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Willcox Animal Shelter euthanasia rate is 33%
By Ainslee S. Wittig/Arizona Range News
In an article in the June 1 edition, "Finding Homes for Homeless Pets," Yvonne Mayer of the Cochise County Humane Society gave an incorrect euthanasia rate (90 percent) for the Willcox Animal Shelter. The actual euthanasia rate for the shelter is 33 percent or about one-third of the animals that end up there, said Jake Weaver, director of the Willcox Department of Public Safety, which operates the shelter for Cochise County.
Willcox Humane Officer Kelly Colbert said she believes that that number is still too high.
"It's higher than what we'd like, and we try to lower that rate every way we can," she said.
Weaver added that the adoption / rescue rate for the shelter is 44 percent, and the return to owner rate is 18 percent.
"The Cochise County Humane Society has not contacted us with any concerns they may have. She (Mayer) had made no attempt to contact me, but has sent emails to our City Council and made false accusations. I don't appreciate that," he said.
Cochise County Humane Society President Glenn Baxter said, "I apologize for the misinformation quoted by our zealous volunteer."
Weaver said, "We hold our animals as long as we can, sometimes six months, trying to adopt them out. We will also send them to other shelters if they have room. The humane officers have done an excellent job."
"The animals are turned out in the yard (for exercise) and the kennels are clean," Weaver said.
He added that the Cochise County Adult Probation participants have helped by doing the big weekly cleanings at the shelter for community service hours.
"We appreciate their help. Volunteers are also welcome, but they must have a background check," he said.
The Arizona Range News is contributing 10 percent of the advertising revenues from the "adopt-a-pet pages" in the June 10 issue to the Willcox Animal Shelter.
Willcox Humane Officer Kelly Colbert said she believes that that number is still too high.
"It's higher than what we'd like, and we try to lower that rate every way we can," she said.
Weaver added that the adoption / rescue rate for the shelter is 44 percent, and the return to owner rate is 18 percent.
"The Cochise County Humane Society has not contacted us with any concerns they may have. She (Mayer) had made no attempt to contact me, but has sent emails to our City Council and made false accusations. I don't appreciate that," he said.
Cochise County Humane Society President Glenn Baxter said, "I apologize for the misinformation quoted by our zealous volunteer."
Weaver said, "We hold our animals as long as we can, sometimes six months, trying to adopt them out. We will also send them to other shelters if they have room. The humane officers have done an excellent job."
"The animals are turned out in the yard (for exercise) and the kennels are clean," Weaver said.
He added that the Cochise County Adult Probation participants have helped by doing the big weekly cleanings at the shelter for community service hours.
"We appreciate their help. Volunteers are also welcome, but they must have a background check," he said.
The Arizona Range News is contributing 10 percent of the advertising revenues from the "adopt-a-pet pages" in the June 10 issue to the Willcox Animal Shelter.
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The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of willcoxrangenews.com.
John C. wrote on Jun 25, 2009 9:53 AM:
Not only are 90% 0f non-id lost animals not found—over 75% of all domestic animals captured nationwide by Animal Control facilities are euthanized! There’s a great new pet rescue tag service called “Pawtags Rescue”- where each tag has its own id number and Live trained 24/7 Operator rescue services for $10!
Their service allows you to develop a profile with up to ten contact numbers, listing rabies id, microchip info, city licensing, vet and medical info along with the pet’s profile. When someone finds your pet the Operators access this confidential info and use it with Google Maps, 3-way conferencing, etc. to get your pet home or to a safe place until picked up. The service also auto-creates a PAWS Alert poster to print or PDF and more importantly gives an owner an Animal Control Facilities zip code search that provides the only locations in 50 square miles that intake lost pets! This is so important since in some cities animals only have 3 days to euthanization!
The tags are guaranteed for life, weatherproof, cool looking and for $10 you get tag and one year free service. You can upgrade to a lifetime for 19.99–so overall with a pets life average of 14 years that’s less than a $1.50 a year. It kind of reminds me of the Verizon support team commercials–you know if anyone finds your lost animal a live trained rescue person will make sure it gets home or to a safe place. Great deal–it’s at pawtags.com "