Pet owners protest Wythe animal shelter

By JEFFREY SIMMONS/Staff

Marisa Osborn held up an empty dog harness on Tuesday morning.

The harness, she said, was for the cocker spaniel she wanted to adopt from the Wythe County Animal Shelter.

Even though she recently left her name and contact information and expressed an interest in getting the animal, it was put down anyway, the Wytheville resident told county supervisors.

Osborn was one of three speakers to address the county’s shelter and its operators after another incident this month sparked renewed interest in what happens to the dogs that go there.

“It’s really touched a nerve in the county,” she said before Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting where she joined other animal lovers and their pets outside the board’s meeting place to protest the shelter’s treatment of dogs.

Many of the protesters – and even some of the dogs – carried signs with such slogans as “Give pets a chance” and “My name is CeCe and I’m a rescue; please stop the killing.”

Osborn and others came out on Tuesday morning after a couple went to rescue dogs on Jan. 17 that had been advertised as available for adoption but were told that the animals had already been put down.

One of those individuals, Lori Bennett, blamed the county’s animal control officers for the shelter’s problems.

“We are sick of the way animal control officers have been treating us and the animals,” she told supervisors. “…It can’t go on anymore.”

Richard Martin of Wytheville reminded supervisors about Spirit, a dog with a severely infected and fractured leg that didn’t get medical treatment at the shelter in 2007 and had to have its leg amputated.

“This has been going on since 2007,” he said.

Using the term “animal cruelty” more than once in his speech, Martin also pointed to the shelter’s continuing problems, including a 2011 state inspection that found numerous violations at the pound, including dogs without adequate water and unsanitary conditions.

Addressing the latest controversy, Assistant County Administrator Stephen Bear said animal control officers weren’t aware that Bennett was interested in adopting any dogs. He also blamed the continuing need to euthanize dogs on some pet owners not taking responsibility for their animals.

“Unfortunately, there are too many dogs that have not been spayed or neutered,” he said.

In addition, owners also continue to surrender their animals, which means they can be euthanized immediately if necessary.

Unless owners take responsibility, Bear added, there will still be an overpopulation problem in the county.

Bear also introduced a new part-time custodian for the shelter that he said will make the pound more accessible to the public.

The county’s also working on a release form that will allow volunteers to help out as well. Lost Fantasy Rescue in Ceres has also expressed an interest in taking some of the shelter’s dogs.

Osborn said she’d be willing to help, if allowed.

“When you have the resource, tap into it,” she said.

In a unanimous vote, supervisors also adopted a policy that would prohibit animal control officers from euthanizing any dogs after a holiday, which is what happened in the Bennett case.

Jeffrey Simmons can be reached at 228-6611 or jsimmons@wythenews.com.