From Warren Eckstein - Costly 'No Kill' Shelters Leave Officials with Tough Choices
Mar-21-2012

As a growing number of animal shelters nationwide embrace a "no kill" philosophy, municipalities are looking to see how that movement toward limiting euthanasia can co-exist with their need to control stray and aggressive animals.
Advocates say it can be done - and has been done in at least 30 communities - but it takes money and cooperation.
"In the last four or five years, the movement has really taken off," says Nathan Winograd, director of the No Kill Advocacy Center in Oakland.
But the trend can present a tough choice for municipal officials facing higher costs in a time of tight budgets.
The Lynchburg, Va., Humane Society adopted a no-kill policy in 2010 and is asking the city to more than triple its animal-control subsidy to $396,000 by 2015. City Councilman Hunsdon Cary says the policy change is admirable, but the city isn't obligated to pay for it, especially in light of an $8 million budget deficit this year.
"I value pets, but golly-day, the people who respond to fires and the police who are on the street every day, they're important, too," Cary says.
Allegany County, Md., became a no-kill community a year ago without increasing government spending by relying heavily on volunteers and donations, says County Commissioner Bill Valentine. A new shelter will be funded entirely by donations, he says.
Austin no longer euthanizes healthy and treatable animals to make room in its shelters and reached "no-kill" status a year ago, defined by advocates as euthanizing fewer than 10% of the animals that come into shelters and only those with untreatable illnesses, injuries or behavior problems.
"It was definitely, absolutely, unequivocally a community effort," says Abigail Smith, chief animal services officer for Austin.
To do it, Austin has increased its animal-control budget by about $2 million over three years to add officers, veterinarians, medical care and a larger shelter, Smith says. It also works with more than 90 rescue organizations, which received about $1 million in grants from national animal-advocacy groups for spay/neuter programs, shelter care, behavior training, advice for new pet owners and other services.

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