Register News Writer
Madison Fiscal Court spends about $200,000 annually to fund the county’s animal shelter, which has come under scrutiny from a Menifee County rescue group out to stop euthanasia in animal housing facilities.
Susan Lacy, a member of the Menifee group, has drafted a letter to be sent to Madison County magistrates explaining her problems with the Madison County Animal Shelter, which is operated under the direction of Keith Crawford.
The rescue group operates a separate facility to house puppies rescued from euthanasia at surrounding county shelters.
“We transport many of the animals to humane societies and reputable rescue groups in New England,” Lacy wrote. “The New England states have spayed and neutered for so many years they actually have a greater demand for shelter dogs than they have locally. In order not to kill any Menifee County animals, we have no choice but to take them to these areas.”
Lacy claims that Crawford will not give her any animals.
Crawford said that his facility is not overpopulated at the time, and even if it were, he is not so sure he would hand the animals over to Lacy’s group.
“It’s not like a real established animal shelter was asking for puppies,” Crawford said. “To be a professional facility, it would have to have standard operating hours. It concerned me as to whether or not I would be doing a good thing or a bad thing.”
When Lacy and her colleagues realized that they always had extra space in their transport van, she wrote, “It only seemed sensible that we save as many animals as possible.”
The group’s effort began to generate so many puppies that a rescue facility was began in Lacy’s home.
“If my people had their houses, barns and sheds full, the public would be outraged at me for allowing those kinds of things,” he said. “I wouldn’t want to send some of my animals to a place that had those kinds of conditions.”
Because the operation has grown to the point that Lacy must use her home as a rescue facility, Crawford is not sure why she is pushing so hard to receive animals from the Madison County shelter, he said.
As far as giving Lacy animals to transport, Crawford pointed out that there is a monetary incentive for doing so.
“Sometimes, yes, we do get money,” Lacy said. “If they’re hard to place, we don’t get anything for the animal. Some shelters give us $40 (per animal) for transporting, but we go in the hole on every transport. You don’t ever get your money back.”
Euthanasia is an inevitable part of operating an animal shelter, Crawford said.
“We keep them as long as we have cage space and as long as they’re adoptable,” he said. “We get a lot of animals that are not adoptable. Every facility has to put animals to sleep. You don’t want to take an animal that is a risk to the public and turn it back out on the streets.”
The Madison County Animal Shelter, located at 1386 Richmond Road, has about 20 cages for adoptable dogs, 20 for cats, 23 maximum security cages where strays are lodged and 23 other cages available for use.
The shelter could house many more animals before reaching full capacity, Crawford said.
“We adopt over 1,000 animals over a year and have about 50 people each day who come into the shelter,” he said.
The shelter is open to the public Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and the animals can be viewed from noon to 5 p.m. The office is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and the animals also are available for viewing from noon to 5 p.m.
For more information about adopting an animal from the shelter, call 986-9625.
Reference:richmondregister
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