Support Hot Springs Animal Services
There has been a lot of talk lately, especially on social media, about our community animal shelter, Hot Springs Animal Services — “Don’t take the stray you found to the city, they will kill it,” “Don’t adopt from the city shelter — they are a kill facility.”
Animal rescue organizations in our community can choose not to accept animals — if they think it is not adoptable or if they are full. Hot Springs Animal Services cannot do that. They must accept every stray, unwanted, rescued, or impounded animal — regardless of breed, tem- perament, age, or health. They cover all of Garland County
— not just the city of Hot Springs. They take in animals involved in bite cases or drug busts, DWIS, car accidents, houses burning down, owners going to the hospital. They also are responsible for animals in our community that are found dead which can be a health hazard — deer, possums, skunks, raccoons, dogs, cats or birds.
Our shelter has a total of 42 large animal pens, 18 small animal pens, 20 small isolation pens (used mainly for feral cats). In 2020, the shelter took in 1,725 animals. This January to May 2021 they have already taken in 719 animals. Only about 14% of those animals are reclaimed by their owners, 35-38% are adopted, about 1% die from natural causes and 1% are released back to the wild. This leaves a large number of animals to fill a limited space. Bite case animals may stay at the shelter anywhere from four months to 1.5 years. This further limits the space available for incoming animals. Because of this — some animals are euthanized to make room for incoming animals. There is no alternative to this, as the space is limited.
If someone can come up with a good alternative — please share it with the shelter. The staff working there do not choose to go in every day and euthanize animals. The toll it takes on them is huge. I do not know about others — but I could not do the hard work they do — day in and day out. And the officers are only making $13.75 per hour, less than at some fast food restaurants. Employee morale and turnover at animal shelters such as ours can be very high. It does not help when the work they do is so maligned and unappreciated — and they are often screamed at or threatened by members of the public.
People calling to complain to the city manager about decisions made at the shelter puts additional pressure on the staff. The decisions made on a day-to-day basis at the shelter are often out of their control — either based on city laws or carrying capacity at the shelter. If every pen is full, and five more strays come in — what is the solution? And for every person who says — I’m coming back for that animal — nine out of 10 don’t.
If we want to solve the problem of our shelter being a kill facility we can either keep expanding the shelter in perpetuity or people can spay/neuter their pets so that the number of unwanted and stray animals is significantly reduced. With cats on average having four kittens per litter and dogs having 5-6 per litter — the problem becomes exponential without spaying and neutering.
I encourage everyone in our community, especially our city and county leaders, to visit our shelter at 319 Davidson Drive from noon to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Or join them for their fourth annual Home for the Holidays adoption event Friday, Dec. 10, from 6-9 p.m.
If you are looking to adopt, please consider adopting from Hot Springs Animal Services — with one more adopted that’s one less euthanized.