Animal lovers offer shelter support amid heat concerns
Emails and calls offering donated fans, air-conditioning units and electrical work have flooded Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control.
The outpouring of community support comes after a string of news reports raising concerns of the animals’ well-being.
The shelter is planning a three-year, multimillion-dollar renovation funded by a penny tax approved last year. Construction won’t begin for another year, and plans are not yet set. The shelter’s three kennels were built in 1992 and can’t accommodate airconditioning units. But after two fans in the shelter’s dog kennels broke more than a week ago, some worried the shelter could become unbearably hot for dogs.
Dianne Sauve, the director of Animal Care and Control, said the concern has been “greatly exaggerated.” No dogs have become sick due to lack of air conditioning, Sauve said.
The fans were fixed a week after they broke, Sauve said. The fix was delayed by 300 chickens brought to the facility from an allegedly inhumane slaughterhouse that deputies raided Aug. 2.
There are about 10 large, industrial fans running 24/7 in three kennels at the shelter, Sauve said.
To help the dogs cool down, volunteers give each two scoops of ice — one in their water bowls and another on the floor to eat or play with. “We are not going to dispute that it’s hot,” Sauve said. “Every summer we go through it being hot.”
The dogs also have playtime outside every day. The play area has sprinklers, small pools and huts for shade, Sauve said.
After a WPTV-Ch. 5 reporter pointed a temperature gun into a cage in one newscast (one reading was 90 degrees), David Walesky, the shelter’s operations manager,
has been measuring the temperatures hourly and doesn’t get the same recording. According to Walesky, the air temperature has been 85 degrees and the surface temperatures ranged from 79 to 90.
Animal lovers took to social media to express concern, with one Facebook post drawing 784 shares and 600 comments. Animal control also went online to share its side. Walesky said there is no cause to go into “crisis mode.”
Michael Strickland, of Kansas, who raises greyhounds, said he saw one of the news videos online. He said he has visited Florida before and knows humidity can make it feel hotter than the recorded temperature. Strickland contacted the Palm Beach Greyhound Kennel Association and called around to kennels near the shelter to find out what they could donate.
“You might think I sound like
acountry hick,” he said. “But here when a neighbor is in trouble, a neighbor comes over and helps.”
Air conditioning is standard in most kennels for the comfort of the animals, said Arthur Agganis, president of the Palm Beach Greyhound Kennel Association, which air conditions its own facility. “Is no A/C survivable? Yes, but it’s hot,” he said. “Why have kennels in the 80s or 90s when it can be 72, 74?”
Sauve said the shelter isn’t accepting unsolicited donations of items such as fans or air-conditioning units because its electrical grid is already at capacity. “While we greatly appreciate the generosity, [most donations] are unusable here.”
Sauve said the shelter is looking into longer-term solutions.
“We are not ignoring it,” she said. “We are not being complacent. We aren’t saying it’s not hot. But nothing happens overnight.”