Animal shelter seeking upgrades

September 25, 2005

MARY AMES/Frontiersman reporter

MAT-SU -The guys in purchasing wondered why Dave Allison was buying so many turkey legs.

Allison, chief of the Mat-Su Borough Animal Care and Regulation shelter, had a simple explanation. He needed them to feed Monty, a 10-foot-long python. Monty's owners were overwhelmed by his size and strength, Allison said, and had surrendered him to animal control.

"He was a monster, it took three big guys to handle it," Allison said. "We only had a 55-gallon aquarium, and he wrapped himself around that about three times. He was in the cattery with the cats, birds and rabbits. They were all just looking at each other. You could cut the stress in there with a knife."

Imagine being lost, injured, surrounded by strangers and then put behind bars. You can't relax because the noise is deafening and Monty is looking at you with a certain gleam in his eye. That's the current situation at the Mat-Su Borough animal shelter.

Proposition Two on October's ballot asks voters to approve a $4.66-million bond proposal for a new 18,000-square-foot shelter. Besides alleviating the crowded conditions, the new building would improve the adoption rates for animals at the shelter, among other things, say proponents of the measure.

Problems at the shelter can be fixed for much less, according to Penny Nixon, the man who originally drafted the tax-cap measure.

"I listened to the hearings in May," Nixon said. "The only people to testify were those who have a financial interest in animal care."

Nixon's concern with the bond proposal stems from the overall indebtedness of the Mat-Su Borough.

"Overall, we have about $220 million indebtedness, which works out to $3,000 for every man, woman and child," he said.

While Nixon doesn't have exact numbers and has not visited the shelter, he believes the fix shouldn't cost so much.

"Look at the current facility and look at vets' offices," he said. "Any vet office could deal with less space than they have there."

"We don't want a palace," Allison said. "We want a place that is well lit, safe and sanitary, where you look at animals through glass enclosures, not through a cage."

Crowded conditions and poor ventilation mean diseases spread fast at the shelter, according to Allison.

Open mesh cages allow animals to transmit diseases faster, too, he said. Twice recently, all the cats had to be destroyed because of upper respiratory infections spreading through the population. And twice all the dogs in the shelter had to be destroyed, due to parvo virus infections. Each time, the shelter had to be stripped down and cleaned to kill bacteria and disease, he said.

Sick animals come in along the same route that healthy animals leave, Allison said.

The shelter staff uses bleach mixed with water, a pressure washer and a steam cleaner to clean the shelter.

"They're rotting," he said, pointing to the walls. "It takes a tremendous amount of time now to clean the facility and a new facility could be cleaned more efficiently. As it is now, we can't deep clean. We have one fresh-air intake for about 2,000 square feet, with dander, hair and disease in the air. This is a community health and safety issue. We can't host field trips for schools. It hurts people to see animals in this condition, but we live this, day and night."

The shelter was built in the mid-1980s to hold 58 dogs and 25 cats. More than 350 animals come through the shelter each month, with about 95 being euthanized and cremated on site, according to Allison.

The crematorium could be a revenue generator, according to Allison. The shelter offers cremation for pets, charging owners based on the size of the animal. But storage of euthanized animals is limited to two chest freezers, he said, making this an underutilized borough asset.

As more people move into the area, they bring more pets with them.

"The animal population in the Valley is growing exponentially," Allison said. "People think we need libraries, roads, transit system and schools. They forget almost everyone who moves in has animals."

"You can see the future in Anchorage," Nixon said. "We have the same tax cap as they do. Bond indebtedness is a way around the tax cap. But as long as the public weighs in, you can't argue with the result."

Contact Mary Ames at

352-2284 or mary.ames@

frontiersman.com.