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MU's Veterinary Hospital Continues 24-Hour Emergency Services Agreement

Chris Green
/
KBIA

The City of Columbia renewed an agreement with MU’s veterinary hospital that will allow for around-the-clock emergency services for sick or injured animals brought in by Animal Control.

The agreement passed at Monday’s City Council meeting states that the Department of Health and Human Services will provide for personnel at the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital for 24-hour contact with Animal Control. The department will fund up to $10,000 of emergency services such as evaluation, stabilization, pain relief and ICU hospitalization for animals brought in by Animal Control.

Dr. Marie Kerl, a teaching professional at the hospital, said that although this agreement is not new, it is still beneficial to the people of Columbia.

“The strong benefit of this is that it helps to clarify for the veterinarians and for the animal control officers what kinds of things can be done for those pets and allow people the chance to be able to find their lost pet that may have been presented to us for care,” Kerl said.

Andrea Waner, the Department of Health and Human Services’ public information officer, said the department took over this position at the request of the Central Missouri Humane Society because Animal Control already had people on-call after hours.

“Since we already took domesticated injured and sick animals to the after-hours care at the MU Vet Hospital, it made sense to put together an agreement for us to further use the university for this service,” Waner said.

Waner said the services from this agreement are used two to three times per month. The agreement has been renewed every year since 2012, and the current agreement will end on September 30, 2016.

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