There’s good news in a press release from the police department: “The Oak Ridge Animal Shelter has expanded the hours of operation. Effective Tuesday, December 8, the shelter will now be open Tuesday thru Saturday, 11:00 AM till 6:00 PM. The former hours of operation were Tuesday thru Saturday, 1:00 PM till 4:30 PM. The new hours will now provide more opportunity for the animals to be adopted to loving families.”
However, before that happens, the shelter will be closed Dec 4 through Dec 7 (Friday through Monday) for painting of the floors of the kennel and other maintenance. “Citizens are asked to help us by not bringing animals to the shelter during these dates.”
The press release tells about some other welcome improvements to the shelter:
“During the summer months, several storage rooms were repainted with the assistance of volunteers. The paint was purchased by the city and the teenage volunteers provided many hours of the labor.” After that, Anderson County jail inmates (free labor!) removed old insulation, cleaned above the storage rooms (apparently they remoed a lot of dust), cleaned the extra large room, and did some more painting.
Additionally:
“The parking lot was expanded to help accommodate more vehicles. In the spring of 2010, the parking lot will received the final topcoat of pavement to the parking lot. A storage building was purchased and is being utilized to hold excess supplies, tools, etc. The city has also replaced all of the lighting as well as all ceiling tiles throughout the building. Gail Lee-Hinton, a local artist, has given vast improvements to the lobby area by painting a mural on the walls.”
Now that some fresh energy is going into the animal shelter, it would be a good time for Oak Ridgers to renew efforts to persuade all pet owners to have their pets spayed and neutered. Two of my three cats came to me as the litter of a feral cat who has since been partially domesticated and spayed. Poor kitty had two litters of two kittens each before she was big enough to even take care of herself well. She was a ferocious mother and I love her kittens who are both domesticated and free from the threat of parenthood. She would have been much better off, however, had she not had kittens. The third cat is a “drop off” adult who took up with us and is happy.
Perhaps we should have a rule that animals picked up by the shelter could not be returned to owners until they were spayed or neutered. And certainly no animal should be adopted from the shelter without permanent birth control. Puppies and kittens and baby rabbits are all adorable but too many are born to careless owners who have little empathy for the plight of the unwanted.
Part of your wish has been fulfilled, Anne. As I understand it, pets adopted from the shelter are spayed or neutered before they are released to their new families.
I don’t think that same rule applies to “owned” animals that are returned to their owners after ending up at the shelter, though.