Officials dispute e-mail rumors about shelter

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By Brandy Nance (Contact)

Saturday, September 20, 2008

The Lyon County Sheriff’s Office spends around $70,000 a year in taxpayer money to pay the salary of an animal control officer and fees to house strays at the Emporia Animal Shelter.

An e-mail that has been circulating recently has prompted the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office and the Emporia Police Department to clarify animal control policies in the two entities. The e-mail alleges that “all animals brought in by Lyon County Animal Control will now only be given 72 hours to live. ... These animals will not be given the opportunity to be adopted...”

Lyon County Sheriff Gary Eichorn said there is no 72-hour limit for animals at the Emporia Animal Shelter.

“We’re not putting them down in 72 hours,” Eichorn said. “It’s not our policy, and I’m sure it’s not the city’s policy.”

County animal control has come a long way, Eichorn said. Before the county hired an animal control officer, there wasn’t a designated person to take care of strays and other animal problems in the county. The county animal control officer has days where he takes more calls than the regular officers, Eichorn said. Having a designated person to perform animal control duties frees other deputies to perform their duties.

“We have a lot better program than what we’ve had in the past,” he said. “To me, that’s taking care of the needs of the public.”

The county contracts with the city of Emporia to house animals at the shelter at $10 a day per animal. If someone brings in five puppies and a mother, that’s $60 a day, Eichorn said. Animals are being kept much of the time for five days and sometimes six to 10 days. Eichorn said the county is averaging $1,200 a month to house stray dogs and cats. The sheriff’s office also has a contract with some of the small towns in the county to perform animal control duties. Those towns pay the fees for those animals, Eichorn said.

Most of the animals picked up by the county are generated by public complaints. Many times animals are dumped in the county by people who don’t want them anymore.

“We’re not out patrolling to pick up animals,” Eichorn said. “Most of the time it’s reactive. We’re not driving around somebody’s neighborhood trying to find their dog at large.”

Animals brought in by the county are put up for adoption — if they are adoptable. The shelter staff determines adoptability of the animals. Eichorn pointed out several county animals that had been adopted in recent months.

“Adoption is an option,” Eichorn said.

However, the shelter only has so much room to hold animals.

“One of the biggest problems is our shelter is not big enough to keep animals for very long,” he said.

It’s also expensive to hold animals at the shelter.

“It’s terrible, but I don’t know that we can afford more than what we’ve been doing,” Eichorn said. “When you’re spending $70,000 in tax dollars on animal control, that’s a lot ... I would like to see them all adopted and I would like to see none of them dropped off in the county.”

The e-mail also alleges that the Emporia Animal Shelter is a “high kill facility.” Emporia Police Chief Gary Smith said he takes exception to that statement and said the city has not changed any of its policies regarding animal control.

“I meet with those people (animal shelter employees) weekly and it’s not an easy decision for them to euthanize anything,” Smith said. “When you’re running at or above capacity you have to make tough decisions. We’ve not changed what we’re doing. I’ve even gone to the extreme of putting our community service officer out there.”

Part of the problem in Emporia is overpopulation.

“The big problem is people who won’t keep their animals confined and won’t spay and neuter and vaccinate them,” Smith said.

Smith said the city is looking for ways to hold people accountable for their animals if the animals aren’t spayed or neutered and animal control has to pick them up. Smith said he’s seeing a pattern at the animal shelter and the same animals are showing up over and over.

The Emporia Animal Shelter gets a lot of comments from the public saying people have donated money to take care of the animals, Smith said. Smith said that’s not the case.

“A lot of money goes to the Buck Fund or the Humane Society,” he said.

People wishing to donate to the Emporia Animal Shelter have to donate through the Emporia Police Department, Smith said. Although the Buck Fund and the Humane Society work with the shelter on placement of animals and other assistance, money donated to those entities does not go directly to the Emporia Animal Shelter.

“It’s a city-run facility,” Smith said. “The only way to donate to the shelter is to send it to the police department.”