Menu
Critics won't derail county shelte project
To the editor:
Whasuup with the members of the Humane Society of Blytheville? Panic stricken over the thoughts of having a county shelter? Wouldn't you think an addition of a county shelter would solve many of their problems as well as the county? This ain't no competive tri-athalon!
The judge asked me what we could do for the many mayors (17 in number) complaining of the overpopulation of strays that are appearing in their towns. I have been working on the problem for over two years. If these mayors are willing to help themselves and us at the same time we can reduce that overpopulation. We will never stop the local yokels from taking animals out in the county and dropping them off. The answer is a spay/neuter program -- catch if ya can! Then the problem is what do you do with them once the sterilization process is done. Many of the animals are feral and not adoptable. They may be sterile feral but they are gonna have to eat and will remain a nuisance. Where do they go then?
I will tell you a "no kill" shelter is all well and good, but animals should never be turned away from a shelter. For several years, there has been a "no kill" shelter movement that in principle is exemplary but in truth is unrealistic and impractable. Because of the aggressive spay/neuter programs euthanasia has been reduced by 75 percent during the last 40 years. This reduction (so says the Washington Post) in euthanasia has little to do with the "no kill" equation. When shelters adopted the "open admission or limited admissions" of any or all animals presented it meant getting on a waiting list. When an owner surrenders are turned away one must wonder how well "no kill" are serving the community when they turn away animals only to be euthanized at another shelter or dumped in the county.
There are those that do not believe in "no kill" shelters and there are national organizations dedicated to the creating of a "no kill" nation but then they have a trained staff with experience and the know-how in creating a "no kill shelter." I am not for euthanizing of animals admitted to a shelter, just for the hell of it; however there are times when an animal must be euthanized. If a "no kill" shelter turns away an aggressive animal that's not a good decision. If they turn the animal over to animal control or a vet to be euthanized how can they be a "no kill" shelter -- the animal is destroyed! How wonderful it would be to have all healthy or at least treatable animals adopted. It's exciting to see a sound adoptive family take an animal to a forever home. That's sheltering at it's best! Despite the good intentions of a "no kill" shelter, many are failing the animals by refusing to accept any and all animals. These turn away pets suffer unknown fates. Our intentions are to relieve the county and the city of unwanted pets. Whoa to the individual that stated on Facebook we were looking at euthanizing every animal admitted to our shelter. Wonder how "she" can be so presumptive when we haven't even broken ground? We are not in competition with any shelter God knows there are enough homeless animals that a dozen shelters wouldn't be enough to embrace them all. Some animals will be "put down" of course, especially those that are aggressive -- those that are diseased -- and those that are just plain not adoptable. Animals are our first priority, but safety of the citizens is pretty high on the list. Could the mouth that is attempting to halt the progress be concerned about money? I am willing to work for money to support the county shelter and while it is slow coming in, it is going to happen if it is wanted badly enough. Sheltering is hard work. Negativity is far from the right answer. My suggesting to the critics is tend to your own -- you are doing a good job now stand back and let us do our job -- we have trained people that are willing to put forth effort to make this thing work.