Changes enacted two months ago to reduce the animal population at the Sumter County shelter have not succeeded, County Administrator Bradley Arnold told commissioners Tuesday night.
Several speakers during the public forum part of the meeting also complained that it’s difficult to adopt shelter dogs.
“We’re still over capacity with our dogs,” Arnold said.
At the end of November, the shelter had 184 animals including 112 dogs, 61 cats and 11 other animals. Fifty-five cats were vaccinated, neutered and released back into their neighborhoods during the month.
Ten animals were euthanized including five sick cats, four aggressive dogs and one sick dog. A year ago, commissioners designated the shelter as no-kill, which means no animals are killed to make room for other strays.
Eleven animals were adopted from the shelter last month and the goal is 10 to 15 adoptions per month.
In October, commissioners set stays at five days for chipped, tagged or collared animals and three days for unidentified animals before transfer for adoption or to a rescue organization. They also voted to treat all cats as feral cats to be released back into their neighborhoods after vaccination and neutering.
The county also hired an architect to design an adoption and rescue center.
Anne Rose told commissioners her repeated attempts to adopt a chi chi dog she spotted running down the road were rebuffed by shelter employees and the dog was sent to a rescue organization instead.
Angie Fox, a longtime activist with lost pet organizations and the wife of Commissioner Oren Miller, said the stay timetable is too short, which allows rescue organizations to come in and scoop up valuable dogs before they can be adopted.
“(Dogs) are coming through there and they’re going out the back door,” she said. “Rescue is rescue, it’s not selling. They’re selling these dogs for over $500.”
Arnold said the county shelter works with a lot of rescue organizations, although some are at capacity.
“The goal is for the animals to be moved to their forever home,” he said. “The biggest issue with any of this is that people need to chip their pets.”
