Humane Society hits undesirable record

Alan Mauldin

June 20, 2009 11:08 pm

— MOULTRIE — With a record number of homeless canines collected in May, the dog days of summer aren’t shaping up well for dogs or for those whose job it is to euthanize the unwanted animals.
In May, the Humane Society of Moultrie & Colquitt County took in 412 dogs and cats, with only 20 adopted during the month, Director Don Flowers said. The average monthly intake usually swings between 250 to 350.
With occupancy limited to 110 animals, that means that workers have been euthanizing a lot of dogs and cats in recent weeks.
“People just don’t realize the sheer numbers coming in here,” Flowers said.
He attributes the swelling numbers to several factors, including the normal springtime spike in population and the economy, which is causing some people to bring in animals they can no longer care for.
“Mainly, (it’s) the breeding season,” he said. “There’s just an awful lot out there. Instead of getting them spayed and neutered, they let them have a litter and figure they can get rid of them.
“We’ve had people bring pets up here because they can’t afford to take them to the vet when they get hurt.”
In addition to residents bringing more animals in, more dogs are being abandoned along roadways, including 14 chocolate Labrador retrievers that were found recently in a ditch, Flowers said.
“We’ve had as many as 27” at a time, he said. “One person brought in 27 cats one day. We euthanized one morning (and) within three hours 57 more animals were brought in. It would be nice if people would spay and neuter.”
Shelter workers pick up dogs throughout the county but does not collect cats. It has contracts with Moultrie and Colquitt County. Berlin, Doerun, Ellenton and Norman Park also pay a per-case fee when a city official calls to have a nuisance dog picked up.
Recently the county announced it was cutting funding by 5 percent to outside agencies with which it contracts for the budget year beginning July 1.
That reduction will hurt, said Flowers. The Humane Society will live with the cut, which he said was preferable to another alternative the county considered — laying off four county employees.
Flowers said he is looking for ways to cut expenses, including waiting until there are multiple calls to distant locations so several dogs can be collected with one trip. He also would like to see an increase in donations of food and monetary gifts, something he realizes will be hard in the current economic climate.
In recent months the Humane Society had hoped to establish a separate animal food bank to help animal owners who were in financial difficulty. Now the focus is on making sure there is food for the animals in the shelter.
In the time he has been here, Flowers said, he has seen the ratio of calls change from about 60 percent from Moultrie and 40 percent in the county.
“With all these subdivisions that are opening now, there are more coming in from the county,” he said. “It’s probably swapped.”
Summer is traditionally a slow time for adoptions due to families being on vacation or not wishing to get a pet they will have to leave behind while traveling, Flowers said. Recently out-of-town pet seekers have been adopting more than locals.
People have come to Moultrie from as far away as south Florida, the Carolinas and Jacksonville to pick up pets that they found on the online site www.Petango.com.
“We have some good pets here,” Flowers said. “We’re kind to the animals when they come in, we try to find them a home. When we have too many, that’s when we become animal control.”
Adoptions at the shelter are $85 for a dog or cat. That cost includes spaying or neutering, rabies and other first shots, and a microchip locator.
Out of that amount, nearly all goes to veterinarian fees and the microchip, so the shelter makes basically no profit on adoptions, Flowers said.
On Thursday, Moultrie resident Jackie Estep brought in several bags of dog food to help the shelter out and held an apparent Chihuahua-dachschund mix puppy while there.
“I saw the article in the paper that the Humane Society needed more food for the animals,” said Estep, the owner of a Boston bull terrier. “I read that, from then on I’ve been bringing food for the dogs. I know times are hard (but) I think we need more donors to bring food for these puppies.”

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