PAWS cuts off pet surrenders
♦ Intake numbers over a two-day period earlier this week were so high that PAWS is full.
With a high volume of surrenders over a two-day span earlier this week, the PAWS facility is packed and has cut off intake of cats and dogs from the public.
And animal rescue groups, like Floyd Felines, which account for taking in about 60 percent of the animals at PAWS, are inundated right now as well, said Floyd County Animal Control officer Matt Cordle. This ties up the transition of animals to rescues, and the population grows and grows, with the only relief valve being adoptions or euthanasia.
“We’re bottlenecked and it comes in waves,” said Kristy LaRue, the CEO of Floyd Felines. “PAWS is trying to do their part, but the community has to do their part too.”
On Monday, the shelter started taking surrenders again after the population dropped last week. By Tuesday afternoon, they were no longer being accepted. Over those two days, 81 cats and 18 dogs were taken in.
The intake shut down is meant to prevent euthanizing animals, Cordle said, something PAWS does not want to do — this turning away from euthanasia really took hold at the new facility at 99 North Ave.
The priority is to have a quick turnaround — animals being adopted quickly after arriving at the shelter — and for rescue groups to cut down on the population and extend the reach of adoption information, he continued.
“Without them we’d be in real trouble,” Cordle said.
With clear frustration and exhaustion in her voice, LaRue said “this vicious cycle” is bound to continue over and over again with a near yearround breeding cycle being unbroken unless people take responsibility and sterilize their pets, particularly cats. The mindset of people who feed cats at their home and let them be, with no attempt at sterilization, but are then surprised when a litter shows up has to change, she continued.
In late February, the county commission approved a contract with National Spay Alliance Foundation to sterilize all the adoptable animals at PAWS. However, trying to fill the position of full-time veterinarian who essentially just does sterilization procedures has been a challenge, said Commissioner Allison Watters, a member of the steering committee for North Georgia Animal Partnership.
But recent discussions indicate a veterinarian working out of the NSAF’s Dalton clinic could operate out of PAWS two to three times a week until a full-time veterinarian is hired.
“We’ve got our fingers crossed and prayers lifted,” Watters said.
Cutting off intake comes just over a month after a “Free the Shelters” adoption event — three days of no-adoption fees — significantly thinned out the number of animals at the shelter, including all cats being adopted at that time. But then kitten season — well the latest one — came on strong, with people bringing in kittens in groups of seven to eight, at times.
LaRue said their facility currently houses around 120 cats, which have to be sterilized before they can be adopted out. Right now, the group spends about $1,200 a week for the procedure on 12 cats in the attempt to find them homes.