FLORENCE-On Friday, June 15 Mayor Steve Holt of Florence held a press conference at the Florence/Lauderdale Animal Shelter. He addressed the issues of overcrowding and new polices tat will be enforced. He also stated the shelter will close from June 23rd until July 4th for maintenance and cleanup of the shelter. Here are the Mayor’s remarks:
“While we are excited about progress on the new animal services building, we continue to operate in a facility that has been outdated and is inadequate to meet the needs of the community and the animals we care about. We have faced this issue for years.
This year, to date, we have taken in around 800 more animals than the same period last year. Last week we received 40 animals in one day and 44 animals the next day – 84 animals in 48 hours. Last week, on average, we had at least 250 animals in the shelter. This is twice our capacity.
Our commitment is to be able to provide humane care to all the animals in our shelter. We are going to implement some new programs, expedite adoptions and give our poor old shelter a freshening up.
Mayor Steve Holt
In order to do that, the Shelter will be closed for animal intake from Saturday, June 23rd through Wednesday, July 4th. It will re-open on Thursday, July 5th. During that time, Animal Control will respond to priority calls such as a stray animal, injured animal, or aggressive animal. All others will need to take a recess during that time period.
This building is old and worn out but it does not have to be dirty. We are going to clean it up inside and outside.
During the time it is closed, animals will be available for adoption and we will waive the fees, if necessary, to find homes for as many dogs and cats as possible. Our manageable number of animals is around 125 maximum.
Please be patient with us as we work to be the humane operation that our citizens and animals deserve.
- We are going to present a new, simplified adoption application.
- We are going to insure that every adoptable animal is photographed and posted in every medium possible to promote adoption.
- We are going to aggressively promote spaying and neutering throughout the city and county.
- We are looking for speaking engagements and other opportunities to promote animal services, adoption, fostering, spaying and neutering.
- We ask our community citizens to consider adopting an animal or consider becoming a foster to one or more animals. Staff members and volunteers can help explain how to become a foster.
I take this opportunity to thank the employees of the Animal Shelter for their hard work, their compassion for animals and their commitment to a humane operation.
Thanks also to the volunteers who also share their compassion for animals and work hard on behalf of this facility. We could not do this without their help and commitment.
Thanks to the City of Florence and Lauderdale County for supporting animal services.”
MAYOR STEVE HOLT
