A benefit for both species

Wanted: A new animal shelter for Washington County

WASHINGTON County may finally get that animal shelter it’s long needed, and building it could save the taxpayers a lot of money over the long haul. The county has been paying the City of Fayetteville $75 to care for each of the animals its officers round up and leave with thecity’s animal shelter.

Caring for all these dogs and cats has become a costly proposition. The county’s quorum court had to approve an emergency appropriation for $13,000 the other day just to cover what it owed Fayetteville for keepingthe strays in 2009-and Fayetteville’s facility doesn’t have enough room to expand. It’s a problem that demands a solution. And now one awaits.

It was no surprise when members of the county’s advisory board on how to deal with animals broke into applause when the quorum court authorized a study to see how much it would cost to build and operate a brand new shelter. A number of public officials and concerned citizens have been hoping for such a decision since 2004, when a similar proposal to establish a county shelter was rejected.

Candy Clark, one of the justices of the peace, called it an historic moment. She can be forgiven the exaggeration,but there’s no need to apologize for her sentiments. At last the county is taking a decisive step in the right direction, and the time when the county can take care of its own strays is that much nearer. For at least 30 percent of the animals now being kept at the city’s shelter come from outside thecity limits.

Where to build the new shelter is no problem. There is space available near the existing sheriff’s department in south Fayetteville. The challenge is how best to pay for day-to-day operating expenses-staffing, care andfeeding, and so expensively on.

Here’s the best suggestion we’ve heard: Use jail trustys and minor offenders, or maybe some of the young people now held in the adjacent juvenile detention facility, to help staff the shelter. Such programs have produced good results elsewhere. There’s no reason the same approach couldn’t work in Washington County, given proper management and supervision. Letting the human offenders out from behind bars to attend to creatures locked up in their own cells might benefit both species, man and beast, and prove as economical as it is beneficial. Doing the decent thing can also mean doing the economical thing.

Editorial, Pages 12 on 07/23/2010

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