We should worry about spay and neutering our pets, not killing them
Why does the county executive think $80,000 a year is too much funding for the county animal shelter when the city budgets $60,000 a year for animal control and has no building to maintain, no utilities to pay, no food or supplies to buy, no crematorium expense and only one employee?
It should also be pointed out that Humane Society members are unpaid workers FOR the county. We volunteers do not simply fund-raise, we also fill in on the job when shelter employees are out sick, help maintain building and grounds, transport animals, do the bookkeeping and foster animals being readied for adoption.
There are approximately 25,000 county residents and 13,000 city dwellers, nearly twice as many in county as in city totalling 38,000 people for whom the local Humane Society-run shelter is the only recourse. The majority have at least one dog or cat or both and often more than one. The city recognizes the need for animal control and compensates the shelter fairly. The county executive and many of the commissioners apparently consider animals to be trash needing only to be picked up and killed as quickly as possible.
The Humane Society members are not and never have been active simply to take in unwanted animals and dispose of them. We do it when and if there is no alternative, but the primary goal and effort is directed to educating the public about the need for spaying and neutering and offering free or reduced-rates for these procedures.
How many of you are aware that a goodly number of our puppies and dogs go to rescue organizations in northern states? Why can they take them?
Because they were so successful at what we are trying to do that there aren’t enough puppies and dogs there for people to adopt.
Riche Churchill,
Treasurer, Humane Society
Francis Ferry Road
McMinnville