DEAD END
Few dogs and cats make it out of shelter alive
June 3, 2007
Section: LOCAL NEWS
Edition: THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION Page: A01
By Ron Fonger rfonger@flintjournal.com * 810.766.6317
The fatal injection of poison takes just a moment to go to work, easing the unwanted pit bulls and stray house cats into a brief sleep before it takes their lives.
More than 150 times a week last year, a dog or cat was euthanized at the county Animal Control shelter, and a Flint Journal analysis of state shelter records shows an animal's chance of leaving there alive is among the worst in Michigan.
More than 95 percent of cats and kittens at the W. Pasadena Avenue shelter were euthanized in 2006, the highest rate among 140 public and private facilities in the state, the Journal comparison showed.
State Department of Agriculture statistics also show the county's shelter, in Flint Township, has one of the highest euthanasia rates in Michigan for dogs and puppies: 65.7 percent - more than 25 percentage points above the statewide average.
The numbers trouble even the county's chief animal control officer, Lloyd Gerhardt, who is increasingly under pressure to get more aggressive in marketing adoption and making it easier for rescue groups to take dogs and cats - many of which last only a week in the 20,000-square-foot shelter and never even make it to an adoption area where the public would see them.
"We don't enjoy doing it, by no means," Gerhardt said. "It's hard on our people. It's tough, (but) it's reality. I wish there was a better way."
Gerhardt, in charge of the shelter since the county Board of Commissioners appointed him to the job almost 17 years ago, said the shelter's high rate of euthanization is the end result of a community where too many pet owners don't spay and neuter their animals, creating a massive overpopulation problem.
As long ago as 1978, the shelter struggled with the same problem, taking in more than 25,000 dogs and cats - far more than the public was willing to adopt.
But the explanation isn't enough for some who aren't just complaining about the status quo but are pushing their own ideas for saving more of the thousands of animals the shelter takes in each year.
Built in the late 1970s with cages for about 300 animals, the county shelter operates with little attention but has a history of top administrators with more experience in UAW politics than shelter management.
Dr. Dawnell Wease, a Grand Blanc Township physician, told county commissioners months ago that changes were needed and the process of picking Gerhardt's eventual replacement needs to be opened up to the public.
Gerhardt, 59, said last week he has no definite plan to retire, and on Wednesday, county commissioners gave him a new charge: working with groups interested in cutting rates of euthanization.
"I can't imagine anyone thinks it's a good idea to just continue putting them down," said Becki Williams, a Montrose Township resident and spokeswoman for Friends of Genesee County Animal Shelter.
"Just because it's always been done that way doesn't mean we have to continue."
Her group's proposals include using photos of the shelter's available animals on animal adoption Web sites - something that hasn't been done recently - and making more dogs and cats available for adoption.
Williams is a shelter volunteer, seeing animals on death row every time she visits to walk dogs.
"It's very hard to look them in the eyes," she said of the animals. "I have no real way of knowing" which will still be here the next time.
So many animals flood the shelter - more than 10,000 last year alone - that many are never made available for adoption, weeded out by the shelter workers as unadoptable and euthanized after a seven-day stay.
The Journal's analysis of Agriculture Department statistics shows only two shelters in Michigan took in more cats last year than Genesee County, and only one - the Oakland County Humane Society - took in more dogs.
The county shelter's admissions don't include thousands of other dogs and cats without homes. Last year at the Genesee County Humane Society alone, an additional 2,683 dogs and puppies (39.8 percent were euthanized) and 2,789 cats and kittens (58.8 percent were euthanized) were taken in.
In Michigan, shelters that euthanize are required to report the number of dogs, cats, ferrets and other animals taken in, euthanized, sold for research, returned to owners or adopted.
The Journal compared raw numbers from each of the 140 facilities that reported having euthanized animals last year.
No shelter in the area sold animals for research, according to reports filed with the state, and only five in Michigan did: animal control sites in Gratiot, Mecosta, Midland, Montcalm and Osceola counties.
Gerhardt said he stopped the sale of animals for research soon after coming on the job and said the county has humanized the euthanasia process from the days that animals were electrocuted at its old shelter on Beecher Road.
Euthanasia remains a necessary evil, he said, even though he dreams of shutting down the shelter's cremation oven.
"We got too many (animals) and not enough buyers. A lot of them are old and nobody wants an old (pet)," said Gerhardt, who said he's willing to talk about changes aimed at lowering the number of animals that are euthanized.
Gerhardt said last week that he plans to start posting photos of animals available for adoption on Web sites such as Petfinder.com.
But Gerhardt hasn't been willing to give cats and dogs to rescue groups as an alternative to euthanizing them. He told county commissioners last week that it's unfair to give the animals for free to such groups while county taxpayers have to pay at least $65 to adopt a kitten or puppy.
"I don't think that's a very good idea," he said.
Wease said the county could cut its euthanasia rates by allowing rescue groups to take dogs and cats free of charge and listing animals with photos on the county's own Web site and others.
In the long term, she said the county could contract with veterinarians to do spaying and neutering in the shelter rather than leaving the job to individual pet owners.
David Tucker, executive director of the Humane Society of Genesee County, said the Animal Control shelter has a tough job operating as a kind of shelter of last resort, taking in animals in all conditions, including those that have bitten people or whose owners have asked that they be euthanized.
"We have a little different situation. We have the ability to say, 'We're full,'" Tucker said.
Gerhardt said the county shelter doesn't limit how long animals are up for adoption but said those considered adoptable are kept as long as space allows.
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Memo: The odds don't favor felines at Genesee County Animal Control: 19 out of 20 are euthanized, the state's highest rate.
Want to adopt?
Animal adoption fees vary at the Genesee County Animal Control shelter depending on the breed and age of the dog or cat. The shelter, 4351 W. Pasadena Ave. in Flint Township, is open 10 a.m.-4:15 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday. For more information, call (810) 732-1660. Meet some of the animals available for adoption:
* This litter of kittens is among a number of felines at the shelter.
* Gretta is a 6-week-old husky-chow-boxer mix. She has five littermates.
* This male mountain-kerr mix, 10 weeks old, has no name.
* It's up to you to name this 7-year-old, neutered male Jack Russell terrier.
* Brooke is an adult Labrador-husky mix. She's already spayed.
What you can do
Thousands of animals are euthanized in Genesee County each year, and the failure to spay and neuter dogs and cats feeds the problem. Here's how to help:
• The Humane Society of Genesee County offers programs and discounted fees with area veterinary clinics for spaying and neutering.
• Financial assistance to help with the cost of spaying and neutering is available by contacting the organization at (810) 744-0511. Applications are available from the group's Web site: www.geneseehumane.org.
• People buying dogs or cats from the Genesee County Animal Control shelter pay a $50 deposit when they adopt a pet. The deposit is returned when buyers show proof the animal has been spayed or neutered.
Who's who
• Genesee County Animal Control, 4351 W. Pasadena Ave., Flint Township (www.co.genesee.mi.us/animal/), is charged with enforcing animal control laws in the county, including protection of the public, rabies control and operating a shelter for stray and unwanted dogs and cats.
• Friends of Genesee County Animal Shelter (www.fgcas.info/) is a new group of volunteers. Its first priority is reducing euthanasia rates at the county shelter.
• Nongovernment shelters in the county include the Genesee County Humane Society, (810) 744-0511; Adopt-A-Pet Inc., a nonprofit animal rescue operation located in Fenton (810) 629-0723; and Last Chance Rescue, (810) 247-0356.
Few ways out
Dogs and cats that ended up in the Genesee County Animal Control shelter in 2006 faced some of the longest odds for survival in the state. Here's how the county shelter ranked in percentage of animals euthanized among 147 licensed shelters in the state. Only shelters that took in at least 100 animals last year are included:
DOGS
1. Michigan Anti-Cruelty Association of Detroit: 89.5 percent (2,836)
2. River Rouge: 84.2 percent (555)
3. Branch County: 75 percent (378)
4. Detroit: 69.8 percent (2,600)
5 (tie). St. Clair County Humane Society: 65.7 percent (267)
5 (tie). Genesee County: 65.7 percent (3,180)
* State average*: 39.4 percent (41,919)
Others nearby
* Genesee County Humane Society: 39.8 percent (1,069)
* Lapeer County Animal Control: 46.8 percent (503)
* Shiawassee County Animal Control: 30.8 percent (128)
CATS
1. Genesee County: 95.5 percent (4,944)
2. St. Clair County Humane Society: 93.1 percent (2,226)
3. Alpena County Animal Control: 91.3 percent (53)
4. Branch County: 91.2 percent (188)
5. St. Clair County Animal Control: 91.2 percent (2,150)
6 (tie). Al-Van Humane Society (Van Buren County): 90.8 percent (1,837)
6 (tie). Michigan Anti-Cruelty Association of Detroit: 90.8 percent (4,044)
* State average*: 63 percent (76,000)
Others nearby
* Genesee County Humane Society: 58.8 percent (1,641)
* Lapeer County Animal Control: 86.3 percent (1,293)
* Shiawassee County Animal Control: 72.9 percent (350)
* For all shelters, including those handling fewer than 100 animals.