Madison Park

Charlotte Mecklenburg Animal Control for decades has had rabies clinics 2nd Saturday of every month.   You can't bring dog sooner than 30 days prior to expiration, and you have to bring proof other than rabies tag of prior vaccine in order to get the 3 year shot.   

I get up to have one of my dogs vaccinated with a three year today.  I arrive early as there is always a line.  Even arriving early today the line was already forming when I pulled in lot.  

Clinic opens at 8 am. Staff comes out to set up a tent.  They no longer have you come inside.  I guess this has something to do with covid.   You no longer can buy a license.  That use to be part of the process, before the dog gets the vaccine.   If you want a license you have to wait until the Animal Conrol center opens at 10 am and go inside and buy one.    So that means someone could arrive at 7 and get in line. Get a shot at 8 or after and have to wait two more hours to buy a license.   

The officer walks the line and says we are only doing rabies shots today.  He says just 1 year shots as we don't have a vet today.

I tell him my dog expires end of this month and I have a second dog due in Dec. 2022.  He said you could probably wait on this one.   He said try October.  I said the other dog can't come that early by your own rules.   Not sooner than 30 days.  He then said hope we have a vet at one of the fall clinics.

So that to me means they have only been giving 1 year shots.   I don't even think there is a difference between the shots.   I have been told prior it was not any.  

Anyway don't go to the clinic if you are wanting a 3 year shot.  It will be a waste of time.

City needs to remove the 3 years shot from the web site or make sure they provide them in the future. 

Anyway I am not ANTI Animal Control.   I am ANTI Rabies Clinic at the moment.

What is really dumb is the clinics are always crowded.   Now instead of possibly needing to come over just every 3 years, they literally are making you return every year and that does nothing but adds to the crowds.

Someone at Charlotte Animal Control is NOT THINKING.

I heard there is a new director.   Possibly that is the issue! 

The process has worked fine for two decades.

Years ago when I first moved to Charlotte twice a year you could go to any Mecklenburg County vet during certain weeks and obtain 1/2 price rabies shots.

Then the county / city switched to the free clinic 2 Saturday morning of every month. 

Mr. Doss,

Thank you for sharing your concern with Mayor Lyles and Councilman Bokhari. I do apologize for the inconvenience this caused. We reached out to the director of AC&C to share your concern, and get clarity on the process. Please see the below response from Dr. Fisher.

Good Afternoon,

Animal Care & Control does offer a free rabies and microchip clinic each month, which has been done for years.

During COVID 19 we changed our practices to conducting an all outdoor clinic in order to increase community member and staff safety as much as possible.  With the clinic transitioning to an exclusively outdoor service our customer service team is not available to process licenses as there are no computers outside, instead we have enhanced the web portal so that our community members are able to renew or complete the purchase of a new license online. 

Since opening services back up, AC&C has continued to conduct these clinic outdoors as it is a significantly safer environment for pets and people.  There is more room to spread out while waiting in line and ensure separation of animals who are not necessarily friendly to other pets or people.  This also allows us to have our customer service team fully staffed on Saturdays when we open to the public for all other services. 

As far as the 1 year vs. 3 year rabies vaccines, Mr. Doss is correct, AC&C uses the same vaccine which is labeled for one or three years.  Unfortunately, under North Carolina State Statute only a licensed veterinarian or a licenses veterinary technician under the supervision of a licensed veterinarian is able to administer a vaccination that is valid for three years.  Our state does however allow for the appointment of Certified Rabies Vaccinators who go through a training provided by the NC Public Health Veterinarian which allows them to administer vaccinations that are valid for one year.  So while the vaccination may be labeled for three years by the manufacturer, our current state statute only allows for that vaccine to be valid for one year if administered by a Certified Rabies Vaccinator. 

At this time Animal Care & Control only has one Shelter Veterinarian position on staff.  This position provides both shelter medical and shelter surgical services during the week and is therefore needed in the facility Monday-Friday.  We were fortunate for many years to have a veterinarian serving in a management role on staff that does not require a veterinarian to fill it which allowed us a small amount of flexibility when it came to these staff members schedule adjusting to assist with Saturday clinics.  Recently the veterinarian filling a management role took a promotion within another municipality in North Carolina, so as of this month we have had to transition to using our certified rabies vaccinators to staff these clinics. 

I will follow-up with our web team today to ensure that the three year option is removed from the website so that we ensure accurate information is being provided to our community members. 

Please let me know if you need any additional information from me. 

Thank You!

New Updated Info