Donor funds kennel space at animal shelter

[DoozyDog]

By Gerard MacCrossan
The Daily Times

Published January 31, 2006

The last place any dog wants to end up is the pound. More correctly known in Kerr County as the Rabies and Animal Control Shelter, the facility on Loop 534 has kennels for 19 dogs and cages for a couple of dozen cats.

Life at the shelter is short term, where adoption is the only way for an unclaimed animal to find a new home. A local resident, who wants to remain anonymous, has funded construction of a new building with 24 dog runs that Animal Control supervisor Janie Roman hopes can lead to more animals being adopted.

County policy has animals held for 48 hours while they are assessed and allows owners an opportunity to try to find a lost pet. Since becoming supervisor a year ago, Roman said she has worked extensively with animal rescue groups to adopt out animals and minimize the number that are euthanized.

Privately operated shelters, including the Humane Society of Kerrville, Freeman-Fritts Animal Shelter, U.S. Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Fredericksburg and D&D Concepts, have taken animals for adoption from Kerr County, she said. Breed-specific dog rescue organizations, including the local Diamond Daschund Rescue, and others from Dallas and Houston also have taken animals for adoption thanks to the shelter staff’s proactive approach to adopting animals. She estimated euthanizations have dropped by 20 to 30 percent this past year.

“That is my big thing, having a better relationship with the Humane Society and organizations like that,” Roman said. “Since I became supervisor and worked at having a better relationship with the other organizations, they bring us dog food.”

The groups collaborate on a broken-bag project, sharing stores’ donations of food that can’t be sold because bags have torn or split.

The new building, which is adjacent to the existing shelter, will provide space for unclaimed dogs that animal control staff have observed for the mandatory hold time and have assessed as adoptable. Pct. 4 Kerr County Commissioner Dave Nicholson said the total cost will be about $50,000, but it will make it easier for the animal shelter staff to show animals available for adoption. He said he hopes the building can be completed in a matter of weeks.

Roman said the county shelter will be able to better welcome volunteers who can come to work with the unclaimed dogs that have been through the voluntary assessment.

“I’m really excited about this,” she said. “Now, we can’t have volunteers because of liability. The dogs are strays, and we have to know if they are submissive (before the public can handle them).”

Nicholson said the expansion has come at a good time for the animal facility, which was built 10 years ago.

“We would have been faced with having to expand some day,” he said. “The donation has made it easier.”

Nicholson said he hopes the message that animal owners should have their pets neutered or spayed is getting across. That will be a continued theme and help further reduce the need for euthanization of strays, he said.

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