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Being sent to the pound does not necessarily mean a death sentence for animals whose owners don’t claim them. That’s because the Springfield-Greene County Animal Shelter has partnered with animal rescue organizations. KSMU’s Michele Skalicky has more…
Latichia Duffy visits the Springfield-Greene County Animal Shelter twice a week. Her mission: to choose dogs that she thinks her rescue organization Halfway Home can find homes for. Used to be, animals that weren't claimed by their owners at the pound were euthanized. In 2005, about the time the partnerships with animal rescue organizations began, only about 45% of dogs made it out of the shelter. In comparison, 71% made it out in 2009. 41% of cats that went to the shelter found homes last year compared to 20% in 2005. Karen Prescott is environmental health administrator with the Springfield-Greene County Health Department, which runs the animal shelter. She says there's a number of advantages to working with rescue organizations...
"Number one, the rescues, once they take an animal from our facility, they will quarentine it to make sure that it is healthy before it gets adopted."
They'll also will make sure an animal is up to date on its shots and is spayed or neutered before being adopted...
"They will also foster an animal out if they can't find a placement right away and sometimes an animal might have a little bit of a behavior problem that they're able to foster it and rehabilitate it so that it is adoptable."
And Prescott says rescue groups often take the time to make sure an animal is going to an appropriate home, which reduces the number of pets that end up back at the shelter. The partnerships began about five years ago when the animal shelter began working with CARE, which has a sanctuary in Aurora and an adoption center in Springfield. Now, the shelter works with about 33 rescue groups, but CARE has first priority to take animals that they deem to be adoptable. Kiersten Bagley is spokesperson for CARE. She says it's easy to choose a pet from her organization even if you can't actually visit their adoption center...
"We have all of our animals listed on Facebook. We have all of our animals listed on Petfinder.com. You can see them without actually having to come up to the adoption center, which is awesome, but every animal that we have, you know, is up for adoption here at the adoption center."
And new software called Shelter Pro allows animals at the pound to be listed on Petfinder.com. The public can view the animals and make a request to adopt an animal that's at the shelter. Prescott says those considering adoption should look beyond the initial photo...
"I have seen amazing results with the animals that have been rescued, and after they're given their shots and time to recuperate and fatten up a little bit that they can turn into a really nice family pet."
On a recent day at the Springfield-Greene County Animal Shelter two rescue groups were there to choose dogs to try to adopt out. Jim Carey is with Dianna's Grove Dog Rescue in Bunker, Missouri...
"We come here because it's a larger metropolitan area, and there's a need to have these dogs saved because if we or other groups don't take them, they don't have room to keep them, and they get euthanized."
On this particular day, Carey took five dogs with him so that he could find them homes. Latichia Duffy also took a few dogs with her as she does twice each week. She explains what she looks for when deciding which dogs to tag for rescue...
"One is need. Who's not going to be picked out? I will not take anybody that's aggressive with us or aggressive with other dogs, and two, adoptability--animals that we know we can find somebody to take pretty rapidly because we want to save as many as possible, but by the same token we don't want to leave anybody behind."
Animals at the shelter must be there over an entire saturday so that owners have adequate opportunity to claim their lost pets. Halfway Home and other rescue organizations work as a team to find homes for the animals. Jim Carey says they do that for the benefit of the dogs. Keeping in contact with various organizations that want to tag animals for rescue often makes for a busy day at the pound. Karen Prescott hopes, because of that, the number of pets that are euthanized will continue to drop. Saving animals at the Springfield-Greene County Animal Shelter keeps Latichia Duffy busy, but she wouldn't have it any other way...
"Why do you do what you do?"
"Love. That's all."
To learn more about adopting an animal that's at the Springfield-Greene County Animal Shelter visit the health department's website www.springfieldmo.gov/health.
For KSMU News, I'm Michele Skalicky.
