HomeMy WebLinkAboutSupplemental – Correspondence from the Seal Beach Animal Care Center •
Date:September 13, 1999
To:Seal each City Council
From: Friends of the Seal Beach Animal Care Center
Subject: Contract with Long Beach Animal Control
The Friends of the Seal Beach Animal Care Center are opposed to the contract with Long Beach Animal
Control. We need professional Seal Beach Animal Control Officers that have been trained and understand the
unique and humane treatment of animals that has been a way of life for the citizens of Seal Beach.
The budget cuts that eliminatedone officer's full time position leaving us with just one full time officer and
relying on Long Beach to cover 128 hours a week of animal control is not working. In a city of our size and
with the animal population it is impossible for Long Beach to respond to an emergency situation in a matter of
minutes. This was demonstrated a few weeks ago when a mortally wounded dog lay howling in pain on PCH
A private citizen called several times for help, it took nearly and hour and a half for Long Beach to respond. The
dog's injuries and how the situation was handled by Long Beach Animal Control and the resulting treatment of
the last four days of that dog's life haunts all of us that know the whole story. Long Beach just cannot offer the
services that we need in our town.
The proposed contract with Long Beach states we will have around the clock animal control when our one
officer is unavailable and they will license our Seal Beach pets. The fiscal impact is $25,000 per year,the first
year of setting up a program to license our animals will be around$7,000. And in years to follow the projected
revenue to Seal Beach will be$20,000 in licensing fees and canvassing.
This is what the Friends of the Seal Beach Animal Care Center propose. We set up a computer program and be
responsible to license the Seal Beach pets.The program that we will set up is very simple. All current owner's
information and animal description will be put into the computer base and alphabetized. The pet is given a
number that will be the same number for its lifetime. We send out a strong, sturdy tag along with a two part bill
indicating the requirements of licensing and late fees. One part of the bill is returned to us along with payment.
The information is fed into the computer and that is it: The computer prograin will have the capacity to run'a
list of all delinquent payments that can be followed up by a phone call.
The City would be responsible for the cost of the mailing and license tags.
Setting up our own computer program will keep the revenue of all license fees in our city and we will be able to
return pets brought to the Care Center by a click of a mouse.
Canvassing for unlicensed pets can be done by our VIPs, older teens that need community service merits,Eagle
Scouts. There are a number of ways to use volunteers in our city to canvas.
There has also been discussion as to needing a contract with any outside agency. Employing two Animal
Control Officers gives the City 80 hours of animal control a week. During their off time our local Seal Beach
Police could handle stray animals and bringing them to the Care Center. This is done by our officers now.
Only in a case of emergency would one of our animal control officers be called for assistance.
The Friends look at this proposal as opening dialogue with City Council. We want our own Seal Beach Animal
Control Officers and we are open to suggestions and recommendations to reach that goal.
Thank you,
Annelle Aviani
President,
FSBACC
SUMMARY OF REQUEST FOR RECONSIDERATION AND
IMMEDIATE CITY COUNCIL ACTION ON THE ISSUE OF BUREAU OF
ANIMAL CONTROL STAFFING FOR THE CITY OF SEAL BEACH
BACKGROUND: Focus group planning and discussion sessions regarding the
budget proposals effecting the staffing of the animal control bureau
PURPOSE; To present alternative solutions to the present plan to sign
A contract with the City of Long Beach Bureau of Animal Control.
FISCAL IMPACT; To ultimately save the City of Seal Beach money, rather
than pay another city or county agency to provide services that we can provide
for ourselves.
BASIS FOR REQUEST; Many City departments do not pay for themselves. The
Bureau of Animal Control should not be held to a different standard than other
departments in this city.
POINTS OF CONSIDERATION:
1 . Up to 60% or more of the animals in this city are not licensed due to the lack of
personnel to canvass all households and update records.
Logical Assumption: Moneys collected from all delinquent pet owners could pay
the majority of the costs incurred for employing another full time animal control
officer.
2. Overtime and standby pay for two animal control officers costs approximately
$9,000 per year. This is the amount of money paid to the Animal Care Center every
year to help defray the medical costs of newly impounded animals for the first 72
(now 96) hours that new animals still belong to the City. The City Staff is invited
to retain this $9,000 and apply it to animal control costs.
3. The citizens of Seal Beach vehemently oppose inviting another city to keep 1/2
of animal licensing revenues, plus paying that other city $7,000 to $10,000 to update
their computer programming to accommodate licensing of our own animals. This makes
no sense whatsoever. ALL of these monies can and should be kept within our city to
pay for vital services.
4. Very few animals are actually brought into the Seal Beach Animal Care Center
by animal control personnel, compared to the numbers brought into the center by
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:members of the public or police personnel on patrol.
Assumption: No outside agency is needed to patrol our city on any regular basis.
5. Since the "hand-shake" contract with Long Beach went into effect July i of 1999,
there have only been 5 incidents where Long Beach Animal Control assistance was
requested. Therefore, it is safe to assume that two requests per month for assistance
will probably be the norm.
Assumption: $25,000 per year paid to another city for animal control services is not
cost effective. Even at $150 per call, it is makes much more sense to pay a backup
agency $300 per month rather than over $2000 per month as the current budget will
request. That in itself is a savings of over $21 ,600 per year.
6. The quality of animal control service which this city is used to and continues to
expect cannot be met by an already overextended animal control bureau from another
city. The citizens of this city care very deeply about the welfare of their animals,
and feel extremely negative about outsourcing this vital service to another animal
control agency.
7. The citizens of Seal Beach request the following three action items be voted on
and
approved at this time:
Item 1 : To immediately fund two full time animal control officer positions
Item 2: To promise the citizens of Seal Beach that serious and ongoing consideration
be given to the hiring of a third full or part time animal control officer to
negate the need to involve any other city in our animal control services.
Item 3: That any contract voted into existence with the City of Long Beach will be
for only "as needed" or "on call" services. The citizens of Seal Beach wish
to
maintain local control for such a vital and emotional issue.
RECOMMENDATION:
City Council voting on this issue be completed tonight. Support materials for our
position are included in the blue folders which you all have in front of you. We
respectfully request your immediate action, and offer an open mind and willingness
to assist in all appropriate ways to achieve success in these goals.
Respectfully submitted, September 13, 1999
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Subject: Agenda for Mon. Sept 13, 1999
Date: Fri, 10 Sep 1999 10:29:08-0800 •
From:julie e shields<jeshieldsL home.com>
;anization: seal beach animal care center
1'o: SealLhome.com,'teach(2home.com, City(Qhome.com, ( ounciliwhome.com
POSITION STATEMENT FROM THE CONCERNED
CITIZENS FOCUS GROUP AND THE FRIENDS OF THE SEAL BEACH ANIMAL
CARE CENTER
After. muchdiscussioi and deliveration, we believe that it is imperative that
the Seal Beach City Council agrees to the funding of three full time animal
control officers for the following reasons:
1. The welfare and safety of privately owned dogs and cats in the city of
Seal Beach.
2. Adequate policing of all public areas to improve risk management and
prevent injury to citizens and visitors by stray and/or vicious animals •
roaming at large.
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3. IapLu ed 1;+y to res-road in a timely s allutli. to ar,r4r4=int scenes •
involving the injury of animals.
4. The immediate necessity to ease the paperwork burden on our lone animal
control officer and increase the efficiency of the Bureau of animal control.
5. To provide professional animal control personnel to canvass the entire
city on a scheduled basis and license all dogs and cats living within our city .
limits. It is conservatively estimated that only ,1/3 of the dogs and less tha
of the cats living within our city are licensed. If this situation was
rectified, the revenues yetleia!ed would largely offset he costs of hireirg- two
more animal control officers.
6. Regular policing of Gum Grove Park is necessary to prevent off leash and
unlicensed dogs from running at large in the park. The revenues from these
citations alone would be considerable. There is a growing problem involving
the trucking in of. vans full of dogs from other cities which are then allowed .
to run free in the park. Over one year-vs- tilts, this involves literally-
hundreds
of dogs. •
7. The citizens of this city do not want money wasted by paying other cities
and counties to come within our city limits and •provide services which the
taxpayers of Seal Beach have every right to expect and even demand from our
own City Government. .
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B. A fully staffed Animal Control Bureau could provide programs to promote
public awareness and education regarding animal welfare, care, disease
control, safety, spay/neuter necessity and other topics to all of our schools
and civic groups. An affluent community like Seal Beach
3x ec,te- buc:h pivutamS to be available to its students- end interested citizens.
9.. Because wa_ have a model "pro-humane." and "quality of life" animal shelter
within our city limits, which all of So. California looks up to as the model
for all shelters in he very near future, our city is subject to excessive
"dumping" of stray and abandoned animals within our city limits. This problem
in itself creates a demand for more animal control presence and assistance.
1 Due to the currently inadequate animal control staffing, our police
officers are increasingly called upon to intercede in animal issues at the
care Center. This is not only an inappropriate use of our police officers, it •
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is very irritating to both the Police Dept. and the Care Center volunteers.
These issues should clearly be handled/ // and�� / resolved by trained animal control{�
officers, not uniformed police ofieers. However, this happens because with
only one animal control officer currently on staff, during the the majority of
tr hours that the Animal -care Center is open no animal control officer is
i,.._adiately available. This situation can no longer be tolerated.
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We are certain that our elected city officials will see the wisdom in
rectifying these problems in the immediate future by providing our citizens,
and their c:vlug.auion animals, with a tally- staffed Animal CvnLrol BuLean.
l
Respectfully submit+Ad for your immediate_ considerations
Julie Shields
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i C
Date:September 13, 1999
To:Seal Beach City Council
From: Friends of the Seal Beach Animal Care Center
`-sect: Contract with Long Beach Animal Control
The.Friends of the Seal Beach Animal Care Center are opposed to the contract with t.ong Beach Animal
Control. We need professional Seal Beach Animal Control Officers that have been trained and understand the
unique and humane treatment of animals that has been a way of life for the citizens of Seal Beach .
The budget cuts that eliminated one officer's full time position leaving us with just one full time officer and
relying on Long Beach to cover 128 hours a week of animal control is not working. In a city of our size and .
with the animal population it is Impossible for Long Beach to respond to an emergency situation in a matter of
minutes. This was demonstrated a few weeks ago when a mortally wounded dog lay howling in pain on PCH
A private citizen called several times for help, it took nearly and hour and a half for Long Beach to respond. The
the s injuriesourand f hathe situation was do 's life haunts lldled of us that ky now Beach
whole Animal
toryControl
Long Beach h justhe lcannot otreatment
thef
the last four days of t g
services that we need in our town.
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The proposed contract with Long Beach states we will have around the clock animal control when our one
officer is unavailable and they will license our Seal Beach pets. The fiscal impact is $25,00() per year, the first
ear of setting up a program to license our animals trill he around $7,000. And in years to follow the projected
revenue to Seal Beach will be $20,000 in licensing fees and canvassing.
.
This is what the Friends of the Seal Beach Animal Care Center propose. We set up a computer program anis be
responsible to license the Seal Beach pets.The program that we will set up is very simple. All current owner's
information and animal description will be put into the computer base and alphabetized. The pet is given a
number that will be the same number for its lifetime. We send out a strong, sturdy tag along with a two part bill
indicating the requirements of licensing and late fees. One part of the bill is returned to us along with payment.
The information is fed into the computer and that is it. The computer program will have the capacity to run a
list of all delinquent payments that can be followed_up by a phone call.
ne City would be responsible for the cost of the mailing and license tags.
Setting up our own computer program will keep the revenue of all license fees in our city and we will be able to
return pets brought to the Care Center by a click of a mouse.
t have been told that canvassing for unlicensed pets needs to he done by trained personnel and that there is
potential to bring in thousands of dollars to our City by canvassing and licensing these animals. Employing
additional Animal Control Officers to do the canvassing will keep this revenue in our City. I will defer these
costs and profits to Captain Maiten.
There is also the issue of overtime and on call expense. The cost is estimated at around $9,000 a year. The
Friends receive $9,000 a year from the City to help cover the cost of the 3 day impound period of new animals.
If necessary,the Friends are willing to sacrifice the $9,000 paid to us so our City will have the money to pay
our ACOs overtime and on call expense.
The Friends look at this proposal as opening dialogue with City Council. We want our own Seal Beach Animal
Control Officers and we are open to suggestions and reconunendations to reach that goal.
Thank you,
Annelle Aviani
President,
FSBACC
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Subject: The Story of Braveheart
Date: Fri, 10 Sep 1999 11:41:59-0800
From:julie e shields<jeshields(ePhome.com>
;anization: seal beach animal care center
To: Seal@home.com, Beach@home.com, Cily@horne:corn, Council@home.com
For the record, I wanted all of the members of the Seal Beach City Council to
have this story. It is true in every detail, and exemplifies all of the
reasons why we simply must have our own fully staffed Animal Control Bureau.
The details of the night this incident began were provided to, me by a citizen
of Surfside Colony, who, because of fear of retribution, is afraid to give her
name and phone number to anyone because the press might print it. I have her
name and telephone number, and. I will be happy to provide it td any council
members who wish to speak to her, but only in the strictest confidence. Thank
you for your understanding on this sensitive matter.
On the evening of Sunday, August 8, a vehicle hit a dog on PCH in front of the
Pacific View Motel, in Surfside Colony. The noise from the collision was
sufficiently loud to bring citizens from their houses in
Surfside to PCH to see what caused the noise. "Sally Q" ran across the lanes
of traffic to find a grievously injured dog lying in the street, and. called
for immediate assistance as the driver of-whatever vehicle that hit the dog
did not stop. Since we have no animal control services in. Seal Beach anymore
during the evening and hight hours, and at no time during the weekends, Long
Beach animal control responded to the call-but not for 1-1/2 hours. The animal
control oficer responding then noosed this grievously injured animal and
dragged it by the neck, all the time attempting to make it stand up and
c'erballyy abusing our citizen for complaining about his treatment of the dog
After the dog was loaded into the animal control truck, "Sally Q" asked where
it would be taken because she wanted to follow along and. pay the medical hills
f.' this dog. Not only did the animal control officer refuse to give her this
inrormation, he attempted to "ditch" her on the freeway so she could not tell
where he was going. However, she did follow and did pay for initial X-rays on
the injured dog. As was later proven the X-rays were misdiagnosed by the
receiving hospital.'(Hospital name and examining veterinarian's name also
available in confidence.)
Four days later, on Thursday afternoon Aug. 12, a Long Beach animal control
Dfficer brought the injured dog to the Seal Beach Animal Care Center. I
happened to be there, and as he volunteer in charge of medical care for all of
aur dogs, I had another volunteer help me place the dog on a stretcher and
Lnto the back of my vehicle. He was so weak he could only raise his head to
Look at us with eyes so full of pain in was heartbreaking. The animal control
afficer from Long Beach stated that the dog had been in the AGO truck "all
lay" before she had time to bring him to Seal Beach due to her other duties.
['his is not a character assassination attempt on the Long Beach animal control
officer. simply a proof statement that she much too busy to be patrolling and
servicing three cities at once.
Jpon arrival at our veterinarian of choice; the dog a named"Braveheart"
3ecause of his heroic attitude and lack of complaint while in horrible pain,
gas given a sedative and painkiller, and re-xrayed. The injuries found were
iorrifying anad are as follows:
L. Several broken ribs anda paeumoLhorar, -punctured lung-).
?. Two fractured hip sockets
3. His tail was ripped loose from his spine
I. His entire pelvis was dislocated and moved approximately 3-4" UP his spinal column.
5,.—No attempt had been made to catheterize him and he was covered with leaking
i .d and fecal matter
eeedless to say, Biaveheart Teas imuediatel; euth tniz-ed and his :risery ended.
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riclay,September 10, 1999 The Story of Braveheart Page
Such needless suttering cannot happen again within our city limits and with
our city government's approval. The citizens of this animal-loving community
arc horrified to think that this could happen to one of their dogs or cats,
that it could be badly injured and lay in a strange hospital for days before
nq returned to local control and properly cared for or euthanized if the
_.._feting could not be alleviated.
The point of this grisly story is simply this: No animal in this city city
should ever have to suffer like "Braveheart" did. And no grievously injured
animal should be ''4-rIT-014 someplace for a mandatory nuxber of "holding" dday
without treatment and then returned to an all-volunteer shelter where someone
knowledgeable in medical care may or may not be available. Such an animal
should not have to lay in the street for 1-1/2 hours before help arrives.
Private citizens should not have to spend their own money to see that some
kind of care is given to injured strays. in other words, we need to have
complete LOCAL CONTROL that our citizens and their companion animals can
depend on day or night, 365 days a year. Period. Outsourcing animal control is
a bad idea, and when all things are taken into consideration, will actually
end up losing money for the city when some readjustment of priorities and
focus could remedy the situation and increase revenues at the same time.
Stories like "Braveheart" should be a source of municipal embarassment, and
immediate steps must be taken to ensure that this does not happen again. City
Council and Staff apathy over this ssratect cannot bber 4-nlerratori
Thank you,.
Julie Shields
1300 Catalina Ave.
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On Tuesday, August 10, 1999 somewhere between the hours of 7 and 10 am
my cat Sebastian was picked up in Old Town.Seal Beach near my house by a
Long Beach Animal Control Officer. Sebastian was found lying in the street
in a state of shock and in severe pain. He was partially paralyzed, as his rear
legs were not able to support his weight. Sebastian was taken to Sun & Surf
Animal Hospital in Sunset Beach according to protocol for animals that are
found injured in Seal Beach.
Sebastian was wearing two forms of identification:
1. A Seal Beach Animal Care Center tag with the center's phone
number and a personal identification number on it.
2. An "AVID" tag that has a toll-free phone number and a personal
identification number. AVID is a large microchip company, an
identification tag is provided for the animal in case the animal is
picked up and a scanner is not available. The identification
number on the tag is the same number that shows up when a
microchip reader is used to scan the cat. Through this number
information is provided re: who the owner is, their home and
work phone numbers, home address, veterinarian, etc.
As Sun & Surf Hospital did not have a scanner they called the Seal Beach
Animal Care Center first. This call was made at 10:30 am during non-office
hours for the Care Center at which time an answering machine usually picks
up the phone calls. On Tuesdays the shelter does not open up until 2 PM.
Fortunately, Julie Doty, a shelter volunteer, picked up the phone and was
able to look up the name and number corresponding with the tag. She called
me immediately and relayed the message that Sebastian was injured and had
been transported to the hospital.
'I called the hospital right away and I was told that Sebastian was probably
hit by a car and was in severe pain and in shock but relatively stable at that
moment and that they could not release any more information until I spoke
with the Long Beach Animal Control Officer. I offered to authorize
treatment for anything that he needed and that they could take my credit card
number for guarantee of payment because I was aware that a cat in such a
condition could deteriorate rapidiy. This offer was denied as I was again
referred to speak to Animal Control before any treatment could be rendered.
I was on the phone with the Officer a few minutes later and was told that I
would have to go home and pick up paperwork proving my ownership and
go to the Long Beach Animal Shelter to pay a fine before I could have
anything done for my cat. I immediately made arrangements to leave work.
I drove from Los Alamitos to Seal Beach to pick up Sebastian's paperwork
and then to Long Beach to pay the fee. When I arrived at the Long Beach
shelter the desk person was very courteous and kind but was somewhat
confused on why I was there. She told me to go pick up my cat at•Sun &
Surf but I told her that I was directed by the Animal Control Officer to come •
. here and pay a fine and take the receipt to Sun & Surf. I insisted on paying
my fine because I was not prepared to drive all the way to Sunset Beach just
to be told that I had to go back to Long Beach again. She checked with the
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Animal Control Officer and apologized, stating "I'm sorry, but the Seal
Beach animals are new to us." I showed her my cat's identification
paperwork that I had gone home for and she said that she didn't need it
because my cathad a collar on with an identification tag. This'was contrary
to what the Officer had told me. If I had known this I could have driven
straight from my work site on Katella Avenue (which turns into Willow, the
street that the Long Beach animal shelter is located on) and I would have
saved at least an hour of driving time if I had been given correct information
in the first place.
I paid a fine of$20 to the City of Long Beach and left to pick up my cat in
Sunset Beach. I decided to take him to my own vet, as he was only ten
minutes away from Sun & Surf Hospital. I was told that my cat was indeed
in a state of shock and extreme pain but that he was medicated and was
stable to be transported. The staff at Sun & Surf were very concerned about
my cat and were very friendly and helpful. I called my veterinarian's office
and they prepared for his arrival. My usually sweet and loving cat required
two staff members to place him into the carrier. Although the car ride was
just a few miles, it seemed endless as I could tell by his increasingly louder
crying and moaning that Sebastian's pain medication was quickly wearing
off. At Garden Park Hospital he was given additional pain medication and
x-rays and other treatment to further stabilize him. Sebastian's injuries were
extreme; he had suffered multiple fractures of the pelvic bone as well as a
broken hipbone, which was separated from the spinal cord. He had to be
taken to a specialist in Irvine for orthopedic surgery. He was once again
heavily medicated and prepared for transportation. By this time it was 5:00
PM and I was to drive himduring rush hour traffic on the 405 freeway from
Garden Grove to Irvine. It took me an hour-and-a-half of sitting in stop-and
go-traffic with a cat that was once again coming out from under the effects
of pain medication to reach the Southern California Surgical Group. I was
beginning to believe that the creature in the box was actually not my cat but
some sort of wild beast trying to scream and cry his way out of the box.
From 10:30 that morning, Sebastian was at last at his final destination by
6:30 PM. And by that time his owner was very stressed out.
I am very gratefiphat the Long Beach Animal Control Officer picked up
Sebastian that day. When I spoke with her on the phone, however briefly,
she seemed to be a very kind and caring person. However, there were some
mistakes made that require mentioning:
1. I was told that I needed proof of ownership before I came to the Long
Beach shelter, which I didn't need after all.
2. The Animal Control Officer is supposed to immediately notify the Seal
Beach Animal Care Center that so and so type of animal was picked up at
a certain location at a specific time and date so that an entry can be made
into the Seal Beach Log Book in case the owner inquires about a lost
animal. This was not done. There was no record at the Seal Beach Care
Center that'this cat had been picked up and taken to the hospital. If I had
called the Seal Beach Care Center to see if my cat had been found there
would not have been any indication of my cat being picked up and taken •
to Sun & Surf.
I also would like to recommend that since Sun & Surf has a contract with the
city of Seal Beach to receive our injured animals that they obtain a
microchip reader. Many people choose to microchip their pets and a
hospital that is contracted to provide our city services should indeed be able
to identify a stray animal if it has been microchipped. If my cat had arrived
without any identification that identified him as someone's pet I am sure that
he would have been put to sleep because of the extent of his injuries and the
need for a specialist to perform his surgery. He would have been euthanized
and never would have had a chance to receive his operation nor be properly
identified and claimed by his owner.
I am also wondering why I, as a resident of Seal Beach, had to go to a
different city to claim ownership and pay a fine. If my cat had been picked
up by a Seal Beach Animal Control Officer and transported to Sun & Surf I
(� would not have had to go all the way out to Long Beach, I would have been
able to go directly to the animal hospital to claim my cat.
Sebastian is doing well but is still recovering from his injuries sustained on
August 10`x. I am writing this letter to stress the importance of maintaining
full-time coverage of at least two if not more full-time animal control
officers within the City of Seal Beach. Sebastian suffered needlessly while I
had to run from one place to another collecting paperwork and paying fines.
Thank you for taking the time to read Sebastian's story. Seal Beach is a
wonderful community to live in and hopefully we can extend our hearts and
services to our animals by maintaining our animal control department within
our city.
\ l` t.Q5d 314 u
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GIS �Ovty M
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