225 ILCS 115/25.17

By: Mary Tiefenbrunn, for the IAWF’s Compliance Tip series.

Many shelters, rescues, and animal control agencies are providing important services to pet owners by hosting “pop-up” low-cost spay/neuter clinics, vaccine clinics, or preventive care veterinary clinics.

Often these clinics will be staffed with licensed veterinarians who are either generously volunteering their time or being hired on an ad-hoc basis. In the planning stages for clinics, it’s likely the veterinarian and the agency will establish a system for recording patient information and treatment details. But they might forget to cover the important detail of who will be responsible for retaining those records after the clinic, and for how long.

The Illinois Veterinary Medicine and Surgery Practice Act provides direction on what type of information needs to be contained in a veterinary record and how long such records need to be kept by the provider. (See 225 ILCS 115/25.17)

Sub-Section 25.17(c) of the Act states that “each person who provides veterinary medical services shall maintain appropriate patient records” and that the “patient records are the property of the practice and the practice owner.” Sub-Section (d) states that “Patient records must be maintained for a minimum of 5 years from the date of the last known contact with a patient.”

Neither of these subsections specifically address the scenario of a pop-up clinic and a veterinarian working as a volunteer or independent contractor.

The Act is clear that the medical records are the property of the “veterinary practice.” This makes practical sense, given that many veterinary clinics employ multiple veterinarians, and veterinarians themselves may work for multiple practices during their careers. When a client receives services from a veterinary practice, it pays the practice and the practice should have the responsibility for supplying the records to the pet owner if requested at a future date.

While a shelter or non-profit agency might not consider itself a “veterinary practice,” if it is hosting a clinic to provide veterinary services, it makes practical sense that the shelter should take responsibility for storing the veterinary records for the service provided. If a client of the clinic needs those records at a later date, it will be much easier to contact the hosting agency than to track down the individual veterinarian who provided the service.

At the very least, shelters and the veterinarians working with them should have a conversation about retention of records during the planning phase, so that this important aspect of patient care and compliance with law is not over-looked.

Section 3.6 of the Illinois Animal Welfare Act

By: Mary Tiefenbrunn, for the IAWF’s Compliance Tip series.

Section 3.6 of the Illinois Animal Welfare Act provides an extensive “to-do list” for animal shelters and rescue groups that accept stray-animal intakes. (Henceforth, the terms “shelter” and “animal shelter” include rescue groups.) This article summarizes the key provisions of this Section.

First, after taking-in a stray, by the very-next business day, the shelter must notify the animal control department or law enforcement of the County in which the animal was found. (Sec 3.6(a))

Also, within the first 24-hours, the animal must be scanned for a micro-chip and examined for other forms of identification.

If an owner is identified, the shelter must notify the owner and transfer the animal to the animal control or law enforcement agency in the jurisdiction in which it was found, or the local animal control agency, for redemption.

If such transfer cannot occur, the animal shelter must make “every reasonable attempt” to contact the owner (or agent/caretaker) as soon as possible. The shelter also must give notice of not less than 7 business days to the owner, prior to any form of disposal of the animal.

It’s important to note that the law requires this notice to be made by US Mail! Accordingly, even if you are communicating with an owner via text, phone, or email (which Section 3.6(c) also requires), we advise you to get an official notice in the mail as promptly as possible. Otherwise, any disposition of the animal could be deemed unlawful.

If the primary contact listed by the micro-chip company cannot be located or refuses to claim the animal, the Shelter still cannot adopt-out, transfer, or euthanize the animal until after attempting to contact any secondary contacts listed by the chip manufacturer or the purchaser of the chip if the purchaser was a non-profit organization, animal shelter, animal control facility, pet store, breeder, or veterinary office.

Assuming the aforementioned efforts do not result in the animal being claimed, the animal shelter must scan the animal again for a micro-chip and re-examine the animal for any other form of identification prior to euthanasia or transferring the animal to another shelter, rescue, or pet store.

Only if the second scan provides the same identifying information as the initial intake scan, and the owner, agent, or caretaker has not been located or refuses to reclaim the animal, may the shelter proceed with adoption, transfer, or euthanasia.

Under the next subsection (3.6(d)), the Act provides even more pre-disposition requirements when no owner can be identified:

-The shelter must hold the animal for the period specified in local ordinance prior to adoption, transfer, or euthanasia.

-The shelter must allow access to the public to view the animals it is housing.

Then, if the hold period under local ordinance expires and no owner has been identified, ownership of the animal transfers to the shelter.

If a dog is identified by an owner who desires to redeem it, the dog shall be transferred to the local animal control for redemption. (Note: it is odd that the Act uses the word “dog” in this sub-section rather than “animal;” it is perhaps a drafting error and the same process should apply to a cat as well.)

If no such transfer can occur, the shelter shall proceed pursuant to Section 3.7, which provides that the shelter can charge the owner for boarding and reasonable veterinary costs (see Section 3.7 of the Act for more details).

Conclusion

As you can see, the Act contains quite a bit of detail on the procedures for animal shelters accepting strays! We strongly suggest you read Section 3.6 carefully and in its entirety, and then create your own easy-to-read outline or procedure-tree to help staff follow all the steps correctly.

As a final note, Section 3.6(f), of the Act states that nothing in Section 3.6 prevents an animal control facility from coming to a mutual agreement with an animal shelter for boarding, holding, or measures to improve life-saving of animals, so long as such agreement requires parties to adhere to the provisions of the Animal Control Act, the Humane Euthanasia in Animal Shelters Act, and the Humane Care for Animals Act.

Note: This summary of Section 3.6 was created to help shelters and rescue groups understand their responsibilities under the Act. It does not constitute legal advice. Shelters and Rescues are encouraged to consult their own attorneys to make sure their procedures comply with IL regulations.