nieworld.com

Teachers

Students

Families

Projects

Email NIE

Saturday, September 13, 2003

A Growing Concern

As numbers of stray and unwanted pets skyrocket, local humane societies are expanding to try and keep pace

By JAMES MILLER | News-Journal Staff Writer

PALM COAST — When the Flagler County Humane Society moves into its new home early next year, it won’t be a minute too soon for the people who work there.

“We’ve got animals in the laundry room and animals in the office,” said Amy Wade-Carotenuto, the shelter’s director. “We have to find creative ways to stuff 25 loaves of bread into a bread box.”

News of her crew’s good work gets around.

Don and Imo Weaver drove from New Smyrna Beach to the Flagler County Humane Society shelter to pick up Cheech, a 6-year-old Chihuahua.

They wanted a Chihuahua and the Flagler County shelter had one. They also wanted to help.

“They need homes,” Don Weaver said of the shelter’s animals.

By adopting Cheech, the Weavers played a part, however small, in reducing the ever-growing number of animals crowding local shelters and forcing expansions.

The Flagler County Humane Society is scheduled to move into a new 14,000-square-foot, $1.25 million shelter early next year. According to Linda Bullard, a senior budget analyst with Flagler County, the county has contributed $187,494 to the project and another $137,358 is expected in the coming year.

But Amy Wade-Carotenuto, the Flagler County Humane Society’s shelter manager, said the majority of the money will come from donations, which the group is still seeking.

The shelter was built in 1982 to house an anticipated 250 animals per year, Wade-Carotenuto said. In July alone, the 4,000-square-foot shelter, which has undergone little expansion in the past 20 years, received 331 animals. The total number for all of 2002 was 3,184.

The number of strays also reflects the county’s growing human population. Between 1980 and 2000, Flagler County’s population almost quadrupled, from 10,913 to 49,832, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

The situation is similar in Volusia County. In 1996, the Halifax Humane Society in Daytona Beach, largest of Volusia County’s three humane society shelters, received 9,677 animals. In 2002, the number was 16,953, community relations coordinator Michelle Pari said.

The Halifax shelter is undergoing a $750,000 expansion, which includes an adoption lobby with rooms for small dogs and cats, a quarantine building and an addition to the spay and neuter surgery area.

Executive director James Noe said he expects the expansion, which is being funded with donations and bequests, to be finished by October.

The Southeast Volusia Humane Society is adding 48 dog kennels, director Susie Soule said.

The West Volusia Humane Society has no plans to expand, according to the group’s Web site, and earlier this month the drop-off cages left outside the facility were removed.

The cages, placed at the Humane Society by the county and in use for the past four years, were removed because of misuse, according to Becky Wilson, Volusia County Animal Control services director.

“We have been getting animals in there from all over,” Wilson said, “and we can’t determine from where.”

Now, residents who find strays must call their local police or animal control departments or take the animals to the other shelters in Volusia County, both of which have after-hour drop-off cages. The Flagler County facility also has drop-off cages.

Human population growth isn’t the only thing contributing to the number of animals received by local shelters, humane society personnel said.

“... People still don’t get the dang message about getting animals spayed and neutered,” Noe said. “It’s like talking to a brick wall.”

The Halifax and Flagler County societies offer low-cost spay and neuter options.

It’s much better than one of the alternatives, shelter personnel said. Last year, 10,600 animals were put to sleep at the Halifax Humane Society. Wade-Carotenuto said the Flagler facility has to euthanize about 50 percent of its animals.

Pari said before she began volunteering in an animal shelter, she had no idea how serious the problem was.

“Yeah, these numbers are unbelievable,” she said, “but to us they’re faces.”

Copyright © 2008 NIE WORLD (www.nieworld.com). All content copyrighted and may not be republished without permission. The News-Journal has no control over and is not responsible for content on other Web sites. Privacy Policy.