How to help
To support the Liberty Humane Shelter in passing the spay/neuter ordinance show your support at the county commission meeting Tuesday evening at 6.To donate to the Liberty Humane Shelter visit their Web site at www.libertyhumaneshelter.com. The shelter accepts the donations of aluminum cans. They can be dropped off in the aluminum bin at the shelter located at 279 Briarwood Circle. The shelter also accepts old ink cartridges for recycling.
For more information call the Liberty Humane Shelter at 876-DOGS (3647)
Last February, Board members of the Liberty Humane Shelter and Shelter President Sandra Frye went asked the Liberty County Commission for a county-wide spay/neuter ordinance.
They presented a video, a copy of the proposed ordinance and voiced concerns for the growing rate of dogs being euthanized due to overpopulation and abandonment in the county.
The commissioners, however, tabled the item to review it at a later date. Frye said it took a year, but it appears the commissioners will revisit the item at Tuesday’s meeting. Frye said shelter supporters are seeking support for the ordinance, which she believes could save dogs’ lives and offer another method to fund the county’s portion of Animal Control.
“It’s time to bring it back up,” Frye said. “Everybody has had some time to realize that animals are needlessly being put to sleep out here every week, roughly twice a week. And there is no need for this when we can prevent unwanted litters and prevent this in the near future.”
The Liberty Humane Shelter is in the same building as the county’s Animal Control, but they are separate entities. Frye said it pains her volunteers and staff as well as the staff from the county when the time comes for dogs and cats to be put down.
The ordinance will make it mandatory for most people who own a dog or cat in the county to have the animal spayed or neutered, allowing some exceptions.
“If they are service animals or if they are used in organized competitions there are provisions making them exempt from mandatory spaying or neutering,” Frye said.
The ordinance also provides exemption due to medical reasons and for breeders. The ordinance will also make micro-chipping pets mandatory. Frye said it will reduce the amount of time and effort in tracking down the pet owner and track repeat offenders.
“If you think about it how many responsible pet owners do you know that don’t have their pet spayed or neutered,” Frye said. “We see repeat offenders, and what I mean by that is we see the same animal come through animal control time after time. If that animal had a micro-chip it would only spend and hour out here because they would scan it and call the owner out here.”
Frye said for folks who don’t fall under the exemptions, but still want the choice of whether to have their pet fixed, a provision was added to allow a higher fee on their annual pet registration fee to pay for that privilege.
Frye said the ordinance will allow the county to collect fines on people who violate the ordinance, placing more funds in Animal Control’s coffers and allow the county to start their own micro-chipping program and record fees from that.
Until the ordinance is passed, Frye said the shelter will continue to do its best pulling dogs and cats from Animal Control over to the no-kill shelter. But they can only pull so many due to lack of funds and kennel space. While the county pays utilities for the shelter it does not receive any county funding.
“One animal is euthanized in the United States every two seconds, Frye said. “We will always do what we think is the best thing to do for the animals.”
A copy of the ordinance can be downloaded from the shelter’s Web-site at www.libertyhumaneshelter.com.
The folks at the Liberty Humane Shelter are also planning their fund raising events for 2010 including a rabies and micro-chip clinic, a golf tournament, a gospel tournament and a womanless pageant.
They presented a video, a copy of the proposed ordinance and voiced concerns for the growing rate of dogs being euthanized due to overpopulation and abandonment in the county.
The commissioners, however, tabled the item to review it at a later date. Frye said it took a year, but it appears the commissioners will revisit the item at Tuesday’s meeting. Frye said shelter supporters are seeking support for the ordinance, which she believes could save dogs’ lives and offer another method to fund the county’s portion of Animal Control.
“It’s time to bring it back up,” Frye said. “Everybody has had some time to realize that animals are needlessly being put to sleep out here every week, roughly twice a week. And there is no need for this when we can prevent unwanted litters and prevent this in the near future.”
The Liberty Humane Shelter is in the same building as the county’s Animal Control, but they are separate entities. Frye said it pains her volunteers and staff as well as the staff from the county when the time comes for dogs and cats to be put down.
The ordinance will make it mandatory for most people who own a dog or cat in the county to have the animal spayed or neutered, allowing some exceptions.
“If they are service animals or if they are used in organized competitions there are provisions making them exempt from mandatory spaying or neutering,” Frye said.
The ordinance also provides exemption due to medical reasons and for breeders. The ordinance will also make micro-chipping pets mandatory. Frye said it will reduce the amount of time and effort in tracking down the pet owner and track repeat offenders.
“If you think about it how many responsible pet owners do you know that don’t have their pet spayed or neutered,” Frye said. “We see repeat offenders, and what I mean by that is we see the same animal come through animal control time after time. If that animal had a micro-chip it would only spend and hour out here because they would scan it and call the owner out here.”
Frye said for folks who don’t fall under the exemptions, but still want the choice of whether to have their pet fixed, a provision was added to allow a higher fee on their annual pet registration fee to pay for that privilege.
Frye said the ordinance will allow the county to collect fines on people who violate the ordinance, placing more funds in Animal Control’s coffers and allow the county to start their own micro-chipping program and record fees from that.
Until the ordinance is passed, Frye said the shelter will continue to do its best pulling dogs and cats from Animal Control over to the no-kill shelter. But they can only pull so many due to lack of funds and kennel space. While the county pays utilities for the shelter it does not receive any county funding.
“One animal is euthanized in the United States every two seconds, Frye said. “We will always do what we think is the best thing to do for the animals.”
A copy of the ordinance can be downloaded from the shelter’s Web-site at www.libertyhumaneshelter.com.
The folks at the Liberty Humane Shelter are also planning their fund raising events for 2010 including a rabies and micro-chip clinic, a golf tournament, a gospel tournament and a womanless pageant.