• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Society seeks humane switch ; State animal-control group will start work out of shelter garage

Posted on: Wednesday, 7 April 2004, 06:00 CDT

When Colorado Humane Society workers take over Colorado Springs' animal-control duties today, they'll be doing it from a garage, rather than offices, at the animal shelter.

The Englewood-based organization will become the first out-of- town contractor to have responsibility for quieting barking dogs and picking up stray animals in the city.

Although it has a fleet of nine vehicles and a staff of 20 workers ready, it does not have control of the 60 percent of the animal shelter's space it expects to get. The city and the current animal-control contractor, Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region, are negotiating what parts of the Abbott Lane facility the society will vacate.

A 1999 bond sale that funded construction of the $6 million shelter specified the city owned 60 percent of it and the local humane society, which has no connection to the Colorado Humane Society, 40 percent. Deputy Police Chief Pat McElderry isn't sure when the dispute will be resolved.

Until then, the Colorado Humane Society has access to the kennel area and is setting up desks and materials anywhere they will fit. Executive Director Mary Warren said Wednesday that she doesn't expect the situation to affect the way her organization operates.

"We'll be in a garage, we'll be in a food room, we'll do whatever we have to do," Warren said of the new staff, culled from 120 applicants at a recent job fair. "Those people are ready. If they have to walk outside to get to a bathroom door, they will."

The Colorado Humane Society won the bid to take over animal control in late 2003 after the local humane society spent several years feuding with the city over money. The new group houses strays and provides animal control for several Denver-area cities but never has covered an area as big as Colorado Springs.

Area residents will notice some changes.

First, Warren said, control officers who find tagged pets wandering around will not take them to the shelter and make owners come to get them. Instead, they will try to contact the owner and take the animal back to the property.

Second, the group will go out of its way to make sure all animals are adopted or are sent to other organizations or an 80-acre ranch it operates. The only animals it will euthanize are those that are aggressive, terminally ill or "aged beyond quality of life," she said.

Also, people wanting to adopt a cat or dog will get a two-week trial to see if they like it. If not, they can bring the pet back to the shelter, and the organization promises to find a better pet for the owner within six months.

"When you bring an adult animal into your home, it has a pre- formed personality," Warren said. "We like to consider it dating."

The new group will take a load off the hands of the police, which have been assigned to answer all animal complaints since September. McElderry conceded, however, such calls have been assigned a low priority.

Pikes Peak Humane Society director Wes Metzler, who could not be reached for comment, has said his group will continue offering pet drop-off and adoption services. In that way, the two animal shelters housed in the same building will have competing businesses.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0184 or sealover@gazette.com

SOCIETY RULES

Office hours: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday; 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday; closed Sunday

Office: 610 Abbott Lane Executive director: Mary Warren

Phone number: 227-PETS (7387)

Fees: $100 for pet adoptions; $45 for pet drop-offs

More News in this Category