Animal shelter throws rescue groups a bone

PALMER — A recent update to animal adoption fees to keep up with inflation also includes an attempt to strengthen the relationship between the Mat-Su Borough and cat rescue groups that work with its shelter.

Mat-Su Borough Animal Care and Regulation Manager Carol Vardeman explained that sometimes when the shelter gets cats that have upper respiratory infections, it will call on cat rescue groups to get those animals out of the shelter before they infect felines in neighboring cages.

“The cat rescue people pointed out that they were doing us a great favor,” Vardeman said. “They said, ‘hey, we’re doing you a favor this should be for free.’”

After a meeting with rescue groups and borough officials, the agreed upon fee structure contains that provision, and was approved by the Mat-Su Borough Assembly April 1.

At that meeting, Mat-Su Borough Mayor Larry DeVilbiss asked what kind of rescue groups had been in on the negotiation. Assemblyman Jim Sykes said it was cat rescue groups and that everyone had left the meeting more-or-less satisfied.

“Well, if you can please cat people you can please anybody,” DeVilbiss said.

A sliding scale also was implemented so that animals are cheaper to adopt the longer they stay at the shelter. Dogs go from $135 to $89 after 14 days and drop to $19 after 28 days. Rates for cats go from $117 to $75 to $17.

Vardeman said the only fee that didn’t increase was the $75 transport fee for large animals. She said that instead of an increase, the borough tacked on a mileage charge pegged to the rate the federal government uses.

“If we’ve got to schlep that bad boy all the way to Delta, $75 isn’t going to cut it,” she said.

There remains one sticking point, though. The rules were changed so that if an animal is about to be euthanized, the shelter has to give it to a rescue group if one is willing to take it.

Mat-Su Borough Attorney Nick Spiropoulos pointed out that change could create a loophole in the system the borough has set up to deal with problem animals. The system classifies animals up to Level 5, which is an animal so aggressive that their only option is to be euthanized.

“It doesn’t happen frequently, but I can see it coming up,” Spiropoulos said. “We wouldn’t want anybody coming forward and saying, ‘oh well, I’m willing to take the dog so Level 5 doesn’t apply.’”

Spiropoulos asked Sykes to state the assembly’s intent there, which Sykes did, saying the intent is not to break the Level-5 system, which Spiropoulos seemed to think fixed the problem.

But Vardeman on Monday brought up a different possible scenario — a dog that was severely wounded in, say a car wreck. Does the shelter have to prolong that animal’s suffering in order to make sure it’s been offered to a rescue group?

She said the shelter is working with the borough’s legal department to figure out a way to clear that up.

Contact Andrew Wellner at 352-2270

or andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com.