MOST RECENT MEDIA COVERAGE by the Galveston Daily News: ADVISORY COMMITTEE VOTES TO CREATE LIMIT ON ANIMALS’ STAY AT ARC By T.J. AULDS | Posted: Saturday, August 3, 2013 12:00 am TEXAS CITY — Several changes are coming to the Galveston County Animal Resource Center, which is still stinging from an ongoing animal cruelty investigation, a massive crowding problem, photos showing animals stacked in kennels living in their own filth and calls for a change in management. Thanks to a more aggressive adoption effort and the publicity surrounding the crowding problem, the animal population no longer tops 600 dogs and cats, officials said. Still, with 295 animals, the animal resource center is about 100 over capacity. ‘YOU CREATED AN INHUMANE SITUATION’ The Galveston County sheriff, whose agency is conducting the animal cruelty investigation, admonished managers and members of the advisory committee saying that — in part — efforts to avoid euthanizing animals created the problem. “In your attempt to be humane, you created an inhumane situation,” Sheriff Henry Trochesset told members of the animal advisory committee on Thursday. “It’s a numbers game. If you have 40 dogs come in and only 10 go out (through adoption or rescue), you have to be able to make a decision. You can’t just open the back door and let the rest go. That leaves you with only one other alternative.” Euthanization. TWO CHOICES “They have one of two choices,” Trochesset said in an interview with The Daily News after he met with the animal advisory committee. “Those (animals) can either go out the front door or in the back of a truck.” To that end, the health district and advisory committee made some personnel and policy changes in an effort to avoid a repeat of the situation in which as many as 650 animals were housed in a shelter built to handle a maximum of 350. One of the changes, implemented by recently hired animal resource center Director Amber Adams, was setting 205 as the number considered to be capacity at the animal resource center. That figure will prove important as officials determine what warrants a call for assistance because of crowding. 30-DAY STAY In a split vote, members of the animal advisory committee approved a policy whereby animals brought into the shelter could stay there only for up to 30 days. Adams will have some flexibility on a case-by-case basis, and if the animal population is below the 205 mark, she will be able to extend an animal’s stay. The decision was by no means unanimous. While some on the advisory committee pushed for 20- and 60-day limits, many animal rescue groups wanted a 90-day window. Dr. Dana Beckham, a veterinarian who once managed the county shelter and who is now the health district’s chief epidemiologist, will now have executive management oversight of the shelter. She argued that 90 days was too long. She stressed that some sort of deadline needed to be set to “incentivize” volunteers and rescue groups to rescue dogs. In a 7-4 vote, the committee approved the 30-day window, with the caveat that Adams would have the discretion to extend the time an animal could be kept. EXPANDED ROLES At the suggestion of one of the animal rescue groups, Beckham and Adams will create criteria that will dictate what efforts must be made and when during an animal’s stay at the shelter. In her expanded role, Beckham will soon add animal resource center supervisory duties to her job description. Adams, who was hired as the director of the center in April, will be responsible for the day-to-day operations, Dr. Mark Guidry, the health district’s chief executive officer, said. Beckham, who also worked for the state agency that monitors and inspects animal shelters, takes over for Ronnie Schultz, the health district’s director of environmental health. Schultz came under fire by the resource center’s former director, Kim Schoolcraft, and animal rescue groups for implementing policies they said pushed euthanization over adoption. He also took heat earlier this year for referring to animals at the shelter as “stock.” Guidry said Schultz would go back to focusing on “his main job responsibilities.” REPAIRING RELATIONSHIPS Beckham, who facilitated an emergency animal summit earlier in the week, will be charged with finding a way to repair the animal resource center’s relationships with the various rescue groups, which have become some of the shelter’s most vocal critics. In an effort to increase adoptions, the animal advisory board agreed with the pleas from Adams, Beckham and Guidry that the shelter needed to have a staff member who would coordinate with rescue groups and volunteers. However, committee members balked at the budget proposal that called for making the job full-time. Instead, committee members approved a plan to create a part-time position. The bulk of the objection to making the job full-time was the added expense. Most of the cities represented on the committee opposed spending more money.
Posted on: Sun, 04 Aug 2013 04:31:41 +0000
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