The Holbrook City Council received a presentation by Colleen Marsh, a volunteer with the Friends of Holbrook Animal Shelter. In the presentation, Marsh showed the council how the non-profit organization has partnered with Holbrook Animal Control, Holbrook Police Department and the city to find permanent homes for animals brought to the shelter.
She explained that the board has six members including herself, Dani Casto, Sarah Hancock, Rachel Dorsey, Angela Keene and Kimmy Jaster, and noted that prior to the formation of the Friend’s group the situation at the shelter was dire.
In 2014, the euthanasia rate at the animal shelter was at 90 percent, as the facility was unable to house the number of animals brought to the shelter that were unable to be returned to their owners or adopted. In 2015 the group achieved non-profit status and in 2016 the euthanasia rate dropped to a stunning five percent, 3.7 percent in 2017 and so far this year the rate is 2.4 percent. Marsh clarified that those euthanized now are due to aggression, terminal illness or lack of facility space.
“When the Friends group formed it was out of this critical need to save animals. To save the pets that were being surrendered, the stray and the homeless that were in Holbrook,” she explained. She said the goal was to get the animals to places where there was a greater population or more resources to re-home them.
Marsh was quick to point out that all six ladies on the board have full-time jobs outside of their volunteer efforts with the Friends group. “This is what we do on nights, weekends and lunch breaks. It’s every day, in and out of shelter work required to save these animals.”
The shelter itself is owned and maintained by the city, which also employs the animal control officer and pays for operation of the shelter. The animals brought to the shelter are from throughout the county, as the city has an agreement with the county to house animals picked up for a cost.
Marsh noted how invaluable Officer Merrill Young is at the shelter and had concerns that a new officer hired for Young’s replacement when he retires in December will not be so willing to dedicate the extra hours and effort to helping the animals.
Marsh explained that the Friends group uses their funds for spay or neuter costs, outreach and transportation. “We don’t transfer animals to a place that euthanizes cats or dogs. We know which places are reputable and work to connect them to the right homes. We really aren’t passing the buck, we’re looking for solutions,” stated Marsh.
She noted that in 2016 there were a total of 576 dogs and cats brought to the shelter, in 2017 that dropped to 519 and for the first seven months of this year there were 293 animals brought in.
Marsh said the group estimates their efforts have saved the city $55,000 to $60,000 in the shelter operating budget due to the donations from the last two and a half years. The group was awarded a $10,000 grant in 2017 to fund a spay or neuter voucher program that fixed 156 animals, 99 of which were Holbrook pets. In addition, Purina donated five tons of dog food to the group valued at $22,000. She also noted that the group just recently applied for a $20,000 grant to assist with trap neuter/spay release for feral cats.
In August alone three volunteers drove 2,669 miles to rescue 43 animals. It’s estimated that the six board members spend 1,800 hours every year volunteering for the shelter. The group does outreach through social media and to date has over 8,000 followers on Facebook.
“We see a lot more people, with our expanding audience on Facebook, that are coming from farther and farther away to adopt our dogs. In fact, two weeks ago Peaches, one of our heelers, was driven by countless volunteers from Holbrook to New Jersey to the woman that wanted her.”
More than half the animals brought to the shelter are transferred out, mainly because Holbrook doesn’t have the population to support all the animals in need of homes. “We have a vast network of rescue partnerships. Of the 1,388 animals who came to the shelter between January of 2016 and July of 2018, we saved 1,333.”
Marsh also credits the community not only for supporting the group but also for contributing financially. “It took two hours to raise $350 for a cat with a broken leg, the full $500 raised in one day with 20 individual donations,” she stated. She also said the group’s Junior Volunteer Program was a great success with 29 kids volunteering their time through the months of June and July to help feed, bath and exercise the animals in the shelter.
“We’ve started partnering with Pilots & Paws. These are folks that take their privately owned planes, their own time, their own gas money and they fly to Holbrook to take out dogs and cats that are either sick or ready immediately for adoption or almost about to give birth,” she stated.
Marsh emphasized the importance of Officer Young’s roll in coordinating the efforts at the shelter. “He tells us where these animals come from and if they’re sick do they need treatment.”
One concern of the group is that the officer hired to replace Young have the proper certifications to use the drugs for the euthanasia process. “Right now we have a great working relationship with the vet (Abby Reidhead). We obtain the sodium pentobarbital from Dr. Reidhead but it is a federally regulated drug and it does require a DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) license. There are new rules that make her nervous. She trusts Merrill, who has gone through that extensive training and certifications for euthanasia, but with these new rules in effect she’s not comfortable being the supplier for the new person. That’s something you (the council) are going to have to consider, is maybe taking on a DEA license for those drugs to euthanize those dogs and cats.
The shelter was first built in 1995 and currently has 14 cat cages, 12 in-and-outdoor dog kennels, with six additional outdoor-only kennels. “We are routinely at capacity or over full. This month we took in 58 animals and have had to turn away many animals because there is no space.
Marsh noted that close quarters and shared drainage leads to a high risk for sick animals and that a quarantine facility to isolate the sick animals would be ideal. There are also drainage issues in the main floor and not enough light in the shelter around the dog runs and cat kennels. Those funds to improve the facility would have to be provided through the city or through a grant applied through the city. “We, as the Friends, do not qualify for grants that improve the shelter because that is not our purview,” said Marsh.
She said the group also recommends that the city consider a breeding license for those individuals wanting to breed animals and also require community pets to be fixed and improve animal containment laws.
All of those efforts would assist in lessoning the needs at the shelter. “Managing the shelter requires these (volunteers) to go above and beyond what should be necessary to manage a shelter. We have been facing, recently, an unprecedented situation where weekend duties used to be covered by the Holbrook Police Department but with strained resources they can’t stretch that support to clean, to feed and to water animals on the weekends.
“Girl Scout Troop 510, which was our Junior Volunteers, said can we do more, so they helped every Saturday this summer during June and July when we needed it for cleaning but now Merrill is coming in on the weekends. So we need a sustainable solution. We burned out a lot of volunteers,” she said, recommending the city hire supplemental staff, even a part-time cleaner.
Young also addressed the council when Councilman Richard Peterson inquired if the group had any plans in mind for expansion of the facility. “I would like to build exterior runs and possibly a small facility back there that we can use for quarantining animals. There’s quite a bit of room back there,” he said, referring to the property at the rear of the facility. Peterson noted that the council was eight months away from preparing for the next budget year and if the Friends group or Young had plans and costs prepared it might be something that could be looked at fully.
The council also gave direction to Interim City Manager Cher Reyes and Human Resources Administrator Pat Nichols to update the job classification for the animal control officer position with the appropriate salary range and to bring it before the council.
