The city of Spokane has promised that if voters pass a bond to construct a new shelter for SCRAPS at Broadway and Havana, they’ll use SCRAPS for animal control. All strays in the county will be sent to the new building. But what happens to the other two animal shelters — those run by the Humane Society and SpokAnimal?
The Humane Society has already signed on to partner with SCRAPS, County Commissioner Todd Mielke announced at a press conference this morning. It will remain its own entity, with its own shelter, but will likely have a presence — such as offering animals for adoption — at the new SCRAPS building.
The county was talking with SpokAnimal, asking them if they’d be willing to consider a similar partnership, Mielke said. The answer was no.
“They have made that offer,” says SpokAnimal Director Gail Mackie. “It doesn’t work for us. We told them that at the offset.”
SpokAnimal has a state-of-the-art veterinary clinic, Mackie says. Transporting animals across town from the SCRAPS facility would just put added strain on them.
In fact, Mackie says SpokAnimal will officially offer a 10-year contract to the city of Spokane tomorrow to continue animal control services. No need to raise taxes to build a new facility. This is despite the City Council’s official commitment to pursue a partnership with SCRAPS.
“SpokAnimal is interested in continuing animal control to the city of Spokane,” Mackie says. “We’ve made that quite clear to staff members meeting after meeting. We are ready today, to continue our contract with the city.”
After all, if the city of Spokane starts using SCRAPS for animal control, SpokAnimal is left funded only through donations and adoption fees. That said, SpokAnimal isn’t officially opposing the bond.
“I think we’re just going to present ourselves as a different option, without the tax increases,” Mackie says. “People have to decide for themselves.”
If the bond doesn’t pass, the rest of the county will be stuck with the current aging SCRAPS building increasingly insufficient for the county’s needs.
If we are truly considering what is the best solution for the animals then it makes sense to have a regional facility for all of Spokane and to meet the growing requirements of existing users: residents of Spokane Valley, Cheney, Millwood, Liberty Lake and unincorporated areas. Not to mention the absolute need of a well thought out "planned" facility, that is easily accessible to all, and can handle the ever growing number of animals left at shelters.
As is stands right now, animal control is nonexistent - so, of course Spokanimal is willing to "give" the services away - they are doing NOTHING. I can cite several calls personally and many people I have spoken with who have also placed calls into Spokanimal for assistance with animals on the loose, animals in danger (locked, hot vehicles, trailers, etc...), if there is an answer on the other end of the line there is a huge run around regarding where the animal is located, etc... Valuable time is lost and animals can become injured or worse die as a result of inactivity.
It is appalling to me personally that all of the shelters cannot come together for the betterment of animal services - why the hold out from one...who is not playing nice in the sandbox??? There is not one NO KILL shelter in this area and anyone that says otherwise is lying. They are either not taking animals in or they are shipping them to others to do their "dirty work". We all need to work together to create better plans of actions for spaying and neutering, educating the public, and finding ways to help people keep their animals who may fall on hard times...
The Spokane Humane Society who is willing to partner with SCRAPS does everything in their power to find loving homes for animals; they work with qualified and approved rescuers.
As for the money needed...well, if you rent your home or apartment then you have to come up with ZERO dollars a year in your property taxes. And if you own "Commissioner Todd Mielke said, even if full amount is necessary, the cost for the owner of an average-priced single-family residence – around $175,300 – would be an estimated 83 cents a month."
0.83 cents a month - Less than $10 a year for a facility that is doing everything possible to reduce the costs needed by renovating an existing structure, which will also create more jobs...sounds like a fantastic solution all the way around.
Nov 02, 2011 | Reply to this comment