The right to life is a hot button for animals, as well as for their two-legged brethren. Every few years, the Monroe County Animal Shelter is charged with excessive euthanasia whether the shelter is being run by the County, as in past years, or by a private organization as it is today.
A recent Citizen article took the shelter to task for its 48.6 percent euthanization rate (up 32.5 percent from July1999). But this is actually lower than the national animal euthanization average of 75 percent.
"Shelter bashing usually comes from people who don't spend time there," said Becky Arnold, formerly the volunteer coordinator for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), the non-profit organization currently operating and managing the shelter. "I used to believe there was a way to save every animal, but I've lived and worked for years trying to do that, and it's not possible.
"It is not right to turn spayed or neutered cats loose, or put them out in the mangroves with festering wounds and hope they'll get better, or hope that a blind dog will find food," Arnold said. "Someone has to take the responsibility for each animal's quality of life. Saying that every animal has a n absolute right to life, no matter the quality of that life, is immoral."
At least five years ago, Arnold was among the first group of Keys residents who wanted the Monroe County Animal Shelter privatized, in part, because euthanasia seemed to be excessive. In part, because critics complained that county personnel didn't maintain sanitary conditions for the animals.
By the time County Commissioners turned the shelter here over to SPCA in July 1999, Arnold had moved from Key West. Today she is back, and as in the past, she is a vital force behind a number of animal caretaking organizations. Most recently, she became the SPCA's deputy director.
"We're fighting a population war here, and I don't care if it's feral cats that nobody wants or abandoned dogs that nobody wants," she said. "Like the ever expanding human population, the animal problem is growing exponentially because rarely does anyone adopt an entire litter of cats or dogs; more animals are born than we can find homes for."
After two years, the SPCA's three-year contract with the County came under fire recently when Linda Gottwald (Stand Up for Animals) and Richie Moretti (Save a Turtle) approached the County Commission with a new proposal.
"The Commission didn't accept our proposal; Nora Williams had no interest in hearing what I have to say," said Gottwald. "She broke two appointments with me, and George Neugent just said he wasn't aware of any problems. But when the SPCA contract is up for renewal next year, we will challenge it again."
Gottwald says the staff working at the shelter is "great", but she and Moretti have concerns about the current administration.
"There's no interest in pursuing cruelty cases and recently, I was refused the right to see a puppy that had been beaten because Gwen (Hawtof) didn't want any publicity about it," said Gottwald, a reporter for the Citizen as well as the founder of Stand Up For Animals, a non-profit organization. "And SPCA offers no options for feral cats other than euthanasia."
Susan Mickey concurs with Gottwald. "Feral cats have been ignored for as long as feral cats have been feral, and euthanasia never solves the problem," said Mickey, who operates Forgotten Felines, a trap, spay and neuter program in Marathon. "Wild cats are always euthanized, and the SPCA supervisor of the Marathon shelter just sent out a letter June 25 saying the SPCA is against feeding feral cats. His exact words: "I don't see Forgotten Felines making a difference." Mickey says in four years, her volunteers have trapped and have arranged the spaying for 1,600 cats: "That's 30 to 45 cats a month that didn't have to be put down," she said. "I want a new group to take over the county shelters."
However, Vicky Snow, president of Lower Keys Friends of Animals and a volunteer at the Key West shelter, does not want a new group running the shelters.
"I'd hate to see everything go backwards again," said Snow. "The numbers of animals needing and getting spayed or neutered are astronomical. Friends of Animals splits costs with the SPCA for some of the spaying programs, and I know the SPCA is trying to do the best they can with what they have.
"I've seen the shelter before and after the SPCA took it over. The quality of life for the animals there is 99.9 percent better. There are dog and puppy play "Before the SPCA, it would break my heart to see dogs in those kennels, starving for attention; always barking. Not so today.
"Is this because of increased euthanasia? I doubt it. I only accept bottle babies from the SPCA these days, and I know they have a lot of black cats — more than they're able to find homes for— and still they give me mostly black kittens to raise," said Snow.
"When Gwen and Carol brought the shelters under the auspices of SPCA, they thought they could turn around all the euthanasia that was being done at the shelters. They came in hopeful, and that's where these critics are; the critics need to spend time in these shelters to understand the Big Picture."
Gwen Hawtof is the president and acting director of the SPCA. Neither she nor her partner Carol Colburn, who handles the finances, is paid for their full-time work.
"Although we have to take responsibility for feral cats and sick animals and animals with behavior problems, we put down only the animals we have to, and we're saving the county money," said Hawtof. "The county was more restricted in how it could spend money; we're able to appropriate funds differently."
Because the SPCA is a non-profit with funding from private donors, it can augment the county's $450,000 annual budget in ways the county could not spend money before the SPCA took over the shelters. For instance, the mobile home used for SPCAs spay and neuter clinics was donated by a board member. During fiscal 1999-2000, Colburn says from donated SPCA funds— not County money— they spent $22,600 for spaying and neutering.
"Last year, the county budgeted $2,500 a year for medical supplies, tests and vaccines," said Colburn. "I'm just now doing the records for our second fiscal year, which ended June 30, and all the numbers aren't compiled yet, but I can tell you we spent $15,000 in animal health care, and through support from local organizations like United Humanitarians and Friends of Animals, we spent $5,000 a month on spay/neuter programs."
Gottwald and Richie question how some of the taxpayer's money is being spent. They say the Big Pine facility is still budgeted at $50,000, but "the shelter is not open to the public, and Marathon only recently opened a program for spaying and neutering," said Gottwald.
"In Big Pine, we still have to pay the animal control officer's salary, and the operating cost for the shelter there as a holding facility; that takes money," said Colburn. "Plus it takes time to establish veterinarians who we can count on; who will consistently work with us. In Marathon, Dr. Robert Defield started working with us in May 2000, and during this past year, he has spayed or neutered almost 100 animals a month that we have delivered to him from other shelters since then."
Colburn says critics complain that there are no regular spay clinics in Marathon. But she points out that, in one year, Dr. Defield has spayed almost as many animals as Forgotten Feline has spayed in four years: "We just can't stretch Dr. Defield any farther than he has already gone for us. And just last month, 70 animals were adopted from the Marathon shelter. That's double the adoption rate one year ago," said Colburn.