating every off-leash dog as an equal risk. Public Safety and Responsible Dog Ownership are not competing goals. I think with appropriate attention, they really can go hand in hand and Boston can and should protect both. Thank you.

Thank You Kygo Do we have one more? Wendy.

Hi.

Good morning, Wendy.

Thank you for having me.

Glad to have you, Wendy

I live in Brookline with my 11-pound, 12-year old dog Malteser. On Sunday June 28th after my dog and I returned to our apartment building we took the elevator to the second floor And when those elevator doors opened, a neighbor's unleashed 110-pound Australian shepherd dog within moments had lunged at my dog and had my dog's entire head in his mouth. And he bit down... The next few seconds were the most traumatic moments of Maltesers and my life. I quickly grabbed my dog as the owner tried to control his dog, which he couldn't because the leash was not in his hands it was instead on the floor Maltese was bleeding on the top of his head and I screamed profanities and told him that this time I was reporting him because there had been a previous event in March when my dog was attacked by his but the injury was minor and I was persuaded not to report it. He was begging me not to report it this time and I realised my dog was struggling and that there was something wrong with his eye.

I rushed to my apartment and took another look only to be met with a horrific injury. My dog's left eye was out of its socket. I immediately went to Angel's hospital. Some hours later, my son and I were told that they couldn't save Maltese's left eye and that there was... They were very sure that the damage behind his right eye was so bad that a specialist would have to determine the following day If the eyesight could be restored or the eye safe for cosmetic reasons, we were devastated. We were then told we would have to pay the lowest amount of the estimate for Malteser to remain in the intensive care unit overnight. We had to return within a few hours on a Sunday with $4,000 for the treatment to happen. The following morning, the specialist told us Malteser's right eye could not be saved. We had to make a heartbreaking decision to let them remove both of Maltese's eyes that afternoon and clean a deep tooth wound in the top of his head. And then we were told that we would need to pay another $2,000.

We came to find out pretty quickly my dog is considered property, not a living being who is my son in every aspect possible. If he were considered human everything that came next would have been different. The first police officer would have taken the injury more seriously. The other dog would have been removed immediately or at the very least from the floor that I live on. The animal control officer would've responded sooner than three days. It would've mattered that the other, The other owner's dog was unlicensed and that he didn't produce vaccine records. It wouldn't take a month to have a dangerous dog hearing. My son and I wouldn't have had to find a large sum of money just to secure the emergency treatment he needed. We are on a journey of trying to figure out our new normal while having to continue to live on the same floor as the dog that caused these severe injuries because my dog child is not human. We live in fear of another tech.

We need more enforcement with the lease laws, more funding so towns don't have only one animal control officer. High expectations for towns to hold timely hearings and we need everyone to understand that dogs are not property. Dogs are living, breathing family members. Malteser and I continue our journey but the trauma is overbearing most days. A leash may have changed that outcome. Thank you for having this hearing and we're trying to make positive changes for those of us who comply to the dog laws, and for doing this for our dogs. Thank you.

Thank You Wendy thank you for your comments thank you Kyler and Chris as well I'm going to go to City Councillor Murphy to open up the Q&A period. I'm gonna give each city councilor at this round, at least six minutes and we'll take it from there. Councilor Murphy you have the floor.

And thank you for your presentations, but also those who called in. I think it to me shows the two extremes and there's always Not always, but when there's a threat, a real threat or an attack then I do think we need to address that differently. But what I get a lot of calls or see just myself out around the neighborhood is I would say the other end of it like And it does seem, if you agree or not but there's definitely a shift in culture where There was a time, and I think this does kind of violate a lot of the disability laws where dogs are now just going into supermarkets or places where dogs didn't go before. Thank you for watching.

We would hope everyone is, but unfortunately we know that's just not true. There are irresponsible parents to children too, unfortunately right? Like, we just know that we're never going to be in a place where Everyone takes their dog for long walks, throws the ball for 20, trains them well. And like Kyla was mentioning and that's wonderful. And most times I do see dogs in places maybe off leash and I can tell right away that that is the type of dog. No concern and no worry at all. But what happens, and it's kind of more like on the city level questions of confusion. What happens when the ref is stopping a softball game or Parents are having to leave a park. because dogs are like in where the slides and stuff are, and their kids don't feel safe or they don't fell safe. Who were they calling? Is it 311? Is is 911? Is animal control directly? Who's coming out?

To be quite honest, I've never seen the monitoring. So is there a group of code enforcement from ISD? Is it just your staff which we know you are Understaffed in so many ways. Do they patrol like park rangers would patrol it or are they only coming out to a certain place if a call is made? Can you just kind of talk through what that looks like for residents?

So first, you can reach Animal Care and Control either through 311 or directly. We do have officers on 24 hours a day seven days a week. Our patrols are our most common service type for the city In 2025, we had about 1800 calls for patrols. It is very difficult given our staffing level to have really sustained proactive patrols because the officers Call priorities for residents in immediate danger for animals at large, animal cruelty and welfare concerns. But we do respond If there's an immediate safety concern, 911 would be the first responder because on any given day and we have three or four officers for an entire day.

And if they're in West Roxbury and the call is in East Boston, it may be difficult for us to arrive at a time of question.

So is it your office who then initiates the call to 911? If needed? Yeah.

Typically, if we determine that there's an immediate safety risk, we would contact 911 ourselves. But ideally the person experiencing the emergency is calling 911 so they can provide the dispatcher the most accurate information

On the page where you list the number of calls, and I know Dorchester is the largest neighborhood. It has the most number of call but one question is can you just list the type of calls that come in? and then also kind of surprised I mean the south end, I know is smaller has so many dogs though like so would I assume by reading these numbers that less calls could possibly mean Better Dog, like more responsible dog ownership? More dog parks? I mean, I assume you've looked at this data. Do those neighborhoods have better access to places to run their dog or is it just Less need for calling because dogs aren't off-leash or dogs arenít fighting other dogs.

So I can definitely give you a breakdown of call type to correspond with the data that they gave Our underserved communities, particularly Dorchester does require the biggest number of resources and it isn't really a factor that Dorchester gets more patrols. that they're more in need of assistance because the residents are destabilizing with housing insecurity, challenges around getting housing that accept their pets particularly large breed dogs and so we So dedicate our resources to calls based on a protocol called priority. Again, those are animals or human beings in immediate risk and animals that The data point for the South End

Please recognize that some of the group that's called Boston, the way our system is, incorporates.

Correct. That makes sense. If we could go back to the if there's a park that often like do you have what kind of hot spots that you're aware of around the city is it Dorchester Park often I see and then you see on those social media pages there's certain spots you see where people are very vocal about concerns and then as we all know when you said underserved communities there's neighborhoods where there should be a concern and it's a definite Quality of Life Issue, but maybe the residents aren't calling in and making those calls to have support come and support them.

So it's difficult for us to support communities if that's the case, if they're not contacting And one of the ways we try to make people aware or comfortable engaging with us are our low-cost events, right? We come to our residents and provide services so that they Don't think animal care and control or animal control officers are going to just snatch their animals up. So, you know that is our way of trying to let people know that we are there We do know some neighborhoods have concerns about engaging with animal care and control because of some of the immigration policies. They're afraid that they'll come in and be deported, we certainly have had those types of calls and I certainly lost your first point.

No, no, it's fine. And one last thing, Constable Flynn, if that's fine? We'd have to work alongside the state for our DCR parks, which there are a lot of. But when it comes to our City of Boston parks, are their clear signage at each park about the dog I know like you know Garvey Park recently got a full renovation and we put a dog park in but most dogs are on the turf softball field right so You see, or in McConnell Park everyone drives by on the expressway coming into work and you see that the dogs aren't over either walking on the beach which dogs love to be or on the path but they're on the field. Is there clear signage to then make sure we can enforce it?

Yeah, so one of the things that we are really interested in is education. And so when you have these areas where We know our sort of quote-unquote hot spots, Millennium Park, M Street Park, Victory Road. We know the dogs are off leash there. We do check to make sure there's adequate signage and we do communicate back with different parts of the Parks Department to make sure that those signages are in place. The off-leash dog issue is going to be something that's going to need to be continually addressed, it's sort of like people Parking, you know in a legal park it's those people speeding like those are quality of life concerns that need an agency able to continuously work on.

Do we ticket people though? Because I know people do mostly get a ticket if they're locking a handicap ramp or in front of a hydrant, but are we ticketing? How many tickets a year do we give out?

Yeah, so I provided that data point too. So in 2025 we issued 2,774 citations. Many of the citations at first offense are warnings and this is our opportunity to educate residents around proper pet ownership. One of the other things that we have rolled out about a year-and-a-half ago or maybe longer, time seems to go by so quickly is when we impound our stray dogs, the dogs that are roaming at large. We are returning to owners in the field which provides the officer an opportunity to observe the environment of dog as kept and provide the owner with education There. And then it also instills, like, goodwill, right? This is a service that the city's providing. This is how we're engaging with you and this is our opportunity to educate you and not just issue a citation.

Awesome. Thank you. Thank You, Council.

Thank-you, Council Murphy I know, Council Murphy some of the questions you highlighted were generated or could have been answered by PAC's department but PAC's Department has not shown up yet. If they don't show up, we'll have to send a list of questions to them asking for a follow-up. But it would've been easier if they were here answering questions.

Chair Flynn, so we do have our Deputy Commissioner Breeze Outlaw in the audience from Parks and Recreation.

Okay would you like to join us?

Breeze is relatively new to parks

Thank you. How are you? Good.

Thank you for coming down. Could you Could you state your name for the record?

Breeze Outlaw, Deputy Commissioner Policy Administration for Parks Department.

OK. Thank you. Alexis, can you tell me how many animal control offices we currently have in the city of Boston?

We have six officers and one animal control officer supervisor.

One supervisor.

Correct. We do have one vacant position that I did speak with Parks Commissioner and I know it's being prioritized, so we hope to have that position released very soon.

Is that of those seven, is it Monday through Friday or is it weekends including?

Yeah. So there are Monday through Sunday at different shifts.

Monday through seven days a week?

Correct.

Excellent.

The officers are assigned what we call on-call from 8.45pm to 6am on a rotating basis, so they have their tour Thank you. I'm just looking at the chart and the

Citations issued have gone up significantly since 2021, and so I credit your team for excellent work really. But explain to me, Alexis, so the citations went up, but the patrols in 2021-2400 and then in 2025... Just above 1700. Tell me what a patrol is.

Yeah, patrol is an officer going out to a park to identify dogs that are being kept in violation of the ordinances and statutes.

Okay so even though Even though patrols are down, citations are up. Is that accurate to say?

That is accurate. So our citations not only just issue for patrols, they're issued when we go out to calls, animal bite investigations Cruelty Investigations, Dogs at Large.

Okay, cruelty and neglect has gone up significantly 2021-194 2025 Almost 550. What is the reason for, or what is a usual reason while you write someone up or provide action as it relates to cruelty and neglect.

Yeah, so in terms of citation we do issue citations for violation of what we call the tethering law which is keeping a dog in a space that is Inadequate, whether it's not clean enough or not safe enough. The cruelty statute is actually a felony and it's forcible by animal care and control so we do work alongside the humane Law Enforcement Officers of the MSPCA, ANGEL and the Animal Rescue League of Boston along with members of the Boston Police Department.

Okay. And Breeze on As it relates to not from the animal care and control, but as it relates the parks department. Does parks also have specific People that also do patrols as well, or is it just for the animal care and control?

We have our park rangers that also just general patrol. And they also support the animal control.

And those numbers are included in these numbers? No. Oh, they're not? Okay. Do you have those numbers that park rangers have... Issued Citations or Cruelty and Neglect.

I can look and see if there's some information that we can get and forward that to you.

Okay, and how many park ranges do we have?

So I'm new on the job. I started a little over a month ago, so I can follow up on that number and the accuracy of that as well.

OK. That's fine. And then let me ask a question to Mike. Mike, when there is cruelty or neglect and there's some injury to the dog tell me what Your team does in supporting the dog, supporting the owner. And how do you deal with the fact that maybe the person does not necessarily have the funds to pay for the medical care?

Yeah, so I think what the MSPCA law enforcement officers are charged with they are especially state police commissioned officers that are charged enforcing the Massachusetts animal cruelty laws. which are at a felony level charge, so it is pretty high bar in which we're going to seize and prosecute on the animal cruelty laws. So that's gonna be criminal neglect physical abuse cases, things along those lines that elevate above the citation level issue. So there are That is something that we work with and deal with alongside animal control when it rises to that level, and we work Boston Police Department as well. When it comes to a complaint that we field in which the issue is based on resources, then our officers have multiple tools Connect the person into resources through our community outreach program, our community clinics, things along those lines to get care for their animal.

Under the animal cruelty laws, failure to provide veterinary care is one of the enforceable animal cruelty law that's on the books. And when resources are the reason the person's not providing treatment That's where charitable dollars are used to try to help close that gap. It's not always able to be done given the severity of it, but if it is something that is treatable, we usually are working to solve that problem by adding a resource to it.

Okay. I have time for one more question at this round, and then I'll go to Councilor Murphy or take public testimony. But let me ask one question, Mike, A common question, a common complaint I have from the elderly, especially the elderly. When the elderly have an older dog they're trying to give their dog medicine and they're having a very difficult time doing that. And they don't necessarily have the strength any longer to, if they try to put the medicine in some food They try to put the medicine in some food. Sometimes it works, at a certain point of time it no longer works but they just don't have the strength any longer to kind of force it down the dog's throat

Sounds a little difficult to say that, but But what can you do to support elderly people that love their pet, that are struggling to get the medication they need a medication to their dog?

Yeah, it's a situation that I don't think we've come across very often. But I think if I were problem solving for that, there is a deep connection between elder services and humane organizations to try to provide Thank you. Thank you very much. If it's a one-time solution or a medical solution that might be able to solve that more long term. We have worked in coordination with human service groups and humane animal organizations to try to close that gap. And I think, not to take the stage too much but I do think all of the things that we're talking about are resource gaps.

I think when we look at the number of officers covering the time that they have and the issues that the city is concerned about We are talking about a reality in which you're covering some 50 square miles and some 700,000 residents many of which are pet owners. The number of calls that Alexis mentioned of over 9,000 calls for six officers I think what the reality is that they are in a situation where the best that they can do is be responsive. When I think what you are asking for is proactiveness. And I think that's where, that is a resource gap issue There is no officer group that would be able to handle that number of calls over that distance and over that period of time without more resources. And so I think if adding dog parks and adding those types of resources are good, But patrols, I think, would need an additional officer bandwidth.

And I don't mean to beat that drum too hard, but I do think I know what Alexis and her team deals with. They are last week or two weeks ago removing eight Dogs living in a basement in the middle of the night responding to injured people from a dog attack, an animal suspected of having rabies that could be a public health issue. They are spanning such a significant level of issues All the things that you're talking about with off-leash dogs are going to be really hard to solve for without more resources. And within that, I think there are the people who testified who are following the rules and know the rules There's some people that no matter what rules and enforcement you put in place are going to violate those. And then there is the middle, and that is the biggest majority of it. And a lot of that is access to affordable resources including information.

And I think when we talk about signage, I think it's worth noting that signage in multiple languages is an important part of that resource of sharing information and recognizing that a diverse community means that we need and many different solutions to try to get the results that we all want. So I would love to brainstorm that with all of you, I would like to join these two amazing leaders too with the city council to try figure out how can we sustainably address Thank you, Mike.

I'm going to go to Councilman Murphy, but just one quick question and if you could just give me a quick response, Mass Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Can you give out a citation a dog owner because of their dog being off leash? We are not, we're not a municipal organization so we're able to do that. Okay. Councilor Murphy I'm gonna well before that Sir, would you like to give public testimony? If you can just sign in briefly. You can sign in after but you can speak now. and just state your name, where you're from. Welcome and glad to have you here. You can go right there.

Good morning.

Good Morning to you.

Thank you Councillor Flynn, Councillor Murphy for this opportunity. My name is Myron Adamson. I am a resident of Dorchester. Been here 30 plus years, don't mean to date myself but long time resident and pedestrian. I like to freely walk the city street without fear or reservation, care or concern of being bit I think the young ladies who spoke earlier about their dogs spoke very deeply and compassionately. And it's understood that many of our residents have a deep and personal connection to their dogs or their cat, or their ferret, or the bird, whatever it might be. However, there are I believe personally I've had nearly, I've two near run-ins with a dog. And it wasn't fun if I may say.

I'm not sure how to best describe the feeling when you have to make a fight or flight decision in that moment when you're having a stare down with an unleashed, unmuzzled pit bull. or when you're feeling threatened that okay this dog is now coming off of its property and you're just casually walking by, Should you now have to cross the street to defend yourself, or what else might you have to do to defend your self? So, I'm not anti-dog. I'm anti getting bit by a dog. That's my concern. So on behalf of other residents, pedestrians who like to walk the city streets without fear or reservation and care or concern about being bit. What recourse do we have if in the event, God forbid, we are bit by a dog? An unleashed un-muzzled dog.

Thank you much for your time and opportunity.

It was an excellent question. Before I go to Councilor Murphy, we usually don't go back and forth with the public on questions We kind of give the opportunity for the public to ask, to give a comment or a question but it's not necessarily the panel's job to answer that question. Would anyone like to respond to that comment or question? I think it captures the essence of why we're here, but just want to ask anyone if you would like to comment on it Fine, if you don't want to comment on it, that's also fine. I just wanted to give you the option.

Yeah, so I can take that question. So there's a couple of things that animal control officers are able to do Do in the situation that the gentleman explained. So we do respond to those types of calls fairly frequently, dogs, unconfined dogs or roaming dogs and we do issue citations for unleashed For chronic or repeat offenders or dogs that are dangerous, we do have a hearing process. It is 146 and 157 in the MPLs where we could have a resident submit a complaint The hearing officer can impose restrictions on how the pet owner is managing their pet. Additionally, there's a strict liability for dog owners under 140-155 Thank you for joining us.

Contacting us either directly or by 311 so that we can speak with the owner, engage with them, provide education and enforcement would be the very first step that I would recommend someone take.

Thank you, Alexis. I want to go to Council Murphy for the second round. Council Murphy will go with five minutes. Council Murphey of the floor.

Thank you. And Michael, you said it in your opening statements and I think that's something we talk about a lot here. That I wish we always were proactive not reactive where after something happens but with the understanding, which I already did know. I know Council Flynn you have visited Alexis and the team there as myself a few times where not just does your building need upgrades um you know your staff does an exceptional job so Do just want to thank them publicly because I do know and these numbers show that the need for them is increasing, but we're not giving more staff or resources. So that is something that we have Look at closely because we will continue to see I think more concerns and complaints, but a direct question is How can we do a better job when it comes to communication and education? And public awareness.

Because what I do see, either I've seen it publicly or I hear people call in is you end up having residents either at the beach, at a park where the dog owner and President is having conversation that sometimes gets heated about, well of course I can be here with my dog or you need to put your dog on a leash and oftentimes the answer is oh he's friendly she's friendly but to me so It is that question of, how do we get to a place where there's consistent enforcement? But I think we have to start with what is the rules and the laws because many times people just and so on. And I think part of that answer is, I know you fall under the umbrella are there to support? You mentioned the parks rangers.

I know we have, you know, public works that are at our parks cleaning so if you could kind of touch on that also what other city departments are they to support this?

Yeah so specifically when we talk about patrols and We do work with Boston Police. We came in to engage with a community service officer around patrols because sometimes people will walk away from us, you know. And we're not able to stop them so we haven't done that Franklin Park, sorry, Franklin Blackstone Parks in the South End. We've done that at M Street, we've done it at Millennium. To go back to a question asked earlier about dogs in supermarkets and stores, it's important for us to recognize Some disabilities are invisible, and so even though the animal may not look like a quote-unquote regular pet, they don't have to be marked in any way. They don't wear any special tags or clothing identifying them as service animals. We want to be really careful

that we are allowing our residents with disabilities to be able to use service dogs and functions that they're needed to. I think that people are more aware of the support that service animals can provide to our population, but where we have pet owners that are sort Holding their animals as service animals. Those are where we do refer those calls to inspection services, the health department.

So it's ISD Health Department?

Yes, that we do for those types of calls too.

And one question, and I don't know if it's directly related to just people own more pets. And I would assume the majority of the cruelty neglect a problem. Well they could be cats too I guess but The number went from 2021, 194 and now it's up to 544 calls last year alone. And I assume in 2026 we're on track to be probably even higher because jumped up considerably. So do we know?

I think it's also socioeconomic factors, right? Again, housing disability. People can't even feed their own families and that's certainly not an excuse to neglect your pet But access to resources is a big challenge for our residents and they also access the animal sheltering. The shelters are sometimes overcrowded, we can't always take pets at that exact moment where residents are needing We could certainly do more in terms of outreach, but we do have two excellent organizations that can provide services in the community. MSPCA and Animal Rescue League. They both run pretty robust pet supply and food and they're out there. It's really amazing to see the community service teams out there, but yeah we are... And then people are reporting more right? So they're seeing something or saying something and we're seeing these animals coming in and they were under condition

Again, some of those things are they can't afford the grooming for their pets and so the situation gets out of control. They don't know who to ask for help. And they don't want to ask help because they don' t wanna be criminalized. It's a cycle. And that's why we think it's so important to make sure that we're not just coming from punitive function, that we really let people know that we are here for them and just to kind of like go back to a question that Councilor Flynn asked, you know, about sort of where are the animal control officers? We don't ever see them. We're there! This month alone, Like Mike said, we pulled eight dogs out of a basement. We pulled 11 cats out of the residence where a person was evicted. We pull four dogs out the closet. One with a walk-in skeleton. We've pulled a dog at Crate and Ashmont Station that was severely matted. Those are the types of calls that they're responding to.

And then, they got to go back out and they have patrol parks, right? So I'm certainly not minimizing it is a public safety issue but The emotional impact on the officers that are seeing these animals, because we all love animals in these states. It takes them a little time to recover and they have to report right around and clean out their vehicles. And so the six or seven officers It really, we need to work towards a goal of having additional members able to provide the department with support. You know, many years ago when I joined Animal Care and Control many, many, years ago we had park officers. And so one of the things I had mentioned to Commissioner The Big Missionary Outlaw is, you know, and we haven't had a chance to kind of really tease it out because they really are really new, is whether we could have park officers again or potentially seasonal park officers in the summertime where our

Call volume is higher, sort of like the park rangers do. Maybe that would alleviate some of the work that we have to do and allow us to address complaints that are more priority.

The biggest takeaway for me is the need for more resources, and if it's park offices. And I know Councilor Flynn is a strong advocate about our police numbers are down also so patrols this summer a lot of neighbors are asking where the police on the bikes I don't see them in the neighborhoods and you would see them you know drive through the Hemi Park you'd see them at Millennial and not that they were tasked just to be there to enforce dog leash laws but their presence was supportive in that. And so I think it's all tied together to the staffing, but thank you, thank you.

Thank you Councilor Murphy. I wanted to highlight, I know as mentioned earlier The critical role service dogs play in support of persons with disabilities is exceptional and we want to provide as much support and service as we can to persons with In support of them, I believe it's really a civil rights issue as well. Ensuring that they have equal access to all spaces with the service dog I do some work with the disabled American veterans and this is an issue we focus on frequently as well. Alexis,

I use this opportunity often just to educate the public, but are residents able to unleash their dogs at a park and watch their dog from a distance?

No, so dogs have to be leashed in our parks unless they're in a designated off-leash dog space. And Unleashed includes dogs on a leash that no one's holding. So, you know, that is the expectation from park users. On my lunch breaks when we get them because you guys know it can be a little chaotic You know, I was able to observe a resident trying to enter Blackstone Park. And it's a dog off leash and she has a stroller. So she's like contemplating whether she should go in or not with the stroller because the dogs are so This is not something that we don't know is happening. We are aware and we really are trying, and I do think that one of the great things that's happening in this conversation there is an opportunity for us to provide some more education and maybe using our social media. And I certainly can, I'll take my cup on the offer potentially use his team to kind of help us with

Because they're really, really great at public information campaigns. So potentially that could be something that we could look at and love the thought of potentially adding signage in different languages because sometimes we forget, right? That one's not able to be reading in English. Yeah, thank you. And some calls are

The concerns I get are from seniors. Not with the dog, just walking through the park and they're concerned about their safety. They get nervous when and Unleash Dog, I don't blame them. But they also are part of the conversation and also should be included in, should be respected but it is, It's difficult for a senior citizen or a person with disabilities, or sometimes you see a parent or guardian with their little kid at a park and with an unleashed dog. It's very uncomfortable for them to be there. They almost have to leave the park if they see that, they just don't want to take any chances but that's why I go back

It's about a public education awareness campaign. I don't necessarily want to see more laws written on the books, I just want us to enforce the laws that are on the book But besides enforcing the law, I do think residents have a responsibility To be respectful to each other, be respectful their neighbors. Be respectful to senior citizens, to families, to persons with disabilities, to other dogs that have their dog on a leash But I just think there has to be a little bit of respectful dialogue and communication to ensure everybody knows the law, because I think sometimes we can't assume everybody knows what the law is.

And I know you mentioned, Alexis, you might do a little bit more work with the Mass Society of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals about maybe doing some of that type of public education awareness campaign. Something you could continue working on? Okay.

One of the additional things that I might suggest as brainstorming is there's information sharing to the public and there's Information Sharing within the city government. And I do think sometimes what happens with animal control It's looked at as an animal issue and not a human issue when the reality is those two are fully intertwined. I do think there would be an opportunity for information sharing within the city police officer departments to identify Thank you, Mr. Chair. in this room, and also I think to the gentleman who brought up you know the concern of safety of walking down the street. I think that is a really high need and when I talk about resource gaps and additional resources

What I can almost bet without looking at the data is there's probably two data points that aren't being looked at beyond the off-leash component. One is, where is like the socioeconomic component? I would bet that the most under-resourced parts of the city are where the highest rates of incidents are happening, which calls for more sharing of resources. And I would guarantee Thank you very much. lack of resources for affordable spay-neuter that I think needs multiple agencies, both municipal and charitable organizations to come together to figure out how to provide more resources to reduce the number of incidents through techniques like spay-neuter and access to affordable dog training techniques, and things on those lines.

What we did in the Lowell City Council was to form an animal advisory committee that was city councilors, professionals both in the nonprofit and municipal sector and citizens to come together to figure out How do we address this very complex issue that needs more time and energy spent on it to be able to actually come up with practical solutions to get to a place where everyone feels good about the animal interactions in the community? So again, I volunteer as tribute if something like that becomes something the City Council would like to pursue.

Thank you, that's excellent Mike. And maybe my last question, I don't necessarily need an answer now but Can I get a list of neighborhoods in the city that have dogpox and that don't have dog pox as well?

Could you include state ones also? Good job. Yeah. Because sometimes a neighborhood has one that's DCR.

But one final question, but when there are dog parks Peter's Park has a confined dog park where you are able to let your dog off the leash inside Peter's park, this narrow little park inside this major park. But do you still have incidents at that confined area with dogs? Yeah.

We do. I mean, they get in scuffles. They're animals, right? Yeah. And you can't read what they're thinking. Well, at least you read the body language. But we do. We have minor scuffls, bites and scratches. that will issue a quarantine order. That's pretty. Anytime you have a group of animals together, you can come to that. But moreover, I think there's a lot of value in the dog parks. We're a proponent of it and I love that Parks is looking at when they do redesigns of their parks that they are looking actively at adding spaces If a dog off the leash attacks or bites a person,

Is the city responsible?

So Massachusetts has a strict viability on dog owners. It's the MDL 140, 16155. They're responsible. I mean there are some situations where an owner may not be responsible for their dog biting In a scenario that you described, the liabilities on the pet owner for having their dog kept in violation of the statute.

Okay so Boston is not responsible?

or someone's dog attacking another person.

I have heard complaints too that If there are two dogs that are fighting or if animal care and control does come, at times it can be difficult just to get someone's name and address that was involved in An incident where the public will not at times have a conversation with a city official trying to do their job of identifying what happened and how we prevent it. The person will just kind of walk away from an incident. Is that common?

So you're talking about as it relates to a dog bite investigation or just in general?

No, sometimes just if you're Have any type of incident at a dog park, and if you are approached by a city official, sometimes the public will just not provide the name. They'll just walk away.

Oh, yeah. So we can't detain... We don't have the authority to detain anyone so people do walk away but when we're talking specifically around fight investigations We rarely encounter situations where the parties are not forthcoming. When we do, we get support from the Massachusetts Department of Agriculture Resources because of the rabies quarantine law. So it does happen, but it's pretty seldom.

Okay. And what is our final question? Then I'll give an opportunity to Murphy to have a closing statement. What is our message as a city to dog owners that continue to have their dog unleashed at City Parks?

Yeah, so we feel that people should be able to use the parks in a manner that's consistent with their expected park usage. So leashing your animals so that everyone can enjoy the parks is just part of being a good neighbor And then when we do encounter these people, we will attempt to enforce the leash law. We will issue citations accordingly. So our message is lease your dogs unless they're in a designated dog park. and Be Patient While the City increases to park recreation spaces for dogs. But it is needed, now I have a large breed dog so I get it. You need your dog to be able to run around like one of the members, Lubitu, As Simone alluded to, you do want to have places for your dog to run. But allowing them to run around where the kids are playing on the field

are not using the dedicated off-leash dog spaces really isn't helping with the argument that we should increase more. And you see that at M Street, right? With the dog park across. yet we still have many dog owners allowing their dogs to run off leash over the field.

That's right, well thank you. Councillor Murphy would you like to give a closing statement please?

Yes just One more thing. Thank you. And I know the staffing numbers and the power of that is limited, but the way the leash law is written, and I know it would maybe be extreme, you know that our city workers they attempt to enforce the leash law or they can't retain if needed but is it written in a way that For every person with a dog off a leash, you could hand them a written citation? Yes. But how do you give a citation to somebody in a park, like Councilor Flynn alluded to, if they're not willing to tell you who they are? Right. We can't. And I know this isn't on you, so where's the teeth in this law if people know they can just kind of laugh at you and walk away and be like yeah good luck figuring out who I am. I'm not going to tell you who I is.

In your own yard, you could issue a ticket to the address of the home. I know there's times when you mail tickets out but What happens in that situation?

So the citation data that you received, so we don't write tickets except for sheltered animals if we don�t know who the party is. So we do rely on The corporation of public to provide us the information. The first offense for many of these citations are warnings, and so that's a great way to be able to collect information. Hey you know we're giving you a warning and this is why So you're not, these are not phantom. I mean they could be lying right? But while we have a number of people walking away, we do have people who are cooperatives.

Do you collect the data on The people who just don't cooperate?

Not in a way that's easily segregated. So yes, in our reports the officers do note on their log sheets They do note that there are three off-leash dogs and all parties walked away. And then we do report those numbers back to 311, so they do live there where someone could collect it. It's just not easy to separate it out.

And is that data connected to a neighborhood or park also?

No.

Do you know what I'm saying, like so we could kind of see which parks have more people not cooperating? just to maybe put more resources there or more signage, right? It comes back to the education and communication of it all.

No, it's just a note in their report you know so we're not it's not like we're writing an actual ticket with no one attached to it where we can pull that data okay all right that's good to know thank you council well

I want to say thank you to the panel. The outstanding testimony for being here, for the important work that you're doing across the city This is an important issue impacting every neighborhood of the city. Pets are part of our family. We want to provide safe and healthy opportunities for our pets Thank you for joining us today. This particular issue, but we also know that pets are part of the family and we have a responsibility to provide

An opportunity for care and love for our pets, but also balancing that with the safety and health of residents in public parks especially. It's about respecting each other It's about knowing the law, it's about supporting each other. Being understanding at times compromising in public education and awareness campaigns as well But I am confident in city officials that they are doing a very good job partnering with exceptional organizations such as the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and I do believe residents want us to work together, to continue to make progress and just support our pets. Pets are part of the family. This docket 0811

Before I adjourn it, I do want to say thank you to my city council central staff colleagues for being here and for doing an excellent job as well. Greatly appreciated. This hearing docket 0811 is adjourned.