Our County Shelter Represents Us All

From The Aiken Standard

Submitted Article

"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be measured by the way in which its animals are treated." - Gandhi

And greatness in a person can be measured by their commitment to go to the Aiken County Animal Shelter to walk, comfort, socialize and ultimately rescue our adoptable dogs and cats.

It is very hot (no HVAC) and noisy (no isolation from sound or airborne viruses). The few pens for adoptable dogs (17 total) are packed with as many as can be humanely confined, as are the holding pens, and the overflow pens outside.

Imagine you are one of our heroic volunteers and you witness the following incident:

A man comes into the shelter with a medium-sized nondescript brindle mutt whose teats are low and full. Her tail is wagging, but she is nervous and looking for reassurance with big, brown, soulful eyes. In a separate crate he has six of her tiny fluffy puppies.

"We don't have room," Chief Arthurs explains.

The man is unmoved. This was her fourth litter; he has kept the two pups he wants and doesn't want to deal with it anymore.

"Have you thought about getting her spayed?" you ask. "We have a voucher program you may qualify for."

The man shrugs. "She's a good mother," he said. He's informed that her fate is bleak if he leaves her. He shrugs again, "Whatever happens, happens." He is willing to wait nearly an hour for other dogs to be euthanized to make room for the unwanted pets he is determined to surrender.

The Aiken County Animal Shelter, by mandate, must accept every animal brought to its door by a resident of Aiken County, all of them. It is obligated to keep them for five days, period.

The other day one of our rescue partners came back for the littermates of a pup he had rescued. They had been euthanized for lack of space. He saw three puppies huddled together shivering. They had just been separated from their littermates who were put down for lack of space. Real people, good people, caring people have to make these decisions every day.

"Take it to the County," they say when a pet is unwanted. The county must take it.

Our current shelter was erected 20 years ago to accommodate the county's bare minimum obligation to public safety and the law. Never intended as an adoption center, today the Aiken County Shelter is a shameful blight on our community, despite a staff more caring and dedicated than we have any right to expect.

"What does that have to do with me?" you ask, as a good responsible pet owner or someone without pets. The answer is, if you live in Aiken County, this is your shelter and it represents us all.

What can you do? Volunteer your time. Promote spay/neuter as a personal mission. Become an approved foster home. Hold a fundraiser or write FOTAS a big check and help fast-track our expansion. Ask about donating stock!

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.

Animal Shelter Needs Space

From North Augusta The Star
By By HALEY HUGHES

The Aiken County Animal Shelter has many needs, its staff and supporters say, but the principal one is space.
The 5,000-square-foot facility has remained largely unchanged since it was built in the 1990s with the capacity to house a maximum of 100 animals. These days, it is typical for the shelter to house up to 200 animals without the benefit of an expansion. And more unwanted animals come in -- be they strays or owner surrenders -- every day. In early May, the shelter reported taking in 50 animals in one day alone.
The sad reality is if an animal isn't adopted, the chances are very likely it will be euthanized. There is simply not enough room to keep for an indeterminate amount of time every cat and dog available for adoption because the shelter takes in so many, according to Animal Control Chief Enforcement Officer Bobby Arthurs. More space would allow the shelter to keep adoptable animals longer.
There is not enough room to adequately separate adoptable animals from those that are sick or vicious and there are no surgical preparation or recovery rooms.
Sixteen kennels are dedicated to adoptable animals. Some are guillotine runs, meaning a door can be lifted to allow dogs access to a covered, outdoor space. The others have no guillotines. The ideal number is two dogs per kennel. More often than not, three or more dogs share one kennel.
The shelter's remaining kennels hold the most recent arrivals. The dogs are kept there for several days while staff monitors their health and temperament before being given the OK to be placed up for adoption.
The $1 million Aiken County Council has agreed to fast track for a new shelter will help address the need for more space.
In exchange, Friends of the Animal Shelter (FOTAS) will pay $100,000 it has raised in private funds for architectural services, which includes a needs analysis. Upon the completion of the needs analysis, FOTAS and the Animal Control Advisory Committee will recommend to Council that either a new shelter be built, the existing one be renovated and expanded or an existing facility be purchased and improved.
"We need an adoption center large enough to house 50 dogs," Arthurs said. "Also, this building needs to be refurbished."
For instance, the wiring is old and the kennel area has no HVAC system, he noted. Cross ventilation is provided only by several industrial fans. The lack of adequate air circulation readily exposes health animals to airborne viruses.
"Whatever we do, I hope we do it soon because it will be a win-win," Arthurs said.
The County will make available the $1 million if a final design is completed before the next round of Capital Projects Sales Tax collections begin. The County will then pay itself back when collections begin some time in 2013.
Should the recommendation be to purchase an existing facility, a distinct possibility will be the SPCA building once the agency moves into its new facility.
"The SPCA approached us almost from the beginning," said Assistant County Administrator Todd Glover. "They have been discussing it with us on and off for several years. There is really a ton of possibilities, but we're limited on our budget. Even then, it (the SPCA site) may not be exactly what we need. But, with our budget, it may be what we have to do."

Rescuing a Shelter Dog is Just the Beginning

 From The Aiken Standard
Submitted Article

A couple of young women came to the county shelter looking for a dog.

They already had a young Lab at home. They wanted a companion for him.

They chose a beautiful male Staffordshire Bull Terrier, took him home, but brought him back the next day because he attacked their Lab at feeding time.

A young family has just lost an older dog, and their little boy doesn't like the younger dog they already had because it licked him in the face. They thought of adopting a sweet female boxer-mix because the little boy liked her.

Another young couple wanted a dog. They had an apartment, and each other, and now they wanted a dog. "A big dog," he said, in his young, manly sort of way, "To protect her when I'm not there." They picked a large Akita-Lab cross and brought him back a few weeks later because he was tearing up their apartment while they were at work.

Then there was the retired couple who were out shopping on a Saturday and went PetSmart, where rescue groups bring their dogs hoping the right match will wander through.

There was a beagle, and they always loved beagles, or the idea of beagles, or the memory of a beagle from a long ago childhood. Beagles are so cute, so eager, they thought. The couple took the beagle home, turned her out in the back yard, and she jumped the fence. She, too, was returned to the shelter.

The joy of seeing a new family choose a rescue dog is predicated on hope that it is the right match; that the individual or family are choosing the right dog, for the right reason; that they will devote the additional time and attention that rescued dogs require to become the reliable partners or family members that everyone wants.

Friends of the Animal Shelter (FOTAS) has worked hard to recruit volunteers who work with the Aiken County Animal Shelter staff to help people who are looking to adopt choose the right dog for the right reason.

Six of every seven days, the dogs go out for walks, play in the exercise yard, learn how to interact with other dogs and their human companions. When people show interest in adopting, there is always someone who can offer background information, observations or recommendations. That's a start.

The rest of the story is written in the new home.

Saving a dog and teaching it how to be a stable, happy pet can be one of life's most rewarding experiences; maybe because, when done right, it teaches us about patience, our priorities, commitment and even about devotion.

Whether we adopt a puppy or an adult, it falls to us to teach the dog how to fit in, what is expected, what behavior is encouraged and what is forbidden.

All too often we know what we want from the dog, but have given little thought to how the dog can count on us.

So stay tuned. FOTAS will introduce various resources to help our four-legged friends succeed in their new homes.

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