A new animal shelter in the pipeline?
Kirk Perkins said today that he visited the animal shelter in Forsyth County, a new facility that he's been trying to stop by since it opened.
Perkins, Chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners, is also a board member on the Guilford County SPCA.
While at the Forsyth shelter, Perkins looked for some ideas.
"We need to look at building a new shelter in Guilford County," he said.
Problems have been a part of Guilford County's animal shelter, it seems, for decades. Overcrowding, disease spread and adoption questions have all come up along with other issues over time. (Cached link here)
And it's rabies season now, Perkins mentioned. That's likely to bring the shelter to the front of people's minds as more calls for animal control go out to deal with rabies cases.
"I think it is going to be a topic of discussion and sometime later this year," Perkins said of building a facility. "There are some people who want to make a presentation about a new, modernized animal shelter."
At least one person appears to have been working on some type of shelter design, which has a link to the Guilford County Animal Shelter and features photos and drawings of some shelter designs.
Do you believe it's time to begin talking about a new animal shelter? Can Guilford County afford it?
Comments (2)
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Recently, I started a letter writing campaign to all of the Guilford County commissioners about the fact that the Guilford County Animal Shelter's adoption facility is just too small! Many of my friends and supporters wrote letters to each commissioner telling of their own personal experiences with adoptions. I realize that our commissioners have their plates full with school system and jail issues, but our shelter situation is something that is of vital importance to our community as well.
I have personally witnessed cars coming down the drive to the shelter on a Saturday only to find no parking and barely enough room to turn their car around and leave! Now, these cars were filled with family members coming to the shelter to make the adoption choice together. The truth is that even if they had parked on the side of the road and walked (like many have) they would have encountered long lines and a crowded facility upon entering.
I have become somewhat of an animal rights activist this year because something has got to be done to stop the killing of 8,000 dogs and cats in our county alone each year simply because they are not wanted. Right now, I have a beautiful mother cat nursing four two-week-old kittens that I am fostering for the shelter. This spring (2008), our shelter got hit with hundreds of kittens! They do not survive because of disease and the noise of a shelter is more than the mother cats can bear. I is sad beyond belief.
This situation needs to be addressed in a way that Guilford County can be proud of and I am more than happy to lead the way if nobody else will!
The answer is:
1. Educate
2. Make Spay/Neuter as affordable as possible.
*So far, we've done this.
Now...
3. Build a state of the art facility that deals with the overcrowding and takes care of our citizens and especially the little precious souls of the domestic animals that are in our charge.
4. Make Spay/Neuter a law.
Another of my projects (while I am a full-time graduate student at UNCG working on a masters degree) is that of circulating petitions to make the Spay/Neuter law. What they have in Asheville and Buncombe county needs ot be a state law.
David B. Morris
Posted on July 11, 2008 1:13 PM
David
I agree with your comments 100%. I am sure that you are aware that the shelter board is staffed by a dedicated group of volunteers. Are you aware that the board is also required to have two county commissioners hold seats on this board? I can tell you that out of 12 monthly meetings they may attend one. The problems at the GCAS is not high on the list for hese two commissioners. It is time we build another shelter, and I for one would vote for a bond to build a shelter before I vote for a bond to build another park or indoor swimming pool. Let's start putting our money where we need it and addressing the real issues in our
community.
Posted on July 21, 2008 5:54 PM