The following article was in today’s Philadelphia Inquirer about an emergency meeting held yesterday by the Department of Agriculture concerning shelters that either won’t take in strays because they want more money from municipalities for their contracts or shelters that are no-kill.
There is no easy solution to the neverending and ever-increasing problem of homeless animals in this economy. Animal control officers don’t know where to take these animals because of the above circumstances I have written.
With shelters refusing to help, what can be done to help the unwanted and abandoned animals? Is it fair that this problem of homeless animals be placed on everyone in PA as suggested by Tom Hickey of the Dog Law Advisory Board? I don’t. I take care of my dogs. I am not responsible for others’ dogs.
However, people who have these animals and shelters are responsible for taking care of them. Animal shelters are supposed to take care of the homeless, abandoned and unwanted animals. They are places where these animals can find food, shelter and a warm place to sleep.
There is a no-kill movement growing across the country. Yes, this is a good idea but it means when these places are filled to capacity, the overflow of animals must go somewhere. The other shelters are being inundated with animals and so many more animals are losing their lives.
I feel ALL shelters NEED to work together for the sake of the animals. I’m not talking about grass-roots organizations in which foster homes are utilized to give temporary homes to the homeless animals. I’m speaking about your regular animal shelter. I understand how shelters are overcrowded but if we don’t work together, the animals WILL and ARE suffering.
And, of course, the owners need to take responsibility. I do understand the effects of the economy being a reason why pets are being relinquished but there are also many other non-plausible reasons for relinquishment.
I’ve been in and around this business and I know egos can get in the way of the betterment of the welfare of animals. Egos can’t stand in the way any longer. How can anyone allow animals to wander the streets, be injured, maimed or killed because they don’t want to be part of the solution? To those, if you’re not part of the solution, you have no business being in the animal welfare field.
By: Amy Worden, Philadelphia InquirerHARRISBURG – With animal shelters closing their doors to homeless dogs and other shelters facing financial pressures, the question plaguing animal-welfare advocates is this: Where to put the thousands of stray dogs found roaming throughout state each year?The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture convened the first-ever statewide meeting of shelters Tuesday to address this issue.About 50 representatives of shelters from Erie to Philadelphia, along with humane officers, municipal officials, rescue groups, and state dog wardens, outlined an array of animal-control problems facing communities.”We are at a tipping point,” said Jessie Smith, special deputy secretary of the Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement. “The law says we must pick them up, but there isn’t anyone on the other side whose duty it is to shelter the dogs.”Shelter operators said they were having trouble persuading municipalities to pay what they considered their fair share to cover the costs of transporting and caring for stray animals. State dog wardens, whose duties include stray-dog pickup, said they were being turned away from area shelters and have had to transport dogs as far as 100 miles to find a shelter to take them to.The issue was brought to light in the southeastern part of the state last summer when the Delaware County SPCA announced that, beginning in July 2011, it would no longer take in stray dogs.”We’re in a crisis in Delaware County,” Springfield Township Police Chief Joe Daly told the group. “There are 7,500 animals a year that go there, and there’s no other shelter in the county. I will have no place to put them.”The Delaware County SPCA, which did not have a representative at the meeting, said it would no longer accept strays because it wanted to become a “no-kill” shelter.Other shelters are limiting admissions for space.Dog warden supervisor Harold Walstrom said the number of stray dogs in his Central Pennsylvania region, which had been on the decline, increased again as shelters stopped taking in all animals.The Philadelphia-based Pennsylvania SPCA, which won the contract to handle the city’s animal control in 2008, says the $1 million from the city is not covering the costs of caring for the majority of the 32,000 animals it takes in each year.Executive director Sue Cosby says her group is reevaluating its options for next year. Driving the problem here, Cosby said, is that Pennsylvania, unlike New Jersey and other states, has no state law mandating that counties provide for animal control as a government service.Animal shelters that take strays rely on private donations, municipal support, minimal state contributions ($30 per dog), and grants. Delaware County SPCA gets $119 per animal from municipalities, up from $20 in 2009. But the hike has caused at least three municipalities – Aston, Lower Chichester, and Chadds Ford – to opt out. Some shelters, such as the Humane League of Lancaster County, are refusing services to municipalities that don’t pay.”We raised the fees to match the cost,” said the league’s executive director, Joan Brown. “We lost $250,000 last year taking in strays and not being compensated.”Tom Hickey Sr., a member of the state Dog Law Advisory Board, is meeting with municipal officials and county commissioners to figure out a solution to the Delaware County problem.One idea: building a state-of-the-art regional facility to provide animal control, adoptions, and behavior training.”Without a place to go, we’re going to have sick and wounded dogs wandering the streets, and more animal abuse. That’s not acceptable,” Hickey said. “It’s not just dog owners’ responsibility; it’s everyone in the county’s responsibility.”