Our Voice
Time has arrived for Saline County animal shelter

An animal shelter was needed 10 years ago in Saline County.

It wasn't built then, so it must be built now - as soon as possible.

Most county justices of the peace say constituents who have contacted them overwhelmingly support construction of a shelter. Several say they've never received so many responses on a given topic.

It's time for JPs to act in the public interest to solve a longgrowing problem. The public works committee's ordinance to build a bare-bones shelter using emergency funds - and no new taxes - passed recently.

A handful of JPs said that, because the problem of stray animals has gone on for so long, it's not an emergency.

JP Tom Lish wisely pointed out that if the problem is ignored another 10 years, it would be resolved 20 years later, instead of 10. And there's no need to extract more money from residents when the county would retain a healthy emergency surplus.

Failure to act for a decade doesn't end an emergency - it exacerbates it. The problem is decades old, but impetus for a shelter began about 10 years ago.

The current proposal would minimize expenses in many ways. Land would cost only $1, as the shelter would be built on Saline County Detention Center property. Inmates would help feed and care for the animals.

Some rural residents live in fear because of stray animals. Elderly people are afraid to go outside their homes. Others particularly fear allowing children to go outside to play. Unwanted cute puppies grow up to be unwanted stray dogs traveling in packs.

Stray animals have caused traffic accidents as people tried to avoid hitting them. Others have caused property damage or injury during wrecks or animal-car collisions.

This is an emergency that calls for statesmanlike action.

It's clear that public sentiment favors a shelter. JPs must have the backbone to act in the public interest and tell opponents why they did so.

Some JPs say rural residents "know how to take care" of problem animals, insinuating they shoot or poison animals they don't want. Poison and potshots are no solution, and justices should have the courage to say so.

An end to the problem of stray animals won't come overnight, but building a county shelter is a key step in the right direction. The proposed budget would use up to $300,000 from the emergency fund to build a shelter and operate it the first year.

Here are some key fiduciary points:

• Funds won't be taken out as a lump sum; only withdrawn as needed.

• Revenue streams will be created, including adoption fees and the possibility of pet license fees (the latter isn't part of the ordinance, but was mentioned by a humane society volunteer and a JP.)

• Expenses may be less than budgeted in certain instances.

• Annual operation expenses are estimated at $100,000 annually.

Yes, unadopted animals will be euthanized after a certain amount of time because the number of unwanted animals is much larger than the number of people wanting to adopt them. But euthanasia is far more humane than allowing animals to starve on the roadside, get hit by a vehicle or develop into wild packs.

Through the policy of spaying or neutering all adopted animals, and providing proper shots, the shelter would help solve the longterm problem of too many unwanted animals.

JPs opposing use of the emergency fund say they want residents to vote on a sales tax in November, but several say they believe that voters won't approve a tax for an animal shelter.

That's one more reason the decade-old problem must be solved today, not in November.