Halfway Homes, the Kansas City facility that handles all captured and abandoned pets, is in crisis mode. A recent spate of animal drop-offs has maxed out the shelter's space, forcing the staff to euthanize perfectly adoptable dogs and cats, often with little notice.
"We have to make the decisions very quickly, which makes it hard," says Jennifer Shive, adoption counselor at Halfway Homes. "We can't even give the dogs 24 hours. We can, all of a sudden, have no place for all these dogs, and our only choice is euthanasia."
Yesterday, an influx of 25 dogs from Animal Control forced the shelter's hand. Halfway Homes is obliged to accept all animals that are left with it, but shelter space is a zero sum game. Once the shelter was full, "at least 7 dogs that were available for adoption were euthanized," Shive said.
"Sometimes it's a question of how long the dog has been here, or if anyone is even looking at it," she said. "We have a lot of dogs that look alike, so they're all competing. We look at what's most adoptable, and take the ones that aren't moving as fast."
Black dogs and pit bull mixes are the slowest movers, she added. Most dogs' stay lasts about a month; the longest tenured dog has been at the shelter for less than 2 months. Yesterday, the shelter's Web site was listing dogs as urgent.
Adoption costs range between $50 and $100, Shive said. If you were
thinking about getting a dog for Christmas, now's your chance.
"It is urgent," Shive said. "The same thing can happen today. The same thing can happen tomorrow."
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jakby ten kraj dbał o psy to by sie nadmiernie nie rozmnażały i nie atakowały , kraj bezmyslny żałosny i powinni ludzi w klatkach opzamykac bo to sami złoczyncy lenie i złodzieje!
i wanted to do my commment over as i misspelled words.first of all if i came across a burning house with a dog an kid in it i would take the dog leave the kid.And the person who wrote the comment
on December 17th at 12:39 pm i hope doesnt
own a pet. and the comment they made about kids in foster homes and kids in orphanges do have a place to go foster kids go to fosterhomes and orphans go to a orphange.
and they wont be euthanized in a gas chamber as dogs get when the animal shelter is full. dogs are in shelters cause of no
good people.Dogs are as innocent as a small kid. they need love a home shelter as a kid
does.So to you idiots who think dogs are less then we are read your bible you will seethey are as important as a dumb kid
the person that wrote in on December 17 at
12:39 pm says what about the foster kids, Who really cares not me. the dogs will sometimes be euthanized if in the shelter to lon. kids are euthanized caused they cant find a home. sounds like dont own any pets. better yet they should not. god nbless all shelter pets
the person that wrote in on December 17 at
12:39 pm says what about the foster kids, Who really cares not me. the dogs will sometimes be euthanized if in the shelter to lon. kids are euthanized caused they cant find a home. sounds like dont own any pets. better yet they should not. god nbless all shelter pets
if i came upon a burning house with a kid and dog in it i would save the dog.he person on thur December says let the dog die. let them die.
I agree with Casey, I dont see children getting euthenized when the orphanages are full up.
Why is that whenever there is a post or article about saving the dogs, some moron has to bring up how children are more important? I did not see anything in this article stating anything about how dogs should be saved, and f*ck the kids. Stupid, attention craving morons! While a dog IS a life long commitment,you cannot compare adopting a dog to a child. Dogs do not need college education, grow out of their shoes every other month,winter coats, or school supplies-and you can put a dog in a kennel when you go to work! Get a life people.
Anyhow, now back to the topic at hand-the dogs! I adopted my dog at Halfway Home this summer, because I wanted to save a life. So many people are against going to a "kill shelter", for reasons that are beyond me. It is not the animals choice if they end up at Halfway Home, Animal Haven, or Wayside.
I am aware that Halfway Home operates on a very limited budget, and must take in any animal left behind from a KCMO resident. My problem with the shelter is that, in my opinion, much more could be done to improve adoption rates. It is extremely rare for Halfway Home to have any kind of adoption event in an off site area. IMO, the shelter should be having adoption events in the area every single weekend to help make room for new animals, and to lower the death toll. I am sure there are facilities in the area who would be more than happy to open their doors to host such events, and I do not understand why this is not happening.
Halfway Home needs to hire a director of operations, and staff who are willing to organize more fundraisers, and adoption events-among other things. This would require the shelter spending some money to pay salaries-but its necessary if they really are concerned with slowing the killing. I have met Jennifer Shive, and I think she does care about the animals, and does not enjoy having to decide who gets killed, and who gets a few more days. But, I can not agree that the only choice is euthanasia, when so much more could be done to improve adoption rates. In all reality, with positive publicity, more people would be apt to donate funds to the shelter. It takes a special kind of person to fill a position like that-one must possess a serious passion, and that can be hard to find. It is the type of position I dream of having-I am aware that I will never be "rich"-but I will be damn good at my job.
we can put them all in one big pen in the middle of shawnee mission park and feed them contraceptives. Jason Miller and his minions will volunteer to do it. Well, they should do it anyway. they seem to be outraged at the deer being killed, but i don't see them throwing funeral parties for dogs and cats.
I'm pretty sure no one's euthanizing children when the orphanage is full-up..
No. We shouldn't be concerned about individual children.
(Blatant and in-your-grill sarcasm)
.... WTF?
??
You go right ahead and try to save the world one dog at a time. Perhaps you may want to adopt a foreign dog? We all know they are more in need than domestic dogs. Again, my friend, ..... priorities.
Because having a dog and having a child require about the same amount of money, time and responsibility, you know. And really, should we be concerned about individual children when entire countries are in peril? Priorities, people!
If it came down to saving a child or saving a dog in a burning building, the child wins out every time. Should we care about dogs when we have orphans and foster kids without homes? Compassion is a virtue, but in the case of animal rights, it is misplaced. Let the dogs die, and adopt a child.
get your animals fixed if you have them and start taxing backyard breeders. if you can't afford to get it fixed then you don't have any business having a pet in the first place. and if you are a backyard breeder who breeds "two pound teacup yorkies" then you're already going to hell, why would i get a dog from the pound if it's going to die a year later of some disease because you were an irresponsible breeder? these people need to be put down, not the dogs.
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