Agenda - 04-01-2004-1 - Laserfiche WebLink

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13 forward now and let APS continue their great job by building a new shelter with APS running it. Thank you.. Pat Sanford: My name is Pat Sanford, I think that everyone recognizes that sometimes when bad times and events happen, they are a catalyst for positive change, That is the only way to look at situations like this. This is what has been happening now and humane societies in North Carolina have taken the lead to provide humane animal shelters. This has now spread to municipal shelters too which is really super good. What has happened at the Orange County Animal Shelter cannot be overlooked though.. The APS has slighted record-keeping, actually saying that records were not important. It has warehoused animals so that animals become sick at the shelter and if they survive and/or adopted out, they often go to their new home sick.. Those who raise questions about these practices are retaliated against with no recourse for either them or for the animals. One aspect of model sheltering is to use volunteers. Municipal shelters, however, usually do not have volunteers because volunteers require even rnore supervision than employees. While I am a strong advocate of volunteers, believing in them to be an integral pazt of a well run shelter, they should not be over valued.. Volunteers can eril~ance operations but they cannot fill the duties of paid staff members who have the responsibility and aze required to be there when they are needed, By supporting adoptions and giving caze and companionship to animals in custody, volunteers perform a tremendously good service, Volunteers can also spread disease through rnishandling animals and may insist on saving project animals for long periods of time which usually limit the more adoptable animals' chances for adoption. Volunteers can enhance operations but again they cannot be a substitute for paid staff, hl the last few years, APS has over valued fostering under the false belief that it can produce a substantial reduction in the euthanasia rate. If run humanely, foster programs aze wonderful for the programs that need a little extra help. These animals, almost al] of the ones that go into fostering, would otherwise have been euthanized. The key to over population is spaying and neutering. The subcommittee in the North Carolina House interim committee on the Prevention and Disposition of Unwanted and Abandoned Companion Animals has just recommended putting a modest tax on dog and cat food of 2 cents a can and 20 cents fora 25-pound bag of dog food which would provide 8 million dollazs for the spay/neuter fund that would be available for counties and humane societies so they can try toward a no-kill state. This can put an end to the killing of the over 260,000 animals in North Carolina alone„ I urge the county to take over the shelter and provide a model shelter. The other counties would then fall into and then we would have a more humane North Carolina generally. Thank you. Elfreda L,eono: I'm Elfreda Leono. I won't need three minutes. I had read in the paper today a brief article that volunteers may not feel needed anymore if the county takes over the shelter. I have to disagree with the previous speaker. I think that volunteers are the heartbeat of an organization. I have lived here for 34 years. I'm supporting several nonprofits because I believe in volunteer work and they could not exist without volunteer work and donations which brings me to an interesting question.. I have donated not just time but also money. In fact, I have given land to