The Muncie Animal Shelter in IN refuses to accept owner surrendered dogs, is open fewer hours than a bank, and kills more than half of the pets they do accept. Intake numbers have dropped dramatically this year since implementing the no-owner-surrenders policy:
Numbers for this year (through October) compared to 2009
Incoming animals
2009 — 3,490
2010 — 1,593[Shelter director Bob] Jessee admits he’s somewhat puzzled by the downturn in the number of animals moving through his shelter. In the first 10 months of this year, 1,593 dogs, cats and other animals were taken in by the shelter.
At this rate, the shelter’s 2010 total will be half the 3,490 taken in during all of 2009.
Jessee guesses that the city’s decision to stop accepting owner-surrendered animals accounted for the absence of a few hundred animals.
Somewhat puzzled. Well gee, while the taxpayer funded shelter won’t take owner surrenders and their intake numbers are half what they were last year, an area rescue group called ARF (Animal Rescue Fund) reports their intake numbers have almost doubled:
ARF has accepted 1,320 animals so far this year, up from 743 at this time last year.”We are the ones picking up the slack,” [director Phil] Peckinpaugh said as ARF’s phone line rang in the background.
ARF relies on donations and adoption fees for their funding. Does that seem fair to any of the two or four legged residents of Muncie?
Fair? To four-leggeds or two-leggeds? No. Dear God. No.
Four paws up and many pads s t r e t c h i n g for ARF.
i mean, if you want your sehlter to just be impound and not accept owner surrender, well that’s fine and a legitimate business plan (so to speak). But why would you be confused that your intake drops?
Also, less intake should mean less euthanasia, right?
And shame on them for shifting the burden to another organization
Except that ARF isn’t killing any of theirs, are they? So I actually think it’s a GOOD thing that fewer animals go to the Muncie Animal Shelter. Too bad they can’t figure out how to use their government funding to do something other than murder the creatures they DO take in.
How about we give half of Muncie’s shelter budget to ARF and see how things go?