More pets spared at borough animal shelter

PALMER — The Mat-Su Borough’s animal shelter hasn’t killed an adoptable animal in nearly three months and plans to keep that record going indefinitely.

Bob Haskell, the borough’s head of Animal Care and Regulation, said that record was due to a number of factors, first being the new, much larger facility the shelter moved into a little over a year ago. More kennels and cages means more dogs and cats can stay longer.

“We’re able to hang onto animals a little bit longer, give them a chance of getting adopted,” he said.

Second on his list is the care of the animals.

“The borough veterinarian does a pretty fantastic job of mitigating the sicknesses which, as far as the cats are concerned, is the biggest problem we have here,” Haskell said.

And then there are local rescue groups, which Haskell said he and his staff have been working very closely with.

“If we get down to the situation where we look at possibly having to euthanize because we have a space issue, we are on the phone to a rescue group,” he said.

So, going by the numbers, in February, the first “no-kill” month, the shelter took in 237 animals, adopted out 152 and returned 33 to their owners. In March, those numbers were 273 animals taken in, 167 adopted out and 53 returned home.

And though April isn’t over yet, Haskell said he expects that trend will continue into May.

Those numbers don’t add up and it’s because there is a very important caveat to the no-kill distinction — it applies to adoptable animals.

There are still those animals that the shelter can’t put in homes because they’re too feral, too sick, too injured or too aggressive. There are also animals whose owners bring them to the shelter and hand them over to be euthanized.

But looking at the trends, Haskell said, euthanasia — even the euthanasia of sick animals — has been on a steady downward slope ever since the new shelter opened.

“The numbers have been slowly and steadily declining to the point where they are now,” Haskell said

Haskell said the shelter, especially on the cat side, is looking at ways to improve. The way it works now, he said, is there is a room for new cats and a room for cats that have been there longer. Cats in the long-term room get to move about more and remain active.

“Especially with the older ones, when they were in the adoptable rooms they just weren’t getting any exercise and they got sedentary,” he said.

A sedentary cat is a tough sell for families coming in looking for a pet. Who wants a cat that’s not playful and just lies around?

Longer term, he said, the plan is to build more cat cages and put doors in between some of the existing cages so that when the shelter isn’t filled to the brim the cats can have more room.

“We’re trying to follow the Humane Society guidelines of what’s acceptable for housing cats, which is nine square feet per cat,” Haskell said.

A Boy Scout, he said, will build those new cages for his Eagle Scout project, and a lot of the project will be funded through donations. Which speaks to yet another cornerstone of the shelter. To a degree greater than a lot of borough departments, the shelter relies heavily on volunteers.

“Last year we had about 5,000 man-hours of volunteer time,” Haskell said.

How long does Haskell think he can keep up this pace?

“I don’t see an end to this no-kill status anytime in the near future.”

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.