FOTAS and Aiken County Determine The New Animal Shelter Site

Let’s start with basic terms.  First, “Animal Control” is the jurisdiction’s obligation to protect the public from the nuisance, disease and danger of unwanted, mostly domestic animals.  Statutes regarding Animal Welfare make legal determinations about animal cruelty resulting from neglect or abuse.  Animal Advocacy, by contrast, assumes that animals’ well-being is the collective moral obligation of the community in which they reside.

Once understood, we can see these terms in operation.  Built to house 100 animals over 20 years ago, the current county shelter ‘s primary if not sole purpose was to serve the county’s animal control obligation.  Quickly the demand on the facility rose to over 200 unwanted animals, brought in by officers or surrendered by citizens, who wait 5 days for someone to claim them.  Before FOTAS, over 90% were euthanized, bagged up, and shipped to the landfill.

This 5,000 square foot facility, with no lobby, no quarantine area or infirmary, no surgical facility, no kitchen or break room, no cat area, no

HVAC, serves all 110 square miles of Aiken County, minus the cities of Aiken and North Augusta with their own animal control.  The facility never pretended to address community concerns about animal welfare or animal advocacy, nor can it effectively address the 5,400 unwanted animals that continue to arrive each year.

FOTAS and the County have been working together for nearly two years to determine the best way to provide our Animal Services Department and our community with an adequate animal shelter.  Plans are finally under way as our euthanasia rate balks above 70%.

Last month County Council designated 4.4 acres of county-owned land as the site for a new Aiken County Animal Shelter.  The lovely parcel sits on the southwest corner of May Royal and Wire Road. 

The May Royal parcel was one of four potential sites considered: a shell and 5 acres in the Willow Run Industrial Park for $695k; the current Aiken SPCA for $650k; and, the current county shelter site.

FOTAS contracted a nationally recognized shelter expert to evaluate all of the options for the county.  His assessment concluded that the most cost-effective option to provide an adequate shelter, one that could serve our county population, was to build new on county-owned land.

Last week, a committee of FOTAS and County representatives interviewed four finalists in a search for shelter design experts.   In accordance with the MOU signed last June, FOTAS will pay for the shovel-ready design, and no public funds will be spent until site work begins, if the county moves expeditiously. 

Aiken County is already seeking ways to optimize its contractor services for the shelter project as it advances our new county complex; for instance, there is saleable timber on both sites.

This innovative public-private partnership will set new standards for merging animal control, welfare and advocacy in programs for and by our animal-loving county.  This is our one opportunity to get this right, and if we do, it will serve us all well for decades into the future.  

FOTAS Volunteers work with the AIKEN COUNTY ANIMAL SHELTER, 411 Wire Road.  For more information, contact “info@fotasaiken.org” or visit FOTAS on line at www.fotasaiken.org

Aiken County Animal Shelter: “By the Numbers”

Yearly Adoptions July 2006 to June 2011

Adoptions	Cats	Dogs	Total
FY07	88	366	454
FY08	95	546	641
FY09	163	467	630
FY10	185	530	715
FY11	142	620	762

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LETTER: More needs to be done at shelter

From The Aiken Standard
Submitted Letter to the Editor
By CAROLYN KLOTZBAUGH

Aiken County has a severe problem with the number of surrendered and stray animals who end up at the county shelter. Last year, the Aiken County took in 5,400 unwanted animals they it is required by law to care for and house. Most of the animals were adoptable, most were euthanized.

There is no single answer to this overwhelming problem. It needs to be a multi-pronged approach that tackles the problem on many levels.

The County must quickly start the new shelter project. Today, healthy, adoptable animals brought in to the shelter get sick because of disease ridden air, overcrowding and improper waste management. Not every animal can be saved, but the shelter must deal with an enormous number every day who need to be accounted for and humanely treated. The critical issue is providing adequate and humane housing.

An adequate shelter also must provide a positive environment for people who want to come and adopt. The smell, the noise and the overall depressing, overcrowded conditions keep most people away.

Everyone recognizes that spay and neuter is the long-term answer to the overpopulation population. State and county-wide programs must both educate and encourage people to take responsibility for their pets. The County budgets $30,000 a year to provide affordable spay and neuter services, but this cannot meet the demand. Think of the possibilities if concerned citizens would engage with the private sector to raise money for spay and neuter.

Writer Seeks Help for Animal Shelter

From The Edgefield Daily online Newspaper

Submitted Letter to the Editor under OPINION

web posted October 11, 2011
 

Dear Editor,

How many folks in Edgefield County know where they send their abandoned dogs and cats? I understand that there are many, many terrific independent Rescue Groups out there to help find homes for animals. Some newcomers, may not be aware of the aversion to spaying and neutering that exists in this area and other parts of the south. It continues to cause a huge population of abandoned dogs and cats in SC.

However, the majority of the Edgefield County dogs and cats, through contract, end up in the Aiken County Animal Shelter. The Shelter is run by a competent and caring staff and is minimally supported by Aiken and Edgefield County funds. A fairly new group, Friends of the Aiken Animal Shelter or fotas as it is known, have stepped in to try to help this overcrowded, poorly structured, old facility and its inhabitants. (www.fotasaiken.org)

Yes, the County Shelter euthanizes animals, to the tune of over 5000 a year! Do they want to--no. But they must accept every animal dropped off at their Wire Rd Aiken facility. Unlike the city of Aiken, who contracts with and supports the next door Aiken SPCA that takes in 1/4 of the animals that the County facility does, they have no choice.

The facility was built to handle 100 animals. Cages are shared by many, many animals. Those that survive and don’t get adopted quickly, shipped out to a northern shelter willing to help out or die from disease they may have caught in the overcrowded facility, are put down with kindness and caring after one week.

Please read this article and consider them when you are writing checks for donations or feel a need to volunteer your time. Keep your good hearts open and also consider helping the dogs and cats in your own backyard who need a healthy place to stay while waiting for their forever home.

Linda Vola
Beech Island, SC


Note:
FOTAS volunteers work with the Aiken County Animal Shelter, 411 Wire Road, Aiken SC to help the abandoned animals from Aiken and Edgefield Counties in SC. For more information, e-mail info@fotasaiken.org or visit www.fotasaiken.org.

Child's Inspiration Makes World of Difference

From The Aiken Standard

Submitted Article

When we asked Emilie why she chose to dedicate the Houndslake pool party celebrating her ninth birthday as a benefit for the Aiken County Animal Shelter, she said that she really likes animals, and 500 animals were euthanized in June and they don't have a lot of money at the shelter to buy the animals stuff they need.

It is true that the conditions at our community shelter are deplorable. The overpopulation problem peaks in summer and overwhelms the shelter's already inadequate capacity. A heartbreaking number of potentially lovely pets are euthanized week after week, while overcrowding exacerbates the shelter's inability to prevent cross contamination of airborne diseases.

It has been this way for years.

So, it is startling that a 9-year-old knows that too many animals are dying, cares about her community shelter and decides to do something selfless, generous and public about it.

It was Emilie's idea to ask her friends to contribute to the welfare of the animals at the shelter in lieu of gifts. She invited her best friend, Megan, and 15 other friends from school. She provided a special box.

In addition to the contributions by Emilie's friends, a teenager happened by and added dog treats from her car to the box. Another woman donated dog food, and another from the concession stand gave money.

In the end, Emilie collected dog and cat food, toys, treats and more than $210 in cash for the county shelter - an impressive accomplishment for a 9-year-old.

The impact of her initiative goes well beyond these contributions.

Emilie's friend Megan is already planning a "Giving Party," and so are a couple of the other kids who were there. The parents of 15 children were relieved of having to go shopping for someone else's child and buy something that they don't already have, probably don't want and likely don't need.

Emilie's party is not the first Giving Party for our shelter and FOTAS certainly hopes it won't be our last, but it came at a time when we all sorely needed our spirits buoyed. It also raised an unprecedented amount of donations and was in a public venue where it could directly inform and inspire others. Its message is central to FOTAS' mission.

We need everyone in Aiken County and beyond who are served by this shelter to care about it and help to make it the best shelter we possibly can. We must reduce the number of unwanted, neglected and abused animals through responsible pet ownership and affordable spay/neuter and keep those who are adoptable, safe and healthy until we can find them good forever homes.

The message from Emilie's ninth birthday party is that we can only accomplish this together. Now she and her mom are planning to come out to the shelter and play with the dogs and cats. They and all of FOTAS hope that you will find a way to help, too.

FOTAS volunteers work with the Aiken County Animal Shelter, 411 Wire Road. For more information, email info@fotasaiken.org or visit www.fotasaiken.org.