CHESTERFIELD, S.C. — A proposed new animal shelter policy is making some people angry in Chesterfield County. On Wednesday morning, the county council could vote on requiring the shelter to euthanize dogs and cats that haven’t been adopted after 21 days.
An online petition on change.org states a timeline shouldn’t be put on an animal’s life.
Nearly 2,000 people have signed the petition against the change.
The current law that has been in place since 2012 holds dogs for 14 to 19 days and cats for 10 days before euthanizing them. The new policy boosts that to 21 days for dogs and cats. It also extends that time period in some cases.
That certainly sounds like the new policy will let animals live longer, but former shelter director Jim McGonigal said that might not be the case.
McGonigal said he constantly gave animals more time to find homes, often ignoring the county’s 14-to-19-day policy.
“I was allowed to operate as a no-kill shelter. It operated as a no-kill shelter until today’s date,” McGonigal said.
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A facility is considered a no-kill shelter when more than 92% of the animals are kept alive, except for sick, injured or dangerous ones. Chesterfield County, like many counties, had a partnership with a group called No Kill South Carolina. McGonigal said the new shelter director shouldn’t be forced to put animals down based on any number of days.
“I want the new director who was hired, how I’ve heard nothing but positive about, to be given the same discretion. I don’t want capricious and arbitrary numbers by county council,” he said.
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On Tuesday afternoon, state Sen. Penry Gustafson toured the shelter. She said with improvements underway, fewer animals will be killed and more will find new homes. The shelter is expanding its staff and providing more resources for spay and neuter services. It will promote new social media efforts to show the public which dogs and cats are available for adoption and update the shelter’s website.
“Their main focus here is to spay and neuter and rescue and adopt. With the push they’re gonna have, I don’t think that’s gonna be an issue,” she said.
However, animal activists and rescues said if the 21-day proposal becomes law, more animals will die, and the shelter can’t be considered no kill if there’s a ticking clock on how long animals have to live.
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Many county-run animal shelters depend heavily on rescues, with some of them hundreds of miles away to take unwanted animals.
Debbie Campbell often helps animals find new homes.
“We go as far as Maine, New York, New Hampshire, Vermont,” Campbell said. “Why do they have to kill them? It doesn’t make sense.”
Over the last year, volunteers and rescues were not allowed into shelters because of COVID-19 restrictions. That’s changing as restrictions loosen.
The shelter is building relationships with volunteers and hundreds of rescues, Gustafson said.
County leaders said they appreciate the much-needed help out-of-state rescues provide for adoptions.
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However, some take the most attractive and adoptable animals that can easily find new homes as pets.
That often leaves shelters with less-desirable animals that likely won’t be adopted.
New shelter director Teresa Yoder has been on the job for two weeks.
Yoder said she doesn’t want to euthanize any animals, either. When asked about the 21-day proposal, Yoder said, as shelter director, she has discretion and can keep animals longer than the required 21 days if she chooses to do so.
She’s also working with local rescues to save as many animals as possible.
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